New head coach search starts in . . .

[WinOneThisCentury]

Guys the Head Coach search started last year with the hiring of our OL coach. The succession is already in place. I think it was a great move. Get used to the Ferentz name...just learn to substitute BF for KF on your pitchforks.

 

[Billso]

Losing at home to a MAC team ranked #116 (USA Today) in the country does not leave a lot of room for optimism.

I had to read that again, out loud, just to wallow fully in the suck we now embody.

 

[MissouriHerk]

I had to read that again, out loud, just to wallow fully in the suck we now embody.

Literally laughing out loud. Basically embodies all that is true, and really nothing more needs be said here.

 

[NonFactor]

Someone answer me this: who does Iowa even begin to look at for a new coach? (this is just hypothetical) Quite a few have mentioned that a marquee coach is unlikely, so who would it be?

 

[HawkeyeDenis]

As I posted yesterday. If Iowa fires Kirk, the next coach will need a second job to make ends meet.

That's a an overstatement, but the fact is the buy out on Kirk's contract would leave Iowa in a financial mess.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

I asked this in another thread... did you complain at the time of the extension? Just went 10-2 and won the Orange Bowl.

Not with the extension. But the terms... no buyout clause... are unbelievably foolish.

 

[hawkforlife9]

Crazy. Capt going no where. By the time he leaves he'll have all his kids on the staff living in gov housing.

 

[Scorpio79]

If only there was a coach out there like Jim Harbaugh, who would leap at the chance to come to Iowa for ~$4 million or so.

 

[SirJamaLot]

Any time I think of Kirk's salary of $3.85 million I do often ask why we are regularly getting beat by coaches who make 1/3 of what he makes. We all know what Kirk has meant to the program and how he rebuilt it back up after Hayden's final years. But outside of Kirk's first two years, this is the first time I have felt and witnessed that this is a team that is not going to get better.

Losing at home to a MAC team ranked #116 (USA Today) in the country does not leave a lot of room for optimism. When you focus on the last three years and the DIRECTION we are headed you can't simply turn the other way. Next year will be even less kind from a schedule perspective. The Big 10 is down this year -- way down. And yet we are a non-factor in a poor conference.

It just seems like the game has passed us by. The offense and defense we run is simply not working. This is not just a case of "young players" and "not executing." The problem is bigger than that when you use at home to a very bad Central Michigan team. There is no excuse losing to Central Michigan. On our worst day we should beat this team by 3 scores.

I am just as frustrated as the rest of you. Will fans continue to accept losing to lesser opponents? Will they settle for 6 or 7 wins for the next couple of years? I don't know. Time will tell. The University of Iowa has shown its commitment to football (facility upgrades, coaches salaries, etc.) and we simply aren't seeing a good product on the field. When our coach is paid among the top 10 of all college programs shouldn't we expect more? Should we expect losses to the ISU's, Minnesota's, Northwestern's and Central Michigan's of the world?

Bill Snyder has turned Kansas State around -- twice ... And he has done it at a school with no football tradition, small population base, little fan support, and a relatively small salary. When it comes to fan support and facilities, we are not a Purdue, Northwestern, Central Michigan, Iowa State, etc. So why shouldn't we have higher expectations?

outstanding question! Haden Fry's teams were never the same after Snyder left. Beating the Stoops brothers in Norman had to be sweet,

 

[ColumbusHawk]

Get over it people. It's freakin' Iowa.

Go back & read the Omaha World-Herald series on the ten-year history of Big Ten football players from last year (Nebraska was not included in the study). By far & away Iowa produces less Division I talent than any state in the Big Ten. Even Minnesota produces almost fifty percent more talent than Iowa. Based on demographics, the Hawks should finish last in the Big Ten just about every year. Florida produces more Big Ten football players than Iowa.

I am not being an apologist, I'm being realist. I've always said that Iowa is closer to nineteen consecutive non-winning seasons than it is to the national championship. It is an extremely down year for talent in Ohio. However, Scout.com has sixty-seven Ohio kids rated 3* or better. In contrast, Iowa only has four kids rated 3* or better.

Alabama & LSU recruit Ohio, they don't recruit Iowa. Two years ago Alabama got two 5* recruits out of Ohio; however, the Bucks still had the best recruiting class in the Big Ten. Iowa starts three kids from Ohio on defense; Hitchens, Hyde & Lowrery. What do they have in common? The Bucks had absolutely no interest in them.

Look at one bad hire did to Michigan. I am old enough to remember most of the nineteen consecutive non-winning seasons. Fine fire Ferentz, but Iowa needs a very, very good coach just to be competitive.

 

[mrolympia]

go after someone who's offenses score a crapload of points and actually shows some emotion on the sidelines.

 

[RocknRollface]

This is year two of the down cycle. Next year Iowa will start slow and then put together some wins at the end of the year and either win a bowl game to get to 7 wins, or lose a bowl game after getting 7 wins.

The next year things will go northward again.

This is year three of a down cycle. 2010 was possibly the worst year in Iowa history considering the talent on that team.

Its really been going down hill since the knee in columbus in 09.

 

[RocknRollface]

we could hope for a bad enough season that he just gives up and throws in the towel and resigns but who does Iowa go replace him with. We all want a Marquee coach but we all know that will never happen. Might as well get used to being average at best. If youre all Cubs fans this should be easy for you. "there's always next year"

Any coach in D1 could produce the same W L record that Kirk Ferentz does at Iowa.

Most coaches aren't going to be able to produce as many NFL players but in the end Ferentz does nothing with it but play conservative emotionless football and lose games he shouldn't so its a wash.

 

[NCHawker]

This is year three of a down cycle. 2010 was possibly the worst year in Iowa history considering the talent on that team.

