The Amazing Consistency of Kirk Ferentz at Iowa

[ChosenChildren]

Most "experts" say that it takes 5 years to build or rebuild a college football program, based on the theory that 5 years is a normal recruiting cycle. Assuming for the moment that this is accurate, I thought it would be interesting to see how the 5 year cycles under Ferentz have gone. When you study each 5 year period, you find out something quite amazing, IMO. Here are the results

5 year period/ W-L/ Win percentage /Bowl seasons

1999-2003 32-29 52% 3
2000-2004 41-21 66% 5
2001-2005 45-17 72% 5
2002-2006 44-19 70% 5
2003-2007 39-23 63% 4
2004-2008 38-24 61% 4
2005-2009 39-24 62% 4
2006-2010 40-24 63% 4
2007-2011 41-23 64% 4
2008-2012 39-25 61% 4
2009-2013 38-25 60% 4

Although there have been down years and losing seasons, the above statistics show that Ferentz teams always bounce back. I think this is a real credit to this coach and this program.

 

[M1911A1Hawkeye]

I believe that KF is the right man for Iowa. He may never win a National Championship but he has done a lot of great things at Iowa. Go Hawks!!

 

[NCHawker]

interesting. however anytime you drop one year and add another to the average repeatedly, you inherently take out a great deal of variability.

 

[Sparky]

I believe that KF is the right man for Iowa. He may never win a National Championship but he has done a lot of great things at Iowa. Go Hawks!!

Kirk has done fantastic things for Iowa, nobody can deny that. You're also right about saying that he will never win a National Championship and that's unfortunate since that's what every team strives for.

In that same space let me ask you a question. You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?

 

[Howler]

If Krenzel hadn't hit that 4th and 1 bomb in West Lafayette (and if perhaps Iowa hadn't blown it against ISU), then wouldn't Iowa have played Miami in the Fiesta for the Natty Champ?

Sounds like Ferentz is capable of taking the Hawks to the top. Need lots of luck to get there, but most of the pieces were there in '02.

 

[BirdsOfPrey]

"You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?"

OK, I'll play. Thousands of corporations out there, but there's only one Proctor & Gamble. Competent corporate decision making requires a realistic accessment of your market position, understanding your strengths & weaknesses, realistic goal setting, maximizing your strengths, avoiding corporate potholes, etc. Iowa hired a coach who fits our corporate personality - honest, mild mannered - no NCAA violations. Iowa hired a brilliant line & fundamentals coach who is one of the best in the country at developing talent - this fits the strength of our recruiting base. We go to bowl games yearly, our facilities are excellent, Iowa plays everybody tough, the program is financially strong, we are relavent nationally, we put tons of players in the NFL, graduation rates are high comparatively, Iowa develops young men who succeed off the field and every couple years if all the stars align, we approach greatness. A+++ across the board meeting corporate goals and that's why we pay him the money we do. To stand around and demand national titles is ignorant. How do you define champion in college football? There's no playoffs or Super Bowl. The two best teams never play for the top spot. Auburn is not the 2nd best team in the country this year. Notre Dame wasn't top ten last year. Unbeaten record - Boise State? A bunch of hack biased sports writers in the biggest markets across the country vote for #1 whether they are the best team or not. Even when the stars align, Vegas or whoever pays for a few fumbles. Iowa #1 doesn't sell as well as USC/Alabama/Notre Dame #1 in all the big TV markets. I'd argue that Iowa has had three or four teams - 3 Ferentz teams & 1 Fry team that by years end were as good as any team in the country. Nobody wanted to play us - that's what makes me a proud Hawkeye fan. Using your corporate analogy above, every corporation is a failure for not topping GM.

 

[uihawk82]

You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?

Really?? There are more and more corporations who hire CEOs, pay them millions, give them golden parachutes, yet watch the CEO totally mess up the company.

What do you think just happened at JC Penny. They hired some guy 18 months ago , they tried to rebrand and lost tremendous market share. So they fire this guy .

 

[ssckelley]

Ferentz may never get Iowa to the top but he has gotten Iowa within striking distance twice, Fry only got Iowa in the title discussions once. Winning a national championship at Iowa requires the stars to align perfectly as Iowa does not sit in a hot bed of talent and winning the championship will get even tougher once the playoffs start. But what Ferentz needs to do is get Iowa back to the Rose Bowl, the 2 Orange Bowls were nice but to me the "grand daddy" of the bowls is the Rose Bowl.

