Seriously, what's with all the fluff pieces

[Joshbrown]

You missed the point. Gary Barta has no power to fire KF. He works for Kirk, not the other way around.

It's actually worse than that. We have a Joe Paterno situation.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I've got 2 sons. Ask them how well it works when they try to tell their old man what's what!

Well, is it more the son's or the old man? Just askin'.

How old are your son's?

 

[dwghawk]

You missed the point. Gary Barta has no power to fire KF. He works for Kirk, not the other way around.

So that nepotism deal that Brian reports to Barta rather than Pops is just a smoke screen to bypass university rules?

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Nobody knows what kind of oc we could have gotten when they didn't keep an open mind in the search process. I really hope Brian works out but in my opinion there isn't even a sample size to compare to or help draw a reasonable conclusion that he can succeed. Inevitably what it comes down to is we still have kirk so the offense is going to be the same as the last 18 years.

Look, KF knows he is on his tail end of his coaching career and probably that Brian will be his last O coordinator hire. He knew at this point he couldn't hire a guy to come in with a completely different philosophy to change things. This was the best move for the timing of everything and probably the easiest transition. BF will have the ability to tweak and maybe diversify the offense more, within what they already do.

I feel in KF's eyes, he's either going to ride this ship with Brian if they are successful of go down with it after trying this. If it goes south, I have no doubt KF would hang it up at this point. I can see it working though and them riding this ride to success.

 

[lightning1]

You missed the point. Gary Barta has no power to fire KF. He works for Kirk, not the other way around.

No. You missed the point. Do you think the football coach at Wisconsin is Barry Alvarez's boss or do you think it's the other way around? Funny what happens when the boosters understand what the AD's priorities are.

 

[HawkGold]

Look, KF knows he is on his tail end of his coaching career and probably that Brian will be his last O coordinator hire. He knew at this point he couldn't hire a guy to come in with a completely different philosophy to change things. This was the best move for the timing of everything and probably the easiest transition. BF will have the ability to tweak and maybe diversify the offense more, within what they already do.

I feel in KF's eyes, he's either going to ride this ship with Brian if they are successful of go down with it after trying this. If it goes south, I have no doubt KF would hang it up at this point. I can see it working though and them riding this ride to success.

You are reading too much into this. K F never considets riding something down. The guy has been close to destroying his own career. He is not thinking of destroying his kids career.

 

[Fryowa]

No. You missed the point. Do you think the football coach at Wisconsin is Barry Alvarez's boss or do you think it's the other way around? Funny what happens when the boosters understand what the AD's priorities are.

Completely irrelevant situation. Barry Alvarez is an AD at a school where he was a long-time successful coach. Barta would know a fade route if it hit him in the face. I don't care if he played football or not, he's not a football guy and Iowa boosters know that. Alvarez and Gary Barta's situations could not be more opposite.

You're grasping at straws now and your naivete is starting to show. And to answer your implied question from above, yes, Kirk Ferentz is Gary Barta's boss, not the other way around.

 

[Fryowa]

So that nepotism deal that Brian reports to Barta rather than Pops is just a smoke screen to bypass university rules?

Can't tell if serious.

 

[dwghawk]

Can't tell if serious.

Not serious, just trolling.

 

[Fryowa]

Can't tell if serious.

Excellent job.

 

[lightning1]

Completely irrelevant situation. Barry Alvarez is an AD at a school where he was a long-time successful coach. Barta would know a fade route if it hit him in the face. I don't care if he played football or not, he's not a football guy and Iowa boosters know that. Alvarez and Gary Barta's situations could not be more opposite.

You're grasping at straws now and your naivete is starting to show. And to answer your implied question from above, yes, Kirk Ferentz is Gary Barta's boss, not the other way around.

You're throwing excuses out to help your argument because your argument is TRASH! I specifically cited a former Iowa player and Former Iowa coach as the ad I would want, or someone like him (Chuck Long).
You want to keep throwing crap against a wall, go to the monkey house with the rest of your ilk.

 

[earlkoppelman]

Its the best you can do if you don't want to try. Or if you want to help your son become a hea

There have been multiple thpieces talking about BF being the "perfect" hire, being "brilliant", being "groomed" for this position, etc.

Look, I like the guy as well. Local kid, part of 2 conference titles, got a cup of coffee in the League, spent 4 years on the NE staff, position coach here...seems smart, aggressive, etc.

