This post will probably tick everyone off

Add to that 3/5 of the Oline and McNutt and next year looks even worse than this year.

Now, I will say that the move to looking at the JUCO ranks is a big switch that might make some difference. That is definitely NOT BAU for this staff.
 
Miller seem to be arguing our 7/12 lot in the conference is inescapable. So why should I care? If we can never hit that next level and the only thing I look forward to is the better than average season that will always be balanced out by the worse than average season then that is depressing as all hell. I am still young enough that I don't accept this but maybe in a few years I will.
 
Kirk reminds me of a guy in HS who lost a street fight but reveled in the knowledge "he fought fair" after the other guy kicked him in the nuts.
 
The loss to Minny has nothing to do with Iowa's recruiting disadvantages. Everyone in the country predicted Iowa to win by at least a couple td's. This is a Minny team that is a special kind of bad on defense and inept on offense, except for when they play against our vanilla scheme. We can't pump out our chest and say "look what we did with the 7th best recruiting class" and then back off when we lose and use it as an excuse. Go out and compete!
 
CAARHawk said:
Denis:

The 2013 date is expected based on the overall trend of KF's tenure, which is three off, three on. It can also be expected based on personnel turnover, which everyone points to Iowa returning few starters but fail to acknowledge the situation will be the same, if not worse, next year.

This year Iowa returned two highly successful DL and 4/5's of the Oline. Next year Iowa returns one serviceable DLine starter and some reserves, and 2/5s of the Oline. Add to that a QB who is not strong on handling pressure and without his top receiving target and it is a recipe for disaster.

In 2013, the Hawks will be breaking in a new QB, but will have some good experience across the field. Expect that team to lose some early games from cautious coaching and QB nerves, then things should start rolling. In 2014, watch out.
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Your three off, three on theory is completely stupid. How is 2001, a 7-5 season with a bowl win for a team that had won four games the previous two years combined an "off" season while 2010 a preseason top ten team doing almost the exact same thing considered an "on" season?

Ferentz had a bad first year, then improved for three straight seasons before sustaining that success for another two years. He then went into a slump from '05-'07, before reeling off two good seasons before last year's second half disaster. There's no way you can look at his tenure and think it's simply a three bad years, three good years pattern.
 
Jon

Great post!

1. I love having Ferentz as our football leader, class act but we are paying for an elite football program and losing to the lowly Gophers is embarrassing!

2. We need a new defensive coach with a lot of fire (MIke Stoops) who can also improve RECRUITING

3. Offense is still too predicatable

4. Where are all the tough guys?? Angerer, Gallery, Banks, ect. we have become soft
 
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I just want the bullies of the Big Ten back, hit people so hard they cry. And then have an oline that is putting defenders on their rears 5 yards down the field.
 
jon, i think alot of what you wrote makes good sense. But i have to disagree on some things. Iowa should win the games against teams like minn. I can accept the loses against ISU and PSu, even though i dont like it. The problem with iowa over the last few years is that they lose to teams that they