Poll: Is KF helping or hurting his legacy?

Do you think KF is helping or hurting his legacy at this point?

  • Helping

    Votes: 18 35.3%

  • Hurting

    Votes: 8 15.7%

  • Neither- staying the same

    Votes: 25 49.0%
  • Total voters
    51
H

hawkeyes87

Well-Known Member
This may have been done / covered before, but it's the off-season...

To me, KF's legacy would have been better if he left (to the NFL, or retired, etc) after 2009.

Every year since then just dilutes 4 Top-10's and a Top-25 in 8 years.

Yes, there have been lots of wins in the 8 years since then, but 1 Top-10, no Top-25's, and 2-5 in bowls obviously falls way short of those previous 8.
 
At this point. Well as of after having the 12-0 yr a couple yrs back I think that cemented it. So if he get's anywhere between 6 and 9 wins this year it is what it is. That needle isn't changing. Now if they tank into oblivion the next couple years it could hurt it some. Especially if the program is in rough shape for the transition of coaches. But if they keep doing what they normally seem to do he'll be looked at as a college HOF coach and highly revered by the fans of this era for sure. And if he were to pull off another magical run of some kind it'd only completely cement himself as being a great coach and in some eyes they'd put him above Fry. Probably not all I'm sure that'd be hotly debated. Yet debated nonetheless
 
Hawkfnntn said:
if they keep doing what they normally seem to do he'll be looked at as a college HOF coach and highly revered by the fans of this era for sure.
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The question isn't "will he be remembered as a great coach?". Nobody could debate that.

But, are all these 7-8 win, non top-25 seasons helping or hurting his legacy?
 
Only way he hurts it is as Vegas says, with sub 8 win seasons. That said, it's pretty tough, nay almost unfathomable of any coach or staff to take mostly 50th ranked recruiting classes and even come close to go 8-5 with the 5th hardest schedule in the nation.
I won't bring up that a legacy is more than just numbers on a piece of paper, because I don't think that's what you are asking.
 
hawkeyes87 said:
The question isn't "will he be remembered as a great coach?". Nobody could debate that.

But, are all these 7-8 win, non top-25 seasons helping or hurting his legacy?
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I don't think so. I guess my take on that is did Frys last few years hurt his? He left Iowa in a bad bad spot at the time. It's partially why Stoops chose OU and we ended up with a nobody at the time in KF to begin with. I can't say I've ever heard anyone speak ill of him for that really. It's all rainbows and Rose Bowls when talking about Frys legacy. So all things being equal the same applying for KF I don't see his legacy getting tarnished in any way with mediocre years down the stretch if that's what ends up happening.
 
hawkeyes87 said:
This may have been done / covered before, but it's the off-season...

To me, KF's legacy would have been better if he left (to the NFL, or retired, etc) after 2009.

Every year since then just dilutes 4 Top-10's and a Top-25 in 8 years.

Yes, there have been lots of wins in the 8 years since then, but 1 Top-10, no Top-25's, and 2-5 in bowls obviously falls way short of those previous 8.
Click to expand...

I voted for hurting for 2 reasons:

1. 2001-2009 was a great stretch of football. Even some teams that didn't win a ton of games (2001 & 2005) were talented and exciting on offense. And the program back then was simply tougher. Anyone who has that type of run is going to be hurting their legacy a bit when they can't come close to matching it over the following decade.

2. It will only be "hurting" category until about 5 years after Ferentz retires. IMO eventually Ferentz's legacy will be looked at similar to, but better than, Tom Davis. Nobody was too upset when he left, but many will miss him a lot after he's been gone a few years.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
my take on that is did Frys last few years hurt his? He left Iowa in a bad bad spot at the time. It's partially why Stoops chose OU and we ended up with a nobody at the time in KF to begin with.
Click to expand...
​
It's crazy how "bad" people think things were when KF started.

………..(rec.... bowl)
…….…….IA……….….…….….…….OU​
'93…….6-6... L Alamo………...…..9-3... W Hancock.. #14
'94…….5-5-1……….…….…….…..…6-6.. L Copper
'95…….8-4... W Sun...... #22.......5-5-1
'96…….9-3... W Alamo.. #18.......3-8
'97…….7-5... L Sun…...….…….…..4-8
'98…….3-8…….….…….…...….…....5-6
……. KF…….…….….…….…………..BS
'99…….1-10…….…….….……...…...7-5.. L Independence
'00...…..3-9...............……..........….13-0.. Natl Champs!

So:
1) the "bad" KF inherited was 2 straight non top-25 seasons & 1 non-bowl season
2) OU obviously had a tradition Iowa didn't, but Stoops didn't choose them over Iowa because of more recent success
3) damn that was a helluva turnaround by BS!​
 
Kirk won Iowa's first Division championship in 2015 and a return trip to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1991. He was also named as the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the 4th time for that season. I would say he helped his legacy by staying on.
 
hawkeyes87 said:
It's crazy how "bad" people think things were when KF started.

………..(rec.... bowl)
…….…….IA……….….…….….…….OU​
'93…….6-6... L Alamo………...…..9-3... W Hancock.. #14
'94…….5-5-1……….…….…….…..…6-6.. L Copper
'95…….8-4... W Sun...... #22.......5-5-1
'96…….9-3... W Alamo.. #18.......3-8
'97…….7-5... L Sun…...….…….…..4-8
'98…….3-8…….….…….…...….…....5-6
……. KF…….…….….…….…………..BS
'99…….1-10…….…….….……...…...7-5.. L Independence
'00...…..3-9...............……..........….13-0.. Natl Champs!