But let's be real...we're hiring a guy who has never in his life, at any level of football, designed an entire offense, called a single play in any game, or mentored a single skill player outside of TE. And not only are Jon and Rob okay with this, but are singing his praises as if he's the 2nd coming of Bill Snyder. Have we just decided that critical thinking is not required because his last name is Ferentz?

At the end of the day, BF is only the 6th OC in the last 39 years at Iowa and it's not even close that he's the least qualified of all of them by a country mile. Heck, even KOK was a former HC that had a 79-10 record and won a national championship and he was coming to a team coming off a 3-8 season and had a stable of 250lb OL. After 18 years of KF, and coming off a 12-2 season just a year ago, this is what we end up with? BF may be the best fit, but was he really the best we could do? Seems like another "union card" situation to me...

THEY ARE BEING TYPED WITH THEIR FINGERS CROSSED.

 

[Xerxes]

Kirk is a lot of things. Stubborn is one of them. He also has a vision for what he believes can consistently be accomplished at Iowa...and after 18 years of his era, and another 20 years of watching Iowa and Big Ten football before that, I have come to agree with him.

Iowa can consistently and repeatedly find and or build offensive linemen...and they have done a great job on the LOS on defense. I think it begins there. So when you know that is going to be the area that you can most likely and confidently get players every year, you build your program around that identity. It's what Hayden did at Iowa, too, although people just remember the occasional flea flicker or statue of liberty play...those were outliers. Iowa won with OL play and stout defense under Hayden Fry, and they also had two QB's in a 6 out of 7 year span (82-85 and then 87-88) where they had slingers at QB...

Iowa has struggled my entire lifetime in recruiting and or retaining playmakers on the outside...and I think they probably always will.

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my life was to recognize what I was not and quit trying to be something I was not wired or meant to be. I think Kirk gets this as it relates to Iowa football...and I know Brian understands who and what Iowa is and what they can be...and I think Brian, more than any other person out there, can make tweaks within that framework that can work.

Iowa is a great place...a unique place...the fans help make it so. But it is also not without its challenges, inherent challenges that have spanned decades and will span decades more; demographics. You can't just close your eyes and wish those challenges don't exist. I have been writing about these things for nearly two decades...and they have...not...changed.... Not that Kirk hasn't changed, but the demographics have not, or will not.

Iowa's best chance is to win at the LOS...and they do that far more than they don't over a span of five or ten years. That is their advantage area. It's not the state that produces enough skill position players to where you tailor your program in that way. You have to go to other states, where the Iowa brand is not #1, and kids don't grow up dreaming about playing for Iowa, to get those players. For every Amara Darboh, there are 8 offensive lineman that you can bring in and hit with. This is just how it is, it's Iowa's lot in life.

So you match a coordinator in a good marriage with your head coach and the realistic lot in life you have....and that is why I think Brian is the perfect fit.

There was a lot more differences than that. Hayden was a far better offensive recruiter and mind than Kirk was/is. It wasn't just "exotics" as he liked to call them. He got Quinn Early, Dahnan Hughes and used them well. Early and Hughes are light years better than any WR Kirk has ever touched.
Bill Happel, Jay Norvell, and Robert Smith were also very good.
Mike Saunders and Ronnie Harmon were WRs before they were RBs because Fry didn't want to waste their talent on the bench (you can make a strong argument that Harmon was the best WR and RB in school history).
Dwight of course was an RB before becoming a WR. Hayden didn't want to waste him behind Shaw and Banks who were better RBs than Dwight. Can you imagine Kirk moving Dwight? Putting a 5'8 player out at WR? I can't. He would have kept him at 3rd string RB.
Fry never would have been caught with his pants down trotting out WR like Kirk has done over the years. Particularly this year and Fry's WRs did well in years in was 10x harder to throw the ball than it is now.
Hayden used his FBs as weapons, not just as a 6th OL.
Fry used misdirection, even faking to FBs before handing off or pitching to RBs.
You mentioned the QBs. That the most important thing. His QBs developed and got better. Remember Matt Rodgers in 1989? I though Fry was going to rip his head off one game because he was so upset with him. He went on to be All B1G in 1990 & 1991.