 

[INTIMIDATORHawk]

Ferentz may never get Iowa to the top but he has gotten Iowa within striking distance twice, Fry only got Iowa in the title discussions once. Winning a national championship at Iowa requires the stars to align perfectly as Iowa does not sit in a hot bed of talent and winning the championship will get even tougher once the playoffs start. But what Ferentz needs to do is get Iowa back to the Rose Bowl, the 2 Orange Bowls were nice but to me the "grand daddy" of the bowls is the Rose Bowl.

True, but I'll give KF some slack on that.

When you win 2 Big Ten Championships, you would think that one of them would land you in the Rose Bowl, right?

Isn't that where we all thought Iowa was going after the 2002 season?

The BCS made it more difficult for the Big Ten and Pac 12 to consistently land in the Rose Bowl.

 

[uihawk82]

True, but I'll give KF some slack on that.

When you win 2 Big Ten Championships, you would think that one of them would land you in the Rose Bowl, right?

Isn't that where we all thought Iowa was going after the 2002 season?

The BCS made it more difficult for the Big Ten and Pac 12 to consistently land in the Rose Bowl.

Yes, the big bowl people sort of screwed up with the 2003 Jan 1 Rose and Orange Bowl matchups.

Iowa-Wash St (i think it was) would have been a really good matchup and probably better for the hawks in hindsight.

And USC-Oklahoma would have been great in the Orange Bowl. But what I think they wanted was USC and Oklahoma going to two bowl games they had never been to before. And the same with Iowa.

 

[kuhntz]

Winning 60% of your games in college football today is nothing spectacular. You play 7 home games every year. Our biggest OOC game is against the clowns from Ames.

When you are a top 25 program for the last 30+ years...more than 7-5 should be expected.

 

[SamBrownlee48]

Winning 60% of your games in college football today is nothing spectacular. You play 7 home games every year. Our biggest OOC game is against the clowns from Ames.

When you are a top 25 program for the last 30+ years...more than 7-5 should be expected.

Is Iowa a top 25 program over the last 30 years? They've ended the season ranked in the top 25 less than half of last 30 seasons. Hayden only ended the season in the top 10 once. Ferentz has cracked the top ten a few times, but never ended in the top 5.

 

[uihawk82]

Is Iowa a top 25 program over the last 30 years? They've ended the season ranked in the top 25 less than half of last 30 seasons. Hayden only ended the season in the top 10 once. Ferentz has cracked the top ten a few times, but never ended in the top 5.

I would say a lot of teams that you consistently see in the top 25 over the last 10-15 years are newcomers to the list over the last 30 years.

Even Stanford, Texas Tech, and quite a few others were not that good in the 80s and 90s.

I say it is OK to say the Hawks are in the top third of programs over the last 30+ years. We are a top 30 program which is close enough to not quibble at.

I suppose if you want to do a rank order analysis of all Div 1 teams and avg their rankings then go ahead to prove your point. This type of analysis may show the hawks higher than you think with 5 top tens, and quite a few other times in the polls.

 

[ssckelley]

True, but I'll give KF some slack on that.

When you win 2 Big Ten Championships, you would think that one of them would land you in the Rose Bowl, right?

Isn't that where we all thought Iowa was going after the 2002 season?

The BCS made it more difficult for the Big Ten and Pac 12 to consistently land in the Rose Bowl.

I will give him slack as well but that still has not change the fact Iowa has not played in the Rose Bowl since 1991.

 

[cuihawk]

I will give him slack as well but that still has not change the fact Iowa has not played in the Rose Bowl since 1991.

In 02 the Orange picked before the Rose and took Iowa. So, while we all would have liked to have had them in the Rose, technically, they've done better than that.

 

[doclee]

"You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?"

