just wait..

[CHShawk]

Sarcasm, I hope.

So you don't want Iowa to have an easier road to the Rose Bowl?

 

[STILLBUSTER]

If we had unlimited practice time, a two minute drill would be great, but we don't, so O'Keefe works on the things we need to do be strong the other 58 minutes of the game. And there have been plenty of times where O'Keefe has done everything necessary to win games in that he has us in the lead with time winding down, but the D chokes games away.

Two minute drills are rarely successful and if you regularly rely on them to win, you're simply not going to have a good record if you run a pro set, ball control offense like Iowa. Thankfully our staff knows that. But the thing is that if you look at Iowa's defense, it is notorious for folding in the two minute drill and that skews Hawk fans' perceptions of the success of the two minute offense. It's just that last year the D finally didn't gag in the clutch and the offense executed one two minute drill to precision and a bunch of idiot fans thought that in this day and age of parity we had some really super special team this year notwithstanding the fact we lost some serious studs to the NFL.

Iowa's two minute drill is fine, it's a little unorthodox, but it draws on plays that we normally run and has O'Keefe calling them in from the sideline. The staff is dealing with football players, many of whom aren't necessarily the smartest guys on campus, the more plays you have in the playbook, the greater the chance for mental mistakes like sacks, false starts, illegal shifts, etc. Sometimes that philosophy works, sometimes it doesn't. This year it didn't work out and Iowa was a little down, but that's the nature of the game given how evenly matched many of the teams are. Iowa simply can't expect to beat Northwestern just by showing up at the field anymore.

ok4p ... AWWESOMME! You nutshelled everything, including the apologies and rationalizations, without taking a breath. But, in deference to the rest of the board, maybe keep it simple so others can keep up

 

[HawkPhreek]

You can't call a coach great who has zero out right conference championship. Can't call a coach great who is 7-23 ? in games decided by five points or less. Ferentz isn't in the class of stoops or brown. I'm glad he coaches at Iowa but not a great coach.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I think the majority of fans realize Kirk is the right coach for Iowa. You will have some fans who will continue to knock him and the staff. But when it is all said and done, Kirk rebuilt this program after some very dismal seasons during Fry's last few years.

Yes, the season was disappointing but I think most fans realize Iowa will bounce back. Iowa is NOT going to go 10-2 every season. Yes, this season should have included more than seven wins but that is just the way the call bounced for the Hawks this season.

KXNO often plays a snippet from Paul Burmeister earlier in the season when Paul talked about how well respected Kirk is by other coaches and that Iowa would not want some of the other coaches who do win 10, 11, 12 games a year. In a nutshell, Kirk is doing it the right way. You will always have disgruntled fans who will forever hammer Kirk and the staff. The majority realize we have it pretty good right now with Kirk leading this program.

 

[HawkPhreek]

I think the majority of fans realize Kirk is the right coach for Iowa. You will have some fans who will continue to knock him and the staff. But when it is all said and done, Kirk rebuilt this program after some very dismal seasons during Fry's last few years.

Yes, the season was disappointing but I think most fans realize Iowa will bounce back. Iowa is NOT going to go 10-2 every season. Yes, this season should have included more than seven wins but that is just the way the call bounced for the Hawks this season.

KXNO often plays a snippet from Paul Burmeister earlier in the season when Paul talked about how well respected Kirk is by other coaches and that Iowa would not want some of the other coaches who do win 10, 11, 12 games a year. In a nutshell, Kirk is doing it the right way. You will always have disgruntled fans who will forever hammer Kirk and the staff. The majority realize we have it pretty good right now with Kirk leading this program.

I agree with this. He is a good coach for Iowa

 

[NewMexHawk]

I like KF as Iowa's coach because if he were to leave his replacement could be a Lickliter clone and could ruin what Iowa has accomplished.

I have come to realize that with KF and his staff you get what you see, basically a staff that will ordinarily field a 7 to 8 win team and occasionally will have 9 and 10 win seasons. He is basically a .500 Big 10 coach--we will on occasion win the Big 10, never beat OSU, and lose to teams near the bottom of the Big 10-- teams we should not lose to--like NW because of the coaches unwillingness to change anything.

I have decided that I will go into each season expecting to win about 7 games, knowing we will lose at least two games we should win thus probably keeping us out of BCS games and about 6 or 7 years we will get lucky enough to get a BCS game. Otherwise Iowa is a second tier program (paying first tier prices for its coaches) and will typically go to Outback type of bowl games. Iowa will always remain in the shadow of OSU, Michigan, and probably Nebraska now. We will never be the equals...we could be with just a few changes... but we will never be with the present coaching staff because of their unwillingness to change anything.

It may even come down to a point where the rest of the Big 10 determines how to play Iowa and will put packages into their offense and defense specifically for Iowa. Really all they have to do is add a spread package and they will give Iowa fits and the lowest of the Big 10 has a great opportunity to beat Iowa everytime they play because they know Iowa will change nothing...absolutely nothing on offense or defense.

That is what I have come to expect from Iowa's program. Iowa will never be a first tier program because our coaches our happy with being a second tier program. No adjustments whatsoever mean a second tier program...and Insigt and Outback Bowls while we watch Wisconsin and OSU and soon Michigan and Nebraska go to BCS Bowls.