 

[lightning1]

There was a lot more differences than that. Hayden was a far better offensive recruiter and mind than Kirk was/is. It wasn't just "exotics" as he liked to call them. He got Quinn Early, Dahnan Hughes and used them well. Early and Hughes are light years better than any WR Kirk has ever touched.
Bill Happel, Jay Norvell, and Robert Smith were also very good.
Mike Saunders and Ronnie Harmon were WRs before they were RBs because Fry didn't want to waste their talent on the bench (you can make a strong argument that Harmon was the best WR and RB in school history).
Dwight of course was an RB before becoming a WR. Hayden didn't want to waste him behind Shaw and Banks who were better RBs than Dwight. Can you imagine Kirk moving Dwight? Putting a 5'8 player out at WR? I can't. He would have kept him at 3rd string RB.
Fry never would have been caught with his pants down trotting out WR like Kirk has done over the years. Particularly this year and Fry's WRs did well in years in was 10x harder to throw the ball than it is now.
Hayden used his FBs as weapons, not just as a 6th OL.
Fry used misdirection, even faking to FBs before handing off or pitching to RBs.
You mentioned the QBs. That the most important thing. His QBs developed and got better. Remember Matt Rodgers in 1989? I though Fry was going to rip his head off one game because he was so upset with him. He went on to be All B1G in 1990 & 1991.

Hayden Fry hated to lose! He'd empty out the tool box before he lost. KF.....not so much. Not even close.

 

[Xerxes]

I hate to even bring this guy up because he's a monster in every sense of the word but Jerry Sandusky once said he wished Fry would get a hobby because it drove him nuts trying to defend him.

Those words will never be used by a DC about defending Kirk's offense.

 

[DewHawk48]

There was a lot more differences than that. Hayden was a far better offensive recruiter and mind than Kirk was/is. It wasn't just "exotics" as he liked to call them. He got Quinn Early, Dahnan Hughes and used them well. Early and Hughes are light years better than any WR Kirk has ever touched.
Bill Happel, Jay Norvell, and Robert Smith were also very good.
Mike Saunders and Ronnie Harmon were WRs before they were RBs because Fry didn't want to waste their talent on the bench (you can make a strong argument that Harmon was the best WR and RB in school history).
Dwight of course was an RB before becoming a WR. Hayden didn't want to waste him behind Shaw and Banks who were better RBs than Dwight. Can you imagine Kirk moving Dwight? Putting a 5'8 player out at WR? I can't. He would have kept him at 3rd string RB.
Fry never would have been caught with his pants down trotting out WR like Kirk has done over the years. Particularly this year and Fry's WRs did well in years in was 10x harder to throw the ball than it is now.
Hayden used his FBs as weapons, not just as a 6th OL.
Fry used misdirection, even faking to FBs before handing off or pitching to RBs.
You mentioned the QBs. That the most important thing. His QBs developed and got better. Remember Matt Rodgers in 1989? I though Fry was going to rip his head off one game because he was so upset with him. He went on to be All B1G in 1990 & 1991.

I agree with all the above about Hayden. Ferentz is not and ever be close to Hayden asa head coach IMO!

 

[hawkdrummer1]

my 2 cents (or perhaps less).

I tend to agree with Jon. Davis was a bad fit from day 1. Brian has earned his shot and his resume is solid (no matter what his last name is). IMHO, he's also our best shot at breaking through Kirk's stubbornness...Brian may be the only one that can get away with challenging him.

Where I will never agree (completely) is the "we're just IOWA...we'll never be this or that". That's loser talk. Yes, knowing your limitations and challenges is important...but imposing some on yourself is building your own glass ceiling. If you can build a top program in Lincoln, Nebraska (before the days of TV contracts, the internet and equal exposure for all)....or Fargo, North Dakota, it's possible at Iowa. Too many people say "I can't"...when they really mean "I won't".

 

[SteveGarvey1]

I hate to even bring this guy up because he's a monster in every sense of the word but Jerry Sandusky once said he wished Fry would get a hobby because it drove him nuts trying to defend him.

Those words will never be used by a DC about defending Kirk's offense.

So true about Hayden but it did just give me the creeps reading who said it.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

That hate to lose attitude is something I think Brian clearly has way more of then his Dad too... Like what pisses me off is in in situations like we were in against Florida in the 4th q. Keeping CJ in and some of the plays they were running when it was still a one or two score game yet were just perplexing. They weren't trying to come back and win. I don't know what the heck they were trying to do but it sure didn't seem to be that...

 

[JonDMiller]

Wow, this rings incredibly hollow considering you have Steve Deace on your podcast every week and he makes his living doing exactly what you're describing, hell he spends half of your podcasts doing it.

If I had not personally encountered Deace capitulating on several debate points in my 17 years of being 'on air' with him, I'd agree with you. But since I have, I do not.