My Name is WinOneThisCentury, and I'm a...

[HaydenHawk56]

Let me start by saying this: I appreciate KF for all he has done at Iowa. He pulled the program out of the gutter and made it into a great program. 2002-04 was incredible, and he has had some good moments after that as well. 2 Big Ten titles, 2 BCS Bowls (and one win), and several other bowl games. Many thanks to KF for that.

That said...

I've come to the point where I think that something simply isn't working anymore. 2005 was a decent (not great) season, and after the disappointment of 2006 & 07, things appeared to be back on track after 2008/09. So I figured 06/07 were just one of those valleys in between the peaks.

But since 2009, Iowa is yet to finish a season ranked, and it doesn't look overly promising that it will end up ranked in 2014, either. If that ends up the case, that makes 5 straight seasons. That's not a "valley" anymore - it's just a once stout program that simply isn't what it used to be. How long does it take to rebuild, anyway? I can handle a couple of off years, but 5+? No.

I've never once called for KF's firing, but I'm at the point where I think Iowa needs new blood. The coaching I saw yesterday was absolutely mind boggling. Fire him? Well, I'm not sure I've quite hit that point yet, but assuming things don't get turned around this year (I'm having trouble seeing why they would) and the team doesn't win at least 8-9 regular season games (remember, this is a joke of a schedule, 7-5 will not do) then I'll officially be on board with putting KF on the hot seat, with 2015 being the "do or die" season.

For all those "Remember Tom Davis" guys that are sure to chime in, I would argue that I don't think that KF is even producing Tom Davis like results anymore. It's hard to compare football to hoops in terms of "results", but a few points:

1) College football has about third as many teams to compete with. Should technically be easier to be ranked in the Top 25.
2) Big Ten football in 2014 is a lot weaker than Big Ten hoops was in most of Tom Davis's days.
3) I don't believe Tom Davis ever went 5+ years without having a team finishing the season ranked, like KF appears primed to do.
4) Tom Davis was never being paid anywhere near what KF is making.

Although KF produced better results than Davis early on (Davis never won a conference title), IMO the football program has slipped to below Tom Davis levels the past 5 years. I'm not asking for national titles and winning 11 games every year, just get me a Top 25 program. Just be ranked more often than not. Is that too much to ask?

Bottom line: I wouldn't be heartbroken if/when a change is made - unless things ramp up in a hurry.

Very good post. Kirk does have the Big Ten Titles on Tom (although I will always believe Tom was robbed of one with the Minny Cheating Scandal), but I also feel the Iowa Basketball Program was much healthier when he left (a top 15-20 program) compared to where the football program is now. And, with the exception of playing the MSUs of the world in most cases, Tom's teams were fun to watch. Watching Iowa football today is like going to get a root canal done.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

It doesn't take any guts to play AA.

Kirk would do a modest raise preflop and everyone else at the table would read it a mile away because it would be one of the two or three he raised all day.

Hed collect the blinds and be quite pleased with himself.

He would then continue to get blinded out while he waits for another obvious had to play.

LOL.....could see him doing that as well.

 

[RocknRollface]

Personally, I feel that Ferentz needs to find a way to bring in some good assistants... I seem to remember something about how little Iowa's assistants are paid relative to other programs, even within the conference. Iowa has the resources - spend some money on the best assistants you can get!

Not that I know anything about being a head coach, but IMO you need to surround yourself with great football minds, and good teachers. Simply being a good coach yourself probably only takes you so far if your assistants are mediocre. Promoting from within, shuffling around coaches already in the program and moving them to different units, and hiring also-rans who are fired from other programs doesn't seem like the way to go.

Has KF ever fired anyone from his staff?

I feel like I'm reading stuff from 4 years ago.

He already squandered the opportunities to hire the right people, do or die seasons have come and gone. We've been dead for a while. Last year was fools gold, we beat no one that was any good and haven't beaten a good team in many years.

It's over, nothing left now but to watch KF drag it back down to where it was when he got here.

The sooner Barta gets the Ax the better as that might facilitate change quicker but honestly it's pretty scary to think of what that stupid B itch mason could come up with. Getting rid of her too would be allot safer.

 

[BigD]

I feel like I'm reading stuff from 4 years ago.

He already squandered the opportunities to hire the right people, do or die seasons have come and gone. We've been dead for a while. Last year was fools gold, we beat no one that was any good and haven't beaten a good team in many years.

