Mea Culpa











unwilling or unable to adapt to personnel is the EXACT OPPOSITE thing KF and co. do. Name another program with as many walk-on or no name NFL ers??

Those guys made their way by busting their a** to fit the system and excel within it. Kirk and the rest of the staff don't usually bust the system to find something that works for the player.

I'm not advocating getting rid of any of the coaches. Just saying that they don't exactly adapt all that much, and not very often. 2002 and 2004 are the two notable exceptions.
 


I'm sorry but I don't get this line of thinking.
We've had 13 years to accumulate our data, to make pretty damn educated opinions, criticisms and observations.

If we boil the current "issues" down to the real nitty-gritty it would reveal a staff that is unwilling or unable to adapt to personnel. Certainly not on a game to game basis and quite frequently from season to season.

Most of us knew Iowa would be outmanned on the D this season, not a surprise, but to continue to "stay the course" is lunacy. Asking Tom freakin' Nardo to do what a Christian Ballard or Adrian Clayborn did is just simply ignorant. Asking a 255lb DE to "set the edge & contain" against 320lb tackles with TE's & RB's chipping is asinine. Asking LB's to cover slot WR's is blatant negligence. NONE of this is New & I, nor anyone else needs another set of 4 games to make these statements.

The defense is outmanned. OK, I get it. I have no delusions that we re-load like Ohio St or Alabama, I understand we don't always have the horses. So instead of asking overmatched players, that are working their ***** off, to do what they just aren't capable of is just poor management. Its like asking your dentist to perform your lasik procedure.


Fine,you are entitled to your opinion. Now, please spell out what you would like to see Norm and KF do....which players would you put in there and what type of defensive scheme? Just curious. We are not great as it is,maybe you do have a better idea. Which players and how would you line them up? Thanks.
 


Get over the adapt and need to change crap. It is what it is. In the words of Ricky Stanzi.... If u don't love it, leave it. Every coach in all of football is scrutinized for the exact same thing.
 


While I agree to a point, it still doesn't help with the frustration of seeing the same mistakes year after year with clock management etc...
 


Jon

Actually this forum provides an avenue for venting and releasing a lot of frustration. I love having Coach Ferentz as our head coach but he teases us. Hawkeye fans are desperate for a team that gets national attention, we excel in wrestling but they don't get the recognition they deserve, we don't have pro sports to complain about so similar to cornhusker fans we need the Hawks to do well to feel better about ourselves and our state pride. Whenever we feel the Hawkeye football team is ready to be a annual top 25 team they disappoint us, then they turn it around right about the time we least expect it. The last decade of Hawkeye football may be the most successful ten years in history, and there are fans calling for his head. I'm just a stupid, passionate fan but for us to be more consistent I would love to see Ferentz make some core changes.
 


I appreciate the fact Jon went out of his way to admit he let his emotions get the best of him.

SirJamAlot makes some good points. The way we lose under Coach Ferentz is what makes it so painful. He doesn't coach to win the game, he coaches to keep it close and hopefully win the game. Which then leads to us competing with power-house teams and struggling against teams we should handle. The clock-management issues are totally unheard of. They've happened multiple times and it's unacceptable. Sitting on the ball with 2 minutes left in the half when you have a pretty sauvy QB in Vandenberg is bewildering. Why not just wave a white flag when we run into the locker room? Vandenberg is more than capable of running a 2 minute offense. Here's an idea... let him freaking do it!!!!

IMO the clock-management issues are at the top of the list of my frustrations. Along with that I'd throw in much to conservative play calling, very poor special teams play, and a tendency to leave important players in the game when the game is out of hand. The hardest part of being an Iowa fan and Ferentz supporter is trying to figure out a way to accept these things. Everything I mentioned would require very simple changes. It's not rocket science yet this coaching staff makes it seem like it is. I was at the Wiscy-Iowa game last year and I swear to you every person within 3 rows of me was yelling "Watch for the fake!". I'm sure none of us had any coaching experience, let alone D1/NFL coaching experience. Yet somehow this staff finds a way to screw it up.

I trust Ferentz and I want him to be the guy that turns the ship around. However, he needs to show a willingness to make some core changes to his coaching philosophy. The mistakes we've witnessed these past couple years are unacceptable.
 


I'm sorry but I don't get this line of thinking.
We've had 13 years to accumulate our data, to make pretty damn educated opinions, criticisms and observations.

If we boil the current "issues" down to the real nitty-gritty it would reveal a staff that is unwilling or unable to adapt to personnel. Certainly not on a game to game basis and quite frequently from season to season.

Most of us knew Iowa would be outmanned on the D this season, not a surprise, but to continue to "stay the course" is lunacy. Asking Tom freakin' Nardo to do what a Christian Ballard or Adrian Clayborn did is just simply ignorant. Asking a 255lb DE to "set the edge & contain" against 320lb tackles with TE's & RB's chipping is asinine. Asking LB's to cover slot WR's is blatant negligence. NONE of this is New & I, nor anyone else needs another set of 4 games to make these statements.

The defense is outmanned. OK, I get it. I have no delusions that we re-load like Ohio St or Alabama, I understand we don't always have the horses. So instead of asking overmatched players, that are working their ***** off, to do what they just aren't capable of is just poor management. Its like asking your dentist to perform your lasik procedure.

