Kirk Ferentz Press Conference Quotes as he speaks...FINISHED

Exactly...

doclee said:
What in the world is it that you guys want KF to say? What questions would you ask? Come on, 'fess up! What questions? I keep hearing this crap about Fort Kinnick and that the press pitches softballs, and that KF never really levels with the press. I want specifics. Maybe he is telling the truth and there is little more to tell you. I absolutely DO NOT want him calling out players, coaches, officials in the media. Classless. What the h... do you mean, "nothing noteworthy." What a cop out!
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Yes, the questions could be a bit more probing, but today they were asking questions about the lack of offensive production. What is KF supposed to say? "Our QB play was bad, the 2 interceptions Vandenberg threw that took points off the board at the end of each half cost us the game?"

Or "Our receivers are just not very good. We are going to have trouble scoring points all year when we can't separate from defensive backs and when we do separate we tend to drop the ball."

When our teams lose, we as fans tend to want THE answer that it is something wrong or that someone screwed up. Everyone knows that Vandenberg didn't play well. If he doesn't play a lot better, Iowa won't win many games. If he does, there are some games to be won given the strides being made by the defense.

I really don't want to have any "new information" come out at the press conferences. I care much more that the team plays much better and they figure out a way for this offense to move from dreadful to average.
 
Re: Exactly...

I saw one good question concerning the fact that KF has never hesitated in pulling out a RB that fumbles, but hasn't shown the same short leash for WR that consistently drop....Of course, you're never going to get an straight answer on that....
 
but dodger, kirk is being paid 4 million a year to tell you that JVB struggled and our receivers dropped passes. if he doesn't say these things, he's not worth the money he's paid.

amidoingitrightOOTH?
 
doclee said:
What in the world is it that you guys want KF to say? What questions would you ask? Come on, 'fess up! What questions? I keep hearing this crap about Fort Kinnick and that the press pitches softballs, and that KF never really levels with the press. I want specifics. Maybe he is telling the truth and there is little more to tell you. I absolutely DO NOT want him calling out players, coaches, officials in the media. Classless. What the h... do you mean, "nothing noteworthy." What a cop out!
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Listen to or read a KF presser. Then listen to or read a Fran McCaffery presser. The difference is night and day. FM answers questions directly without coach speak.
I don't say this to put KF down. He's a Belichick disciple and that is his style. I was just saying that I don't know why I read it. It's the same every week.
 
whammer33024 said:
but dodger, kirk is being paid 4 million a year to tell you that JVB struggled and our receivers dropped passes. if he doesn't say these things, he's not worth the money he's paid.

amidoingitrightOOTH?
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Naw hes not worth the money hes paid because he cant beat ISU, Northwestern, and Minnesota. What if they took 1mil away whenever he loses to one of these teams? Then he would be paid what he is worth.
 
KF can handle himself, so we should be unconcerned with the difficulty, or appropriateness of questions. I have been a KF "apologist" or optimist, if you will, in the past. However, I do believe that the guy is a professional coach who gets paid very well. He should have to deal with fans and the press.

Ultimately, I don't care how he answers questions in the media. I care how he coaches his team. Over the long haul, I care about getting the program back to a high level, and filling the trophy case again. I believe it will happen, but I do think KF could answer a question or two now and then.,
 
racerhawk said:
KF can handle himself, so we should be unconcerned with the difficulty, or appropriateness of questions. I have been a KF "apologist" or optimist, if you will, in the past. However, I do believe that the guy is a professional coach who gets paid very well. He should have to deal with fans and the press.

Ultimately, I don't care how he answers questions in the media. I care how he coaches his team. Over the long haul, I care about getting the program back to a high level, and filling the trophy case again. I believe it will happen, but I do think KF could answer a question or two now and then.,
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That is well said. I too am very pro KF. I just find it interesting (or uninteresting) that every press conference is a replay of the last one.
 
I don't expect KF to reveal anything in his press conferences anymore, but just once I'd like to see him go McCaffery: "If you think I'm just going to sit on my hands while we only score 6 points in a rivalry game than you have the wrong guy. We've watched the tape, we know what the problems are, and mark my words they will get fixed one way or the other. Now unless someone as something meaningful to add, I've got to get to practice. Thx."

I was a little taken aback by his comments about the receivers and there being a fine line in dealing with the drops and their psyche. I get that approach, but think we are past that by now. Instead of keeping the kid gloves on why not try ratcheting up the pressure on this group and find out who is a gamer? If you drop the ball, you sit. If you are a legit Big 10 receiver you will play through whatever pressure that mandate causes.
 
I would disagree that Fran doesn't use coach-speak...

1hawkeye1 said:
Listen to or read a KF presser. Then listen to or read a Fran McCaffery presser. The difference is night and day. FM answers questions directly without coach speak.
I don't say this to put KF down. He's a Belichick disciple and that is his style. I was just saying that I don't know why I read it. It's the same every week.
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he's more media-savvy perhaps KF (his brother is a long-time newspaperman), but Fran is full of coach-speak. And the programs are in 2 different places. We heard before last season that Olaseni "was our best rebounder in practices." And then he went out and played a grand total of like 19 minutes in the B1G season. Fran should be optimistic, he's been selling an idea rather than results.