1997 comes to mind as well.

 

[RocknRollface]

As time goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer that the 2009 team was really no different than any of the others since 2005, other than that the really close calls were finally going their way. Remember how they got there: they needed two blocked field goals to beat UNI, a last-second touchdown pass at Michigan State, and only defeated a team from the Sun Belt by three points. Not to downplay what that team accomplished, it was truly a special year. But in no way did it warrant signing away a decade of the program and at that price. 3 or 4 years, maybe...but 10? Please.

Completely agree.

2008 and 2009 should have both been undefeated teams, they were absolutely stacked to the brim with talent and could still barely beat crap teams like Indiana.

Again in 2010 loaded with talent, the one thin spot was linebacker and they couldn't compensate for it with nearly all the other starters being drafted. Its absurd.

People act like 08 - 10 was a good stretch but I say any coach short of Ron Zook could have produced better results with those teams.

Now with average talent yesterday is the result.

Central mighican receivers just running around in the secondary completely uncovered.

Flat, sloppy, undisciplined garbage is what KF produces.

 

[PCHawk]

the 09 team wasn't getting lucky that year. they were unlucky that they had a coach that made game plans that were designed to grind out hard fought victories against teams we were way more talented then. if i coached a team with a defense that was loaded with future nflers, my game plan would not be to play soft and wait for the other team to make a mistake. it wouldn't be to use one of the best pass rushers in the nation to keep contain. i would have a game plan that allowed my players to actually make plays and take the victory instead of hoping the less talented teams made more mistakes and gave us victories.

 

[RocknRollface]

Get over it people. It's freakin' Iowa.

Go back & read the Omaha World-Herald series on the ten-year history of Big Ten football players from last year (Nebraska was not included in the study). By far & away Iowa produces less Division I talent than any state in the Big Ten. Even Minnesota produces almost fifty percent more talent than Iowa. Based on demographics, the Hawks should finish last in the Big Ten just about every year. Florida produces more Big Ten football players than Iowa.

I am not being an apologist, I'm being realist. I've always said that Iowa is closer to nineteen consecutive non-winning seasons than it is to the national championship. It is an extremely down year for talent in Ohio. However, Scout.com has sixty-seven Ohio kids rated 3* or better. In contrast, Iowa only has four kids rated 3* or better.

Alabama & LSU recruit Ohio, they don't recruit Iowa. Two years ago Alabama got two 5* recruits out of Ohio; however, the Bucks still had the best recruiting class in the Big Ten. Iowa starts three kids from Ohio on defense; Hitchens, Hyde & Lowrery. What do they have in common? The Bucks had absolutely no interest in them.

Look at one bad hire did to Michigan. I am old enough to remember most of the nineteen consecutive non-winning seasons. Fine fire Ferentz, but Iowa needs a very, very good coach just to be competitive.

Population is certainly a factor but so is fan support. Hence why Illinios Minnesota, Indiana, ect will produce ten times the amount of players Nebraska will and will never be even close in terms of success.

With the schedule we play in the conference we play in nearly any coach in the country could produce 7-5 years at Iowa.

 

[GhostofBTT]

go after someone who's offenses score a crapload of points and actually shows some emotion on the sidelines.

Boy, nothing like a big loss to bring all of the tards back out of hiding.

 

[BackNBlk]

Completely agree.

2008 and 2009 should have both been undefeated teams, they were absolutely stacked to the brim with talent and could still barely beat crap teams like Indiana.

......and your argument falls apart here. After a sad three game slump in 2008, Iowa won 45-9 at Indiana, had a dominant 38-16 win over Wisconsin, beat #5 and undefeated Penn State and trashed Minnesota 55-0. Then they walked all over a South Carolina team that was suppose to be so much faster.

In 2009, they beat ISU in Ames 35-3, beat Penn State in Happy Valley, beat Wisconsin in Madison and beat Indiana 42-24. I know someone will try and make an excuse about how we were losing to Indiana for awhile in that game, but you have to play the full 60 minutes, and they didn't. Sorry a freshman QB wasn't able to deliver that undefeated season that you wanted, but it was still a damn good year.

In summary, we weren't barely beating crap talent. Go back and look at the combined six losses we had in 2008 and 2009 only one team was crap (Illinois).

 

[RocknRollface]

......and your argument falls apart here. After a sad three game slump in 2008, Iowa won 45-9 at Indiana, had a dominant 38-16 win over Wisconsin, beat #5 and undefeated Penn State and trashed Minnesota 55-0. Then they walked all over a South Carolina team that was suppose to be so much faster.

In 2009, they beat ISU in Ames 35-3, beat Penn State in Happy Valley, beat Wisconsin in Madison and beat Indiana 42-24. I know someone will try and make an excuse about how we were losing to Indiana for awhile in that game, but you have to play the full 60 minutes, and they didn't. Sorry a freshman QB wasn't able to deliver that undefeated season that you wanted, but it was still a damn good year.

In summary, we weren't barely beating crap talent. Go back and look at the combined six losses we had in 2008 and 2009 only one team was crap (Illinois).

Do you not see the word barely and understand its meaning? That 09 team barely beat Indiana, they should have lost. Indiana was about to put the game away in kinnick before that absolute fluke of an interception, they also should have lost to frickin UNI.

Overall ,yeah, 08 was a hell of allot better than 2010 but losses to Pitt, NW, and Illinios never should have happened, those were not good teams. MSU was decent but Iowa dominated that game and still found a way to lose.

And there is no excuse for 2010. biggest flop in Hawk history.

All in all you just can't look back on that stretch and that group of players and think it was not a huge waste of talent.

Iowa sent the third most players to the NFL in the entire country over that three year stretch and didn't win the conference even once.