Mandel calls KF One of Five Worst

[hawkdrummer1]

This has no relevance on today...just ask any critic.

so by "critic" you mean informed person.

Going into 2006 KFz did look like one of the top coaches

And going into 2013 he looks like he's lost it.

I'd say the two articles are pretty good reflections of the reality at their respective times. The past...does not equal the future. Things change.

 

[OUTofTOWNHAWK]

He's not one of the five worst college football coaches right now. He's just not, and to try to truly argue that he is is foolish. Mandel should have written a Top 5 most overpaid..then he probably comes out fine including Ferentz, based on wins the last three years. Even I wouldn't argue against that.

But to say that KF is one of the five worst RIGHT NOW, then go and sample a W-L record dating to 2005 by taking out an 11-2 season?

Flat flawed and stupid premise.

I agree the cherry picking is stupid.

As most fans go saturdays is what matters. They dont care how many kids get into the NFL or that you run a clean program. They care if you win. They dont care if you did win before. They see who you lost to. They see that you didnt go to a bowl game.

When you look at awful game day coaching and who Iowa has lost to then yes KF is in the worst 5 right now. I dont think you can find a staff that makes as many gameday mistakes at this high of a level.

 

[FreedComanche]

When you look at awful game day coaching and who Iowa has lost to then yes KF is in the worst 5 right now. I dont think you can find a staff that makes as many gameday mistakes at this high of a level.

Ooth, my prediction is you will catch he-- from the kf addicts for stating this. Not from me, though. I'd shake your hand if I could.

FreedComanche

 

[RocknRollface]

...or Top 5 worst game day coaches. He's a lock there.

I agree.

Strategically and schematically he is about as bad as it gets. Iowas offense just looks more sloppy, confused, disorganized, unimaginative and poorly conceived than just about anyone else you can find on a given saturday.

What keeps KF out of the worst coaches IMO is his ability to identify, evaluate and develop players, although it seems to work in reverse for QBs too often. Ive said it allot of times, no one that Iowa can realistically get will bring in more talent than KF, even though he does it in a different way.

The catch 22 is that there are few that could do less with it on the field.

KF has been getting by on excellent player development since he has been here. Squeaking out close wins, and too often losses, against teams that should have never been close.

When the talent advantage is not there its not pretty. The blunders turn into losses instead of close wins. Western/Central Michigans happen, at home. No coach should be able to take big ten players and lose those games.

 

[Section136]

give me five coaches that are worse at this current time and still have a job at the D1 level.

Beckman from Illinois, Kill at Minnesota, Dukes coach, Kentcukys coach, Boston Colleges coach.

I would bet those 5 guys have fewer wins the past 3 seasons than Ferentz and since that is the only criteria you want to use to judge KF, then those 5 and I would guess quite a few others are worse at this current time and still have D1 jobs.

 

[Makavelihawk]

I agree.

Strategically and schematically he is about as bad as it gets. Iowas offense just looks more sloppy, confused, disorganized, unimaginative and poorly conceived than just about anyone else you can find on a given saturday.

What keeps KF out of the worst coaches IMO is his ability to identify, evaluate and develop players, although it seems to work in reverse for QBs too often. Ive said it allot of times, no one that Iowa can realistically get will bring in more talent than KF, even though he does it in a different way.

The catch 22 is that there are few that could do less with it on the field.

KF has been getting by on excellent player development since he has been here. Squeaking out close wins, and too often losses, against teams that should have never been close.

When the talent advantage is not there its not pretty. The blunders turn into losses instead of close wins. Western/Central Michigans happen, at home. No coach should be able to take big ten players and lose those games.

Fantastic post, but I wholeheartedly disagree with the bolded statement.

 

[taffaej]

I drink the black and gold Kool-Aid like the rest of you butI think what Mandel said is right on. If coach was making $2 mill less then I think we are not having this discussion,but he doesn’t… he makes $3 million and change. That my friend is where the bases of Mandel's story is being told from.
At what we are paying coach and with him being at Iowa as long as he has and the results we are getting ARE unacceptable. My expectations of coach making his type of scratch are 9 wins a year, solid recruiting classes, teams that compete and are getting embarrassed on national TV. I’m not saying we must win Big Ten titles every year. What I am saying is that our coach has gotten so complacent that even people outside the state of Iowa are saying “hey you guys are getting screwed".
Sad to say but yes we are getting a full-fledged reaming of the keester.

 

[Herkyalert]

I read Mandel's responses to Iowa fans on Twitter and it seems like he just was trying to get a rise out of people.

The artcle is silly to begin with.

 

[FreedComanche]

I agree.

Strategically and schematically he is about as bad as it gets. Iowas offense just looks more sloppy, confused, disorganized, unimaginative and poorly conceived than just about anyone else you can find on a given saturday.

What keeps KF out of the worst coaches IMO is his ability to identify, evaluate and develop players, although it seems to work in reverse for QBs too often. Ive said it allot of times, no one that Iowa can realistically get will bring in more talent than KF, even though he does it in a different way.

The catch 22 is that there are few that could do less with it on the field.

KF has been getting by on excellent player development since he has been here. Squeaking out close wins, and too often losses, against teams that should have never been close.

When the talent advantage is not there its not pretty. The blunders turn into losses instead of close wins. Western/Central Michigans happen, at home. No coach should be able to take big ten players and lose those games.

Candidate for post of the year. I'm standing up and appluading right now. Your last paragraph is spot on. You'll have some nuts try to minimize it by saying well, "look what happened to Michigan against App State", and crap like that, but don't let them get to you. Folks who can reason realize that no big ten team should ever lose to a MAC team, especially at home. Geez.

