Now that the coaching changes are complete, are you satisfied with the changes as a whole? Remembering back to IMO the tipping point, the meltdown after the loss to Minnesota this year, turned the majority of the fanbase in favor of at least some sort of coaching changes throughout the second half of the season. Jon summed it up well in an article he wrote (if memory serves me right) after the Insight Bowl that Iowa football had turned in his words "stale". Does this shakeup renew your excitement, or at least make you more hopeful for the future?
Satisfied with coaching staff?
- Thread starter CHShawk
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spudhawk
Well-Known Member
I think every change was for the positive- even losing Norm. I think Norm's health made it imperative that he retire and that Phil Parker will step in and transition Iowa to a slightly more aggressive version of what has been traditionally successful. I am excited to see Davis' impact passing game. I have heard good things about his ability to gameplan and teach. I am in the camp that thinks Iowa will be hard to prepare for going into the next couple of seasons and that the passing game is going to improve tangibly.
But I am really excited about the additions of Ferentz and Woods. Two young guys who had success as Hawkeyes and in their post Iowa careers in football. They should bring a lot to the table recruiting and may relate to younger players better.
Going forward I think Iowa's offense will be a nice marriage of Davis passing acumen blended with the traditional zone blocking running scheme that has been mostly successful over the last 13 seasons. The player who benefits most immediately is obviously Vandenberg and I think he is poised to have a great senior season and could pass for over 30 TDs next season and will likely surpass his yardage total from last season. If Iowa can score 30 ppg next season given the schedule the record should be something we can all live with- 8 wins being the floor.
But I am really excited about the additions of Ferentz and Woods. Two young guys who had success as Hawkeyes and in their post Iowa careers in football. They should bring a lot to the table recruiting and may relate to younger players better.
Going forward I think Iowa's offense will be a nice marriage of Davis passing acumen blended with the traditional zone blocking running scheme that has been mostly successful over the last 13 seasons. The player who benefits most immediately is obviously Vandenberg and I think he is poised to have a great senior season and could pass for over 30 TDs next season and will likely surpass his yardage total from last season. If Iowa can score 30 ppg next season given the schedule the record should be something we can all live with- 8 wins being the floor.
theboat
Well-Known Member
How much?
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
I would expand on this but I can't. It's the perfect post for this thread.
Bravo Spud.
rjbaustian
Well-Known Member
Very very excited
HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
It is a push on the hires. Probably more of the same....with a few different wrinkles.
MissouriHerk
Well-Known Member
I just don't know why we would think that just because Phil Parker was an assistant under Norm and will have a similar "system", that he will be as effective of a DC and teacher as Norm was. There really is no evidence of that, if the evidence doesn't in fact suggest the opposite. I am worried a little about that hire but I may very well be proven wrong.
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
See - here is the thing...
With Ken, the scheme was fine and the Sun-Fri coaching was also fine. It was the playcalling - not the plays, but the order in which they were called. There was no cohesion.
I expect that to get better.
With Ken, the scheme was fine and the Sun-Fri coaching was also fine. It was the playcalling - not the plays, but the order in which they were called. There was no cohesion.
I expect that to get better.
MrCloseShave
Well-Known Member
I like the moves, ready to be relevant again.
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
Bob Sanders, Amari Spivey, Tyler Sash, Brett Greenwood, Benny Sapp, Charles Godfrey and soon Shawn Prater and Micah Hyde disagree with you.
He has been arguably our best position coach on either side of the ball in the KF era.
Montanahawk
Well-Known Member
I'm somewhere believing these were good hires and "meh" hires. Not neat fit there. I'd say I like the Woods and B. Ferentz hires, under the circumstances.
As a football coach the greatest strength of Hayden Fry was his choosing and development of coaches. We all know the litany of coaches who've served under Hayden that turned Iowa into "The Harvard of college football coaching". Joe Philbin was a very good hire, and an even better one was Norm Parker, and a number of the others go from a floor of not bad to good.
We don't know KF's legacy yet but there's some legitimate reason for hope that Hayden passed down some his ability to identify quality coaches to our favorite nice guy head coach.
That's why like in talent identification in recruiting I think the cliche "trust the coach/es" fits well with him than most others. He has a impressive resume at it. I'm not sure his ability to identify quality coaches is of quite the same caliber but there's not been a lot of turnover in the staff hence not a lot of examples of a former Iowa coach going on to coaching greatness elsewhere. But, his coaching staffs have been strong, in the main. So, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm a little concerned though if salary structure may have played a role in who we have on staff. Can we really get the guys KF really wants that say an SEC school could?