In the end, all that matters is the winning and losing. When you're winning, people think "you're focused and have the team concentrating on the right things." When you lose, people think it's because the staff or players "aren't trying hard enough." Iowa playing better has very little to do with KF just saying it's going to get better or people trying harder. It has everything to do with the team playing better. That is accomplished by practicing at a higher level and then taking that over to games. There is definitely a ceiling on how good this year's team can be on offense. Iowa could execute a lot better and still not be dynamic, due to the talent (or lack of playmakers) on the field. The coaches don't get a pass for that, they are the ones recruiting the players.

And I love Fran and where he has the basketball team headed. But, for all that, he talked a lot about the team last year getting better on defense, and that team was basically awful defensively all year, from start to finish. Is that because Fran and staff are incapable of teaching defense? I don't think so. But it points out that just saying you are committed to being better at something and stating you will be better at it don't make it so. This year Iowa has more depth, quality of players and more players who are tall. I would suspect that the defensive performance would improve. Is that b/c Fran all of a sudden "did something about it" or "demanded it" or is it because he did the most important thing he could to do improve the defense - recruit better players? I think I know what my answer is to that.
 
Hawkeyedaddy: That is ok, don't bother. These two questions are dumb enough.
 
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NickM said:
I don't expect KF to reveal anything in his press conferences anymore, but just once I'd like to see him go McCaffery: "If you think I'm just going to sit on my hands while we only score 6 points in a rivalry game than you have the wrong guy. We've watched the tape, we know what the problems are, and mark my words they will get fixed one way or the other. Now unless someone as something meaningful to add, I've got to get to practice. Thx."

I was a little taken aback by his comments about the receivers and there being a fine line in dealing with the drops and their psyche. I get that approach, but think we are past that by now. Instead of keeping the kid gloves on why not try ratcheting up the pressure on this group and find out who is a gamer? If you drop the ball, you sit. If you are a legit Big 10 receiver you will play through whatever pressure that mandate causes.
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I think KF has a very high level of emotional maturity going for him. He does not panic and start blaming people to protect himself. He boils the answers down - they are boring but they reflect the mundane reality. They DO HAVE TO WORK AND PRACTICE. He can't go out and get new players. He's not going to fire anyone. So what else do you do? If there is something novel he is planning, he isn't gong to tell anyone. No reason to except to aswage everyone's grief. And he's not interested in that.
 
NCHawker said:
I think KF has a very high level of emotional maturity going for him. He does not panic and start blaming people to protect himself. He boils the answers down - they are boring but they reflect the mundane reality. They DO HAVE TO WORK AND PRACTICE. He can't go out and get new players. He's not going to fire anyone. So what else do you do? If there is something novel he is planning, he isn't gong to tell anyone. No reason to except to aswage everyone's grief. And he's not interested in that.
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I don't disagree with any of that. I guess my biggest disappointment so far is that I really believed with bringing in a new coordinator we would get a much better sense of urgency particularly from the offense. I know KF doesn't care what I think about his press conferences. I don't want him to panic, but from a fan's perspective I'd like to see some sense of urgency. You walk away from an Iowa press conference and get the feel that KF"s goal is to get this figured out by week 7 or so. I know that's not his goal. You watch Iowa on offense and the tempo is so painfully slow it sucks the joy out of watching it - it's got to suck the joy out of playing it eventually. My other concern is that KF has become so "stoic" that he's almost becoming a caricature of himself.


As a fan I'm looking for some inspiration - a reason to buy tix, make the drive and sacrifice the day to get to the game on Saturday. "We just need to clean things up" just doesn't do much for me anymore.
 
Re: I would disagree that Fran doesn't use coach-speak...

DodgerHawki said:
he's more media-savvy perhaps KF (his brother is a long-time newspaperman), but Fran is full of coach-speak. And the programs are in 2 different places. We heard before last season that Olaseni "was our best rebounder in practices." And then he went out and played a grand total of like 19 minutes in the B1G season. Fran should be optimistic, he's been selling an idea rather than results.

In the end, all that matters is the winning and losing. When you're winning, people think "you're focused and have the team concentrating on the right things." When you lose, people think it's because the staff or players "aren't trying hard enough." Iowa playing better has very little to do with KF just saying it's going to get better or people trying harder. It has everything to do with the team playing better. That is accomplished by practicing at a higher level and then taking that over to games. There is definitely a ceiling on how good this year's team can be on offense. Iowa could execute a lot better and still not be dynamic, due to the talent (or lack of playmakers) on the field. The coaches don't get a pass for that, they are the ones recruiting the players.

And I love Fran and where he has the basketball team headed. But, for all that, he talked a lot about the team last year getting better on defense, and that team was basically awful defensively all year, from start to finish. Is that because Fran and staff are incapable of teaching defense? I don't think so. But it points out that just saying you are committed to being better at something and stating you will be better at it don't make it so. This year Iowa has more depth, quality of players and more players who are tall. I would suspect that the defensive performance would improve. Is that b/c Fran all of a sudden "did something about it" or "demanded it" or is it because he did the most important thing he could to do improve the defense - recruit better players? I think I know what my answer is to that.
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That is a lot of hulabaloo that I don't have time or interest in dissecting. FM answers questions. KF sidesteps them.
 
At this point, we may as well record one of his weekly press conferences, stick a cardboard cutout of him behind the podium and play the tape week after week. Maybe this will allow him more time to "clean a few things up."
 
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