FreedComanche

 

[Makavelihawk]

I drink the black and gold Kool-Aid like the rest of you butI think what Mandel said is right on. If coach was making $2 mill less then I think we are not having this discussion,but he doesn’t… he makes $3 million and change. That my friend is where the bases of Mandel's story is being told from.
At what we are paying coach and with him being at Iowa as long as he has and the results we are getting ARE unacceptable. My expectations of coach making his type of scratch are 9 wins a year, solid recruiting classes, teams that compete and are getting embarrassed on national TV. I’m not saying we must win Big Ten titles every year. What I am saying is that our coach has gotten so complacent that even people outside the state of Iowa are saying “hey you guys are getting screwed".
Sad to say but yes we are getting a full-fledged reaming of the keester.

I get what you're saying, but for me personally, if he was making $500k I'd think he's an awful gameday coach, and has done an awful coaching job over the last 8 years with what he has to work with.

 

[theboat]

So there are actually people that believe Ferentz is one of the 5 worst coaches out of 120+?

Step away from the ledge folks.

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

Mandel is jumping the downward bound bandwagon. If Kirk gets a winning year he'll switch. He's worse than a politician. Well not worse, but on par.

 

[FreedComanche]

Mandel is jumping the downward bound bandwagon. If Kirk gets a winning year he'll switch. He's worse than a politician. Well not worse, but on par.

Come on, Denis. He's talking about right now, not after this season. Of course he has a chance to redeem himself.

FreedComanche

 

[kicker22]

Sorry maybe it's jsut me, but I refuse to consider salary as part of what makes or breaks a coach. I don't care if coach A is making "x" amount and coach B is making "X" amount, it's the results on the field that matter. If both coaches end up going 4-8 I think its a rediculous argument to say that the coach that is being paid more than the other coach is the worse of the two because he gets paid more.

IMO all the financial side of it says is that a coach is being paid more than another coach because they've done something that impressed a group of individuals enough at one point in time or another to lock them up so they don't end up going elsewhere. The fact is, regardless of how well a coach's pockets are lined doesn't determine whether or not he will continue to succeed or fail.

KF may be on the list of most over paid coaches, but to say that if he weren't making so much money he wouldn't be on the list in my opinion is a complete joke. Once contract figures are applied to the argument, IMO, it becomes a discussion about a university's investment and not and has nothing to do with coaching.

 

[Hawknick]

To prove my ranking of of Mandel being the #1 worst sports writer in America I have found 6 teams that Iowa has more than double the total wins of any of these teams. So it is not even close.
Akron 3 wins
Kansas 6 wins
New Mexico State 7 wins
Tulane 8 wins
Colorado 9 wins
Idaho 9 wins
Iowa 19 wins

 

[PeoriaHWKI]

Worst coach? No not even close. Bad return on the investment? Probably, but the University is to blame for that.

 

[OUTofTOWNHAWK]

Mandel is jumping the downward bound bandwagon. If Kirk gets a winning year he'll switch. He's worse than a politician. Well not worse, but on par.

Opinion are what they are. However look how many people are back on the KF train after the offseason.

If your a KF fan thats fine with me, but when your he should be fired on gameday to thinking Iowa is BCS bound in the matter of a couple months thats crazy.

Im not saying that you are back and forth Denis because I havent seen that. Im just using your post to point out how back and forth the fans are around here.

 

[OUTofTOWNHAWK]

To prove my ranking of of Mandel being the #1 worst sports writer in America I have found 6 teams that Iowa has more than double the total wins of any of these teams. So it is not even close.
Akron 3 wins
Kansas 6 wins
New Mexico State 7 wins
Tulane 8 wins
Colorado 9 wins
Idaho 9 wins
Iowa 19 wins

Are you a troll? You pick Iowa to win 10 games this year and beat OSU and now you list Iowa with these schools? You are proving nothing other than you have a keyboard.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

I agree.

Strategically and schematically he is about as bad as it gets. Iowas offense just looks more sloppy, confused, disorganized, unimaginative and poorly conceived than just about anyone else you can find on a given saturday.

What keeps KF out of the worst coaches IMO is his ability to identify, evaluate and develop players, although it seems to work in reverse for QBs too often. Ive said it allot of times, no one that Iowa can realistically get will bring in more talent than KF, even though he does it in a different way.

The catch 22 is that there are few that could do less with it on the field.

KF has been getting by on excellent player development since he has been here. Squeaking out close wins, and too often losses, against teams that should have never been close.

When the talent advantage is not there its not pretty. The blunders turn into losses instead of close wins. Western/Central Michigans happen, at home. No coach should be able to take big ten players and lose those games.

Well summarized. Bottom line is this: KFz is an outstanding "assistant coach" and general manager. He can develop talent and run a program as well as anybody out there.

But on the sidelines he'd get beat by most high school coaches.

The solution is simple, delegate what you can't do to your people who CAN. Hand off the game management to your OC and DC...and get the hell out of their way. That, of course, requires hiring a sharp young OC who knows what he's doing and has aspirations to be a HC.

 

[OUTofTOWNHAWK]

So there are actually people that believe Ferentz is one of the 5 worst coaches out of 120+?

Step away from the ledge folks.

You have to take into consideration what the HC has at the school they are coaching at. So yes if you take all the D1 coaches and look at what they have and at what school then yes KF is in the worst 5. Please show me who puts the talent Iowa does in the NFL and routinely loses to some of the worst teams in the country?

Arent we always talking about how many Iowa kids get in the NFL?