So:
1) the "bad" KF inherited was 2 straight non top-25 seasons & 1 non-bowl season
2) OU obviously had a tradition Iowa didn't, but Stoops didn't choose them over Iowa because of more recent success
3) damn that was a helluva turnaround by BS!​
Click to expand...
Oh you're gonna go and post facts huh? How dare you!!
 
ChosenChildren said:
Kirk won Iowa's first Division championship in 2015 and a return trip to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1991. He was also named as the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the 4th time for that season. I would say he helped his legacy by staying on.
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I would say he helped his legacy by naming Beathard the starter in January or should I say CJ's dad helped Kirk's legacy by giving a radio interview.
 
hawkeyes87 said:
It's crazy how "bad" people think things were when KF started.

………..(rec.... bowl)
…….…….IA……….….…….….…….OU​
'93…….6-6... L Alamo………...…..9-3... W Hancock.. #14
'94…….5-5-1……….…….…….…..…6-6.. L Copper
'95…….8-4... W Sun...... #22.......5-5-1
'96…….9-3... W Alamo.. #18.......3-8
'97…….7-5... L Sun…...….…….…..4-8
'98…….3-8…….….…….…...….…....5-6
……. KF…….…….….…….…………..BS
'99…….1-10…….…….….……...…...7-5.. L Independence
'00...…..3-9...............……..........….13-0.. Natl Champs!

So:
1) the "bad" KF inherited was 2 straight non top-25 seasons & 1 non-bowl season
2) OU obviously had a tradition Iowa didn't, but Stoops didn't choose them over Iowa because of more recent success
3) damn that was a helluva turnaround by BS!​
Click to expand...
What do you think Frys record would have been if he didn't retire when he did? You think he'd have done more than the 1-10, 3-9 KF did to start with? It'd be tough to argue that. No matter how you slice up who was coaching Iowa had 3 pretty bleak years in a row between 98 and 00 right? That is due to how Fry left the program. It's not just the last yr he was there I take into account the mess left over and KF did a pretty good job of digging out of it.
And in regards to Stoops I said it was 'partially' why. Not totally why. I think Iowa draged their feet on committing to him as well I think that was a two way street as to why they didn't come together. OU had tradition they are where they are and was going to be an easier program to turn around than ours. Even at the time I don't think that would have been arguable....
 
Xerxes said:
I voted for hurting for 2 reasons:

1. 2001-2009 was a great stretch of football. Even some teams that didn't win a ton of games (2001 & 2005) were talented and exciting on offense. And the program back then was simply tougher. Anyone who has that type of run is going to be hurting their legacy a bit when they can't come close to matching it over the following decade.

2. It will only be "hurting" category until about 5 years after Ferentz retires. IMO eventually Ferentz's legacy will be looked at similar to, but better than, Tom Davis. Nobody was too upset when he left, but many will miss him a lot after he's been gone a few years.
Click to expand...
I think the fan base was somewhat split on that. It wasn't 50/50 or anything but there were a lot of fans that even at the time didn't want to see Davis just walked out to pasture like that. Alfords personality and just how he conducted himself rubbed most Iowans the wrong way pretty early on. If he'd have won more it'd have been overlooked more but then the Pierre Pierce cloud just was what it was too... It's pretty unreal honestly how Alford has been able to do what he's done to continue coaching like he has. I mean it wasn't till well after UCLA even hired him that the Pierre Pierce stuff came up again on their radar. How short of memories folks have that go about hiring people...
 
hawkeyes87 said:
Many give KF a bump today because they're afraid of bringing in an Alford.
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Maybe I'll make that a future poll

IF BF sinks the program after KF leaves, what does that do to KF's legacy?
Helps, because KF looks that much better by comparison, or
Hurts, because KF is why we got BF?
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I think the fan base was somewhat split on that. It wasn't 50/50 or anything but there were a lot of fans that even at the time didn't want to see Davis just walked out to pasture like that. Alfords personality and just how he conducted himself rubbed most Iowans the wrong way pretty early on. If he'd have won more it'd have been overlooked more but then the Pierre Pierce cloud just was what it was too... It's pretty unreal honestly how Alford has been able to do what he's done to continue coaching like he has. I mean it wasn't till well after UCLA even hired him that the Pierre Pierce stuff came up again on their radar. How short of memories folks have that go about hiring people...
Click to expand...

I do hear a lot of this now. Maybe I just missed it at the time but I don't remember anybody being upset about losing Davis for Alford prior to Alford's 3rd season.
 
hawkeyes87 said:
Maybe I'll make that a future poll

IF BF sinks the program after KF leaves, what does that do to KF's legacy?
Helps, because KF looks that much better by comparison, or
Hurts, because KF is why we got BF?
Click to expand...

EXACTLY. We don't know the legacy yet.
This year we honor Fry's coaching tree basically.
But we had no idea then.
What if KF not only fathered but created a coaching tree that brings several NT's to the program?
What if any of the coaches take over and do it?
We just don't know what will happen.
Writing a legacy before it's time is dumb.
We could win a NT this year.
 
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