<<Asking LB's to cover slot WR's is blatant negligence>>

No, it's called a 3-4, a 4-3, Cover 2, and various other names. News flash: LBs covering slot receivers is neither new nor negligent. AJ Edds did it, Angerer did it, Greenway and Hodge did it. Jeremiha Hunter did it.
 


Coach learn how to prepare for fake punts and onside kick situations, coach learn how to effectively use your personnel in key situations, coach when it is 3rd and 2 and minnesota sucks and can't stop us from gaining 10 yards a carry and you are on their 12 yard line run the ball..........
 


I hear what you're saying Jon but some of the results we have and the data that has come out since last Saturday is tough to ignore. For example, a 19-9 record when the team is favored by more than 10 points and I can't help but think of how close that record is to being worse (ie UNI & Arkansas St come to mind). NINE friggin losses to teams Iowa should be blowing out!!!! So we have that bitter pill to swallow along with all the heart attacks of games that are closer than they should be.

The quotes we have been getting from KF attempting to justify Minnesota as a decent team is sickening. You get the impression KF is coaching scared to lose the game and that is keeping him from taking chances. It seems like ever since he got burned against Northwestern taking a chance before halftime that he refuses to ever take that chance again. The whole playing it safe mentality is getting old and it is costing the teams victories these past 2 seasons. More than once I have seen them go conservative on offense either at the end of a half or regulation. The strength of this years team is the offense, take the dang gloves off and give them a chance to show you something, they just might surprise you.

Overall I love the job KF has done here but I hope he reflects on what has happened at ISU & Minnesota and learned something from it.

/rant
 


I hear what you're saying Jon but some of the results we have and the data that has come out since last Saturday is tough to ignore. For example, a 19-9 record when the team is favored by more than 10 points and I can't help but think of how close that record is to being worse (ie UNI & Arkansas St come to mind). NINE friggin losses to teams Iowa should be blowing out!!!! So we have that bitter pill to swallow along with all the heart attacks of games that are closer than they should be.

There is no doubt about that...and its something that is a huge, huge concern when you compare Iowa's record in these games against that of the rest of the Big Ten. It's downright striking, and likely points to Iowa's offensive approach through the years and aversion to risk or pedal to the metal.
 


Get over the adapt and need to change crap. It is what it is. In the words of Ricky Stanzi.... If u don't love it, leave it. Every coach in all of football is scrutinized for the exact same thing.

Right, coaches shouldn't have to adapt. Oklahoma is a perennial national title contender because they refused to go away from the wishbone :rolleyes:.

College football looks much different than it did 5 years ago. What we did worked great back then. Now it only works when we have NFL talent all over the place.

I don't want anyone getting canned. But they do need to be willing to adapt to what's happening in college football right now. So don't give me "love it or leave it". I can express criticism and still be a die-hard fan.
 


unwilling or unable to adapt to personnel is the EXACT OPPOSITE thing KF and co. do. Name another program with as many walk-on or no name NFL ers??

While he has put some unheralded players in the NFL and I give him credit for that, Iowa gets good players and its not as hard to recruit to Iowa as some make it out to be. It's not like Iowa has some recruiting dynamo on staff. Iowa has been able to lure in a lot of talented players, Ballard, Clayborn, Hunter, Bulaga, Mike Jones, Tony Moeaki, Dace Richardson, Matt Roth, Coker, Fiedorwicz, etc... Again, Iowa gets very good talent. It's the 2008 and 2009 class that is hurting the program right now.
 


Jon,

I think using words like "extremists or Jihadic" when referring to other Hawkeye fans amost makes the rest of your words less meangful. The judgment you lay on them is a bit unreasonable. Whether or not you agree with them I think the numbers of them are bigger than you want to give them credit for and while you are free to disagree, name calling and minimizing their stance because you don't agree almost does them a disservice. Are you really saying that just because you don't agree with them they aren't worth your time? They are the same fans who dress in their black and gold just like you, they bleed black and gold, they give money to the university, they go to games, they support the team, they give you hits on this site that help pay your bills. Just because they may want a change doesn't mean they are less of a fan of Iowa.

They've also probably suffered from the spin cycle that has become Iowa Football. When people complained about Ken O'Keefe or Norm you say they are just running what Kirk tells them to. But then in this email and other comments you're almost saying Kirk is above criticism. He makes 4 million a year, he can handle a little criticism.

Just some thoughts for you, this post went longer than intended, I have stayed off the discussions on this board because I still have conflicting ideas in my head but thought you might appreciate how someone "in the middle" sees it.
 


I posted right after the game on Saturday, and I shouldn't have. I think I even said I shouldn't be posting and I called for KF's head. That was the worst loss ever, and I was shocked. Now it's Wednesday, and I don't think KF should be fired, and I'm willing to admit to being an over emotional crybaby after the game. But, I still think we need some changes. Many have laid out all of the clock management, and losing to bad teams, and playing to keep it close arguments that I agree with. My question is, will KF ever do anything to change these issues? And by the way, why are we so much worse on the road this year?
 






Top