When Bill Snyder was offensive coordinator, yes. After he left, not so much.
Kirk's Legacy
- Thread starter smhawk
- Start date
Adam
Well-Known Member
Kirk needs another B1G championship and Playoff birth to put that baby to bed. I don't see it happening as of now, but as soon as we think hope is lost is exactly when he would make his run.
Kirk's legacy:
Seldom "out-coaches" anyone.
Falls victim to many first year coaches.
Embarrassed frequently by Wisconsin, and allowed them to replace Iowa's stature in the conference.
Has a lot of wins because Iowa's philosophy is two pronged; 1) to make money 2) Success is defined as "OK is OK."
Takes care of his family. Acts dumb when his hiring practices are called into account.
He is a bit of an overachiever with no signature successes.
All of this suits most of Iowa just fine.
Seldom "out-coaches" anyone.
Falls victim to many first year coaches.
Embarrassed frequently by Wisconsin, and allowed them to replace Iowa's stature in the conference.
Has a lot of wins because Iowa's philosophy is two pronged; 1) to make money 2) Success is defined as "OK is OK."
Takes care of his family. Acts dumb when his hiring practices are called into account.
He is a bit of an overachiever with no signature successes.
All of this suits most of Iowa just fine.
Adam
Well-Known Member
If only we could find a coach who tried to win more games. Stupid Iowans for accepting above average. If only we demanded championships, this program could have been Alabama under Saben. Surely all it takes to win every football game is a bunch of arm chair quarterbacks demanding it. Screw you Kirk for failing MIGA (Make Iowa Great Again). Oh wait, what greatness were we trying to reclaim? Eh screw it, we just know that we are better than this. It's our birthright.
Winning conference championships, Rose Bowls, entrance into national playoffs takes planning for, expecting the same, and executing it, Pinstripe Bowls, 8-4, 7-5, aweashucks not so much.
Adam
Well-Known Member
Are you speaking from experience? How many college football championships do you have under your belt?
My simple point is that it's real easy to bark online about how "easy it is to be ho hum". If winning 7+ games a year over 20 years is so easy how come less than 3% of college football coaches have ever managed to achieve it?
I'm all for wanting the next step in pursuit of greatness. However my pet peeve is those who spit upon the foundation for which they want a mansion erected. Appreciate what you have before setting your sights higher. Noone goes from zero to hero.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
Does this post mean you are off KF’s band wagon?
Evy said that "Bob Commings didn't leave Iowa dry." (in quality players)
MoseSchrute
Well-Known Member
Who is Saben?
Adam
Well-Known Member
This isn't Jeopardy.
Damn it, I keep forgetting I can't post anything, I haven't won a college football championship yet?
7+ wins a season for 20 year is rare because most coaches are long since fired before 20 comes around. Kirk has lots of "longevity" stats. It isn't right or wrong, it is just his legacy.
Adam
Well-Known Member
And if we were a top 25 football institution I would be all for tirelessly pursuing a coach who could average 10 wins a year.
Iowa simply doesn't have the pull or the money to land or keep a top 3 coach. Period end of story. What you desire is a pipe dream. At best we find some young hot shot and we get 2 or 3 years out of him. Then we're left with our thumb in our bum trying to plug the dam.
Long term success and sustainability are important things as well.
But we could be a top 25 sports institution, but not with the current AD or coaches. Dreamers and visionaries needed for that. Iowa likes OK, and so it seems, do you, and that's OK too
Adam
Well-Known Member
I like Ok better than suck ass. Which is what we are much more likely to be than elite.
P.S. please explain how Iowa could become a top 25 football institution? We lack the population base, the school size, the recruiting base, the alumni, the money, and the prestigious history to ever take a seat at the top of this game permanently.
The way I see it is that Iowa has a punchers chance on any given year. Kirk has kept us on the cusp of competitiveness on the national scale giving us a year in year out chance to be really good. He has avoided the gnarly skid to horrible that we have seen many other competitive programs fall victim. He has had a few rotten eggs, but also had some pretty satisfying shit kicking teams as well. Certainly enough to match the rotten ones. I think this is a much harder task then most of you "visionaries" account for. Especially at Iowa which has apparently never had a "visionary" at the helm.
According to AP, they already are a Top 25 football institution. https://collegefootball.ap.org/top-100
Adam
Well-Known Member
This poll is basing it's entire ranking method on previous ranking polls. That fact that we hold 25 on there is a testament in our ability to maintain competitiveness. It hardly means that we are the 25th best football institution though. It does however mean that we play like it.
I think most of us know and will admit that we are a fringe top 25 program, but that is not want posters here seem to want. They want to be top 10, or 5 or #1. They can't accept that better programs get better players that make better plays. What none of them seems to understand is that even if we could pay Saban enough and somehow had enough lure to bring him, even he couldn't do for Iowa what he did at Bama. That's just the facts of life.
Can better be achieved? Yes.
Can it be achieved repeatedly? This is the part that I doubt. Could someone have higher highs then Ferentz? Yes, but really what are the odds that it doesn't come without some gut wrenching bottom out?
I can get behind alot of Ferentz gripe, but dismissing the sustainability of his above average floor will never be one of them.
I would like us to be the way Wisconsin is, which is the way Iowa used to be. That would be a good start. Send me $5 million, I will put something together.
Adam
Well-Known Member
If you're referring to the last 25 years of Wisconsin success then Iowa has never been as good as what Wisconsin was over the last 25. In any of our lifetimes, we had a good run in the 80's and a good run in the 2000's.
P.S. Iowa is Wisconsin with slightly less success. Same model. Same foundation. It is comments like this that make it hard to guage if you are trolling.
P.S.S Wisconsin is due for a regression.
