Kirk Ferentz: From Chump to Champ in two years?

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WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
Harken back to the dark days of November 2012. The angry mob was marching down Melrose with pitchforks and torches looking to purge Hawkeyenation of the scourge of the Ferentz Clan. Now two years later, several prognosticators are projecting the 2014 iteration of Hawkeye Football to play in Indianapolis in early December.

How does KF have the arrows pointing up in several identified shortcomings in such a short period of time?

Offensive proficiency - granted our offense didn't light the world on fire last year, but they certainly had a pulse and was a vast improvement over 2012. They were able to score on the mediocre defenses they faced, but couldn't get it done against the top tier defenses (MSU, Wisconsin, and LSU). That's the measuring stick, the problem (or fortunate thing) is they won't see a good defense until NW comes to town so it may be awhile until we really know they have made the leap. That being said, the offense is more varied and unpredictable than at any time I can remember over the Ferentz era...and we may have the weapons this year to exploit that.
The arrow is definitely pointing up.

Clock management - if there was one area where it was clear Iowa had improved vastly, it was in managing the clock at the end of the half and at the end of games. Whatever or whomever assumed control made it look like we had a clue.
The arrow is pointing up.

Recruiting - If the 2015 class is any indication of the changes made in this area, I'd say the arrow is pointing up. Certainly, we've lost a few battles recently, but we are down to the wire with some great prospects. That's a very positive thing. The OL class that is coming in with the 2015 class could be special...really special. With the new facilities bringing us to the top tier of the B10 and the fact that Iowa graduates it's players, and sends an unbelievable percentage to the NFL, it's only going to help us. Once again, arrow up.

Say what you will about KF, even his pundits have to be shocked at what's taking place in Iowa City right now, and is a complete 180 from where they thought the program was headed in 2012. I realize we have to let 2014 play out, but if we avoid injuries to key positions, it could be a great year...and time to give credit where credit is due.
 
Very good points. I just hope that we can take advantage this year. It does take a couple breaks, and by that I mean staying pretty healthy, certain injuries could derail the season quickly. Also it seems that one of two games will come down to the bounce of the football. In 2009 we got every break, in 2010 ever break went against Iowa.
 
Good points. I never felt that the perceived strength or weakness of our schedule has ever mattered with KF's program. We have had great seasons with tough schedules and vice versa bad seasons with weak schedules.

Strides have been made which were fostered by long overdue coaching staff changes.

Injuries will be key as we were relatively injury free last year. An o-line injury or two could really hurt this season as we are thin there. Same could be true with the LB's where we have already suffered graduation losses.

Bottom line is we are a developmental program with lots of 2-3 star guys. Yes, we have a great history of finding hidden gems and building guys up but from a pure overall elite talent perspective we cannot simply go onto the field and curb stomp a lot of teams. This means lots of close games against the good and the bad where getting breaks is crucial. We rely on a style of football that plays to physicality, development and having guys with a chip on their shoulder. We have never seemed to excel being the 'hunted'. We prefer to be the hunter. I think this aspect is so overlooked by our fan base when making projections about a season.
 
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If KF can get this team to 10 wins...he basically will have had three eras within his own era....and there are maybe a hand full of coaches (two or three) who have ever been able to do something like that....build it, mountaintop...struggle...build it, mountaintop, struggle, build it, mountaintop.

Usually guys get fired on the second struggle.

Bill Snyder is probably in this company...I am not saying this puts him in the HOF, but he's a good football coach.
 
Kirk will be here a long time. Good news is, at least from my perspective, his new staff has a better chance of sustaining success by not being so stale and predictable along with improved recruiting.
 
KF still has to be able to win the games where Iowa is heavily favored, not crapping the bed against lessor opponents. If this team can do that, all the while remaining healthy this could be a special year in Iowa history.
 
Kirk's new assistants seem to make a big difference in 2013, which suggests some of his old assistants, well, weren't getting the job done.

Bobby Kennedy seem to be the guy on the sideline that the young QB's would first go to when they came off the field. It shows how important it was to have someone on the sidelines who was in sync with Greg Davis, who sits up in the box.

Jim Ried was a former defensive coordinator who clearly brought some new wrinkles and ideas with him that he could bounce off Phil Parker and that helped the defense improve.

Chris white took over special teams, and although it took some time, eventually solved the problem with stopping the fake punts.

The only coaching change this year was the new recruiting coordinator, but he was a defensive coordinater at a div2 school, so you never know, he might bring some new ideas.

You never get the impression that Ferentz is an ideas guy. He is more of an execution guy. I think he will need to continue to bring in new coaches and coordinators or at least former coordinators to bring in new ideas.
 
franstheman said:
The new assistants have given the program more of a Fry-era feel imo.
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Very much agree. The changes on defense, especially in obvious passing situations, certainly reveal that we are going to take more risks and trust people to execute their assignments. The Raider Package and sending LB's on first down once in a awhile was certainly a break with tradition of the bend don't break strategy.

The way we closed out the Michigan game was another departure from the Old KF. He would have sat on that lead, three runs and a cloud of dust, and put the game on his defense. That series more than anything else told me GD has more control than he may have had at the beginning of 2013.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Very much agree. The changes on defense, especially in obvious passing situations, certainly reveal that we are going to take more risks and trust people to execute their assignments. The Raider Package and sending LB's on first down once in a awhile was certainly a break with tradition of the bend don't break strategy.

The way we closed out the Michigan game was another departure from the Old KF. He would have sat on that lead, three runs and a cloud of dust, and put the game on his defense. That series more than anything else told me GD has more control than he may have had at the beginning of 2013.
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Refresh my memory, what did the offense do at the end of the Michigan game? Was it different from the end of the NIU or NW games last year?
 
deanvogs said:
Very good points. I just hope that we can take advantage this year. It does take a couple breaks, and by that I mean staying pretty healthy, certain injuries could derail the season quickly. Also it seems that one of two games will come down to the bounce of the football. In 2009 we got every break, in 2010 ever break went against Iowa.
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Can't agree with this. And just HATE the idea of bringing back memories of a season that probably infuriated me more than any other Iowa team. But Iowa 's bad play and bad execution are what made the "breaks" that went against us in 2010. I don't even want to go into the nasty details. But I remember games like Arizona, Wisconsin and Minnesota like they happened yesterday - they haunt like a nightmare that won't even end when you wake up.
 
guffus said:
Refresh my memory, what did the offense do at the end of the Michigan game? Was it different from the end of the NIU or NW games last year?
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They threw the ball to get first downs to run out the clock in the last 3 minutes of the game. If you haven't been paying attention to the past 3-4 years...we normally would have run three times and turned the game over to our defense to win get the last stop. We were aggressive and made plays OFFENSIVELY to run out the clock.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
They threw the ball to get first downs to run out the clock in the last 3 minutes of the game. If you haven't been paying attention to the past 3-4 years...we normally would have run three times and turned the game over to our defense to win get the last stop. We were aggressive and made plays OFFENSIVELY to run out the clock.
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That, and I believe the throw that iced that game was a 3rd and 10. Not many run plays to call there.
 
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