Hard to say. With Davis my concern if he will repeat some mistakes of the past, and as I interpret them, being too predictable. I like how his strengths as a coach dovetails with KF's weaknesses, and conversely how KF's strengths fill some holes in his resume. It sounds like Davis's role at Iowa will be similar to his role as QB coach, and passing offensive coordinator at Georgia. The QB's and passing game is his, the offensive ground game is KF's. I'm not sure how the game plans will play out. I expect they'll be collaborative but, who will do the bulk of the game planning and play calling? I assume that'll be Davis as he simply has less overall responsibilities and less time constraints than KF. With Phil Parker he's more of a known quantity. I really don't expect much change on defense and that's probably a very good thing as that's carried us for most of the last decade.
I'm not quite where I can call these good hires, but I suspect it's more likely that they are than they aren't and that's because I trust Kirk's judgement(except during certain game/time management situations...wink).
As a football coach the greatest strength of Hayden Fry was his choosing and development of coaches. We all know the litany of coaches who've served under Hayden that turned Iowa into "The Harvard of college football coaching". Joe Philbin was a very good hire, and an even better one was Norm Parker, and a number of the others go from a floor of not bad to good.
We don't know KF's legacy yet but there's some legitimate reason for hope that Hayden passed down some his ability to identify quality coaches to our favorite nice guy head coach.
That's why like in talent identification in recruiting I think the cliche "trust the coach/es" fits well with him than most others. He has a impressive resume at it. I'm not sure his ability to identify quality coaches is of quite the same caliber but there's not been a lot of turnover in the staff hence not a lot of examples of a former Iowa coach going on to coaching greatness elsewhere. But, his coaching staffs have been strong, in the main. So, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm a little concerned though if salary structure may have played a role in who we have on staff. Can we really get the guys KF really wants that say an SEC school could?
Hard to say. With Davis my concern if he will repeat some mistakes of the past, and as I interpret them, being too predictable. I like how his strengths as a coach dovetails with KF's weaknesses, and conversely how KF's strengths fill some holes in his resume. It sounds like Davis's role at Iowa will be similar to his role as QB coach, and passing offensive coordinator at Georgia. The QB's and passing game is his, the offensive ground game is KF's. I'm not sure how the game plans will play out. I expect they'll be collaborative but, who will do the bulk of the game planning and play calling? I assume that'll be Davis as he simply has less overall responsibilities and less time constraints than KF. With Phil Parker he's more of a known quantity. I really don't expect much change on defense and that's probably a very good thing as that's carried us for most of the last decade.
I'm not quite where I can call these good hires, but I suspect it's more likely that they are than they aren't and that's because I trust Kirk's judgement(except during certain game/time management situations...wink).
imported_ankle23
Well-Known Member
hayden from 1979-1989 - we all know his great assistant coaches.
name all the greats from 1990 to 1998.
his strength became a weakness, and the 2nd decade record was a reflection of that, imo.
NewMexHawk
Well-Known Member
Time will tell whether the hires are good, great, or not so great. I just don't see the program changing much in the offense or defense. I think Iowa will still be very predictable and vanilla. That is the only thing KF will allow, much too risky to do anything else. Our win/loss seasons are not going to change ...mostly six to seven wins a year and mostly 2nd or 3rd tier bowls, which will satisfy many Iowa fans, On that rare occasion, once every seven or eight years, Iowa will get to a BCS game.
Still never going to beat OSU and Iowa will lose and struggle against the lower teams in the B1G. In other words, not much is going to change because the head coach is not going to change anything.
Still never going to beat OSU and Iowa will lose and struggle against the lower teams in the B1G. In other words, not much is going to change because the head coach is not going to change anything.
We'll see about player development and game day decisions. My biggest hope is that there can be an improvement in player retention and also limiting the dips in recruiting. The three year drop-offs appear to be closely related with at least a couple of down cycles in recruiting.
IATrainMaster101
Well-Known Member
I like the hires but I'm taking a wait and see approach. I don't feel the wheels were coming off the program but I do feel like it needed some fresh air. The basic philosophy works and will continue to but it needs some tuning. Iowa has spend years building and recruiting this machine to run this way. Going away from it would be an epic mistake. Fixing it up is the mission. I beluevevwe hired good coaches to do that. I love the youth injections of Ferentz and Woods. I hope Brian can learn from and challenge his father. I have been in the camp that Phil Parker was probably the best candidate to replace one of the best in the business. With Davis I don't think we need an overhaul, I just want to see the offense be more efficient. I want to see the right buttons pushed at the right time. In all I think the program will improve and get back to peaking again sooner than we hoped.
