So riddle me this...

[NCHawker]

Why is Iowa football so darn cyclical. KF seems to field good teams for no more than 3 years in a row then regresses, then surges. Fry had similar issues


Anyone want to guess at why this is?

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Why is Iowa football so darn cyclical. KF seems to field good teams for no more than 3 years in a row then regresses, then surges. Fry had similar issues


Anyone want to guess at why this is?

After Hayden turned the Hawks around he had 7 consecutive season of 8 wins or more from 1981 to 1987. That is a very good model of efficiency. Hayden over his last 11 years had some good season but never able to string years of success together.

Kirk Ferentz on the other hand much more of a roller coaster coach, his longest 8 win or more stretch is 3 years and has done it twice.

 

[uihawk82]

Most football people and prognosticators would say it is hard for teams like Iowa to consistently recruit enough top talent to have really good teams all the time. It is hard for Iowa to have 60 deep in really good players and those years when the talent drops down it can get bad.

 

[EarlSlick]

The #1 problem holding the Iowa football program back during the KF era is consistently losing close games, most of them occurring against generally inferior opponents. All of the disappointing/mediocre seasons are littered with single score losses where the outcome of the game hinged on just a play or two. Go back and look at the scores from 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, etc. Flip just a few of these games each year and KF has a lengthy string of 8+ win seasons similar to what Hayden did. Hell, even KF's unquestionably good teams had several excruciating losses that never should have happened.

Plus the good years included victories that were closer than they needed to be. KF doesn't know how to go for the jugular. But he is a nice man, kinda like a high-priced Sunday school teacher.