OK, I'll play. Thousands of corporations out there, but there's only one Proctor & Gamble. Competent corporate decision making requires a realistic accessment of your market position, understanding your strengths & weaknesses, realistic goal setting, maximizing your strengths, avoiding corporate potholes, etc. Iowa hired a coach who fits our corporate personality - honest, mild mannered - no NCAA violations. Iowa hired a brilliant line & fundamentals coach who is one of the best in the country at developing talent - this fits the strength of our recruiting base. We go to bowl games yearly, our facilities are excellent, Iowa plays everybody tough, the program is financially strong, we are relavent nationally, we put tons of players in the NFL, graduation rates are high comparatively, Iowa develops young men who succeed off the field and every couple years if all the stars align, we approach greatness. A+++ across the board meeting corporate goals and that's why we pay him the money we do. To stand around and demand national titles is ignorant. How do you define champion in college football? There's no playoffs or Super Bowl. The two best teams never play for the top spot. Auburn is not the 2nd best team in the country this year. Notre Dame wasn't top ten last year. Unbeaten record - Boise State? A bunch of hack biased sports writers in the biggest markets across the country vote for #1 whether they are the best team or not. Even when the stars align, Vegas or whoever pays for a few fumbles. Iowa #1 doesn't sell as well as USC/Alabama/Notre Dame #1 in all the big TV markets. I'd argue that Iowa has had three or four teams - 3 Ferentz teams & 1 Fry team that by years end were as good as any team in the country. Nobody wanted to play us - that's what makes me a proud Hawkeye fan. Using your corporate analogy above, every corporation is a failure for not topping GM.

Don't recall reading many of your posts, but this one is all I needed to see that you express yourself well and present logical and factual thoughts. Thank you for the great post; I appreciate it. My only criticism: You must recognize that what you say makes far too much sense to attract a lot of posters on this board.

 

[Sparky]

"You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?"

OK, I'll play. Thousands of corporations out there, but there's only one Proctor & Gamble. Competent corporate decision making requires a realistic accessment of your market position, understanding your strengths & weaknesses, realistic goal setting, maximizing your strengths, avoiding corporate potholes, etc. Iowa hired a coach who fits our corporate personality - honest, mild mannered - no NCAA violations. Iowa hired a brilliant line & fundamentals coach who is one of the best in the country at developing talent - this fits the strength of our recruiting base. We go to bowl games yearly, our facilities are excellent, Iowa plays everybody tough, the program is financially strong, we are relavent nationally, we put tons of players in the NFL, graduation rates are high comparatively, Iowa develops young men who succeed off the field and every couple years if all the stars align, we approach greatness. A+++ across the board meeting corporate goals and that's why we pay him the money we do. To stand around and demand national titles is ignorant. How do you define champion in college football? There's no playoffs or Super Bowl. The two best teams never play for the top spot. Auburn is not the 2nd best team in the country this year. Notre Dame wasn't top ten last year. Unbeaten record - Boise State? A bunch of hack biased sports writers in the biggest markets across the country vote for #1 whether they are the best team or not. Even when the stars align, Vegas or whoever pays for a few fumbles. Iowa #1 doesn't sell as well as USC/Alabama/Notre Dame #1 in all the big TV markets. I'd argue that Iowa has had three or four teams - 3 Ferentz teams & 1 Fry team that by years end were as good as any team in the country. Nobody wanted to play us - that's what makes me a proud Hawkeye fan. Using your corporate analogy above, every corporation is a failure for not topping GM.

Can you tell me where Proctor & Gamble sets in relation to the rest of their industry? I'll help you out, they sit #1. You just proved my point entirely.

 

[twinlaker]

Kirk has done fantastic things for Iowa, nobody can deny that. You're also right about saying that he will never win a National Championship and that's unfortunate since that's what every team strives for.

In that same space let me ask you a question. You would never see a corporation hire a person to run their company that couldn't take them were they want to go, so why is it ok when it comes to Iowa football to keep a man around that can't take them to the top?

Serious question spark... do you, or have you ever run a business? What is the "top" for any business? Winning market share is enough? Some would say no, not at all. Is there an absolute answer to that question? Would you take a NC in place of honor and integrity? Would you win at all costs... and if so, is that really winning?

 

[HawkeyeTech]

Can you tell me where Proctor & Gamble sets in relation to the rest of their industry? I'll help you out, they sit #1. You just proved my point entirely.

And you think P&G is #1 because of their CEO? LOL!

I don't think you really understand what BoP was saying. Your dislike of Ferentz is preventing you from thinking logically.

 

[Billso]

For a point to be "proved", there first has to be a point.