It's over, nothing left now but to watch KF drag it back down to where it was when he got here.

The sooner Barta gets the Ax the better as that might facilitate change quicker but honestly it's pretty scary to think of what that stupid B itch mason could come up with. Getting rid of her too would be allot safer.

That was interesting how you did a stealth on that one word describing Mason. Maybe you should try your luck being our offensive coordinator.

 

[RocknRollface]

I never thought of it that way but that's amazingly true.

Ferentz only managed to get one good year out of that group.

If you look at the body of work for that group its more like a C....

I've been pointing it out for years. The only two teams in the country to have more players drafted over those 3 years were Florida and USC.

And it took two miracle plays against, of all teams Indiana and UNI, to make the one BCS bowl.

 

[RocknRollface]

In '03 we went 5-3 in the Big 10. The only reason it is remembered as an awesome year is because we finished in the top 10 due to an extremely strange year in college football. I guess that and we actually went undefeated against the non cons for one of the few times ever.

'04 was a year we won because we were forced to do what Kirk doesn't want to do in games. That year shouldn't be used for an example of how good of a coach he is for 2 reasons.

1. If all of our runningbacks didn't get hurt we would have continued to do what Kirk does and we would have had a 7-5ish type year. If he would have looked at the team's makeup that year with the 1st string RB and decided being a throwing team was in our best interest, it would be different. That's simply not the case. He fell into that season when all our backs went down.

2. It was a decade ago.

agreed. I was using all of it as an example of why the initial impression of him as a good coach was misleading .

 

[PCHawk]

agreed. I was using all of it as an example of why the initial impression of him as a good coach was misleading .

I knew that and agree. I was just adding to your post.

 

[MoseSchrute]

^Kirk Ferentz is probably the only coach(with 3 games or more) with a losing record to Iowa State in the history of football.

 

[trj]

^Kirk Ferentz is probably the only coach(with 3 games or more) with a losing record to Iowa State in the history of football.

And there is really no way around this.....you can scream the 85 limit scholarship rule has leveled the playing field all you want. The 7-9 and there is a good possibly, a 7-10 mark, is a huge blemish on the KF resume.

 

[NCHawker]

a year ago, after the Maryland game

 

[Fryowa]

It goes beyond strictly W/L results. I know that wins are the end all-be all but he doesn't give off any indication that he takes it personally.

If KF had even a milligram of Fran's passion and fire for the game and his players I could possibly be persuaded to get on board. Show the world that you have a pulse for god's sake.

 

[Eda]

It goes beyond strictly W/L results. I know that wins are the end all-be all but he doesn't give off any indication that he takes it personally.

If KF had even a milligram of Fran's passion and fire for the game and his players I could possibly be persuaded to get on board. Show the world that you have a pulse for god's sake.

Have you witnessed him during practice or throughout the offseason? In team meetings? In the middle of workouts? Just asking because I haven't; so I can't tell if he is passionless at those times.

I can say I've seen him show plenty of passion on the field during game days. If you read or listen to his pressers, you can definitely tell when he's not happy in those too.

 

[Fryowa]

Have you witnessed him during practice or throughout the offseason? In team meetings? In the middle of workouts? Just asking because I haven't; so I can't tell if he is passionless at those times.

I can say I've seen him show plenty of passion on the field during game days. If you read or listen to his pressers, you can definitely tell when he's not happy in those too.

Look, I'm obviously not arguing with results this season. I'm just going by what I see on the field during games and after. There's a big difference between being able to tell when he's not happy in a presser and actually showing some sign of life out there. I get it that he's an elite coach whether you like him or not; he's just not my type of personality (which I understand doesn't matter to Hawkeye fb). It's vanilla style football that has given mediocre results more often than not in the past.

It boils down to the fact that there are Kirk fans, and then people who'd rather he was bought out. It's a waste of time to try to argue the point because neither of us will convince the other. I'm just going to soak it in this year. Go Hawks.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

That was an awesome reread. I'll admit, by the end of last year, I was there with most of the posters. I'm a little surprised I didn't post in that thread.

I'm on record multiple times saying my overall defense and support of KF was based on the pros out weighing the cons, that started to waiver after the isu game last year and more so after Maryland. After the nebby game and TN game, I though it was time for change.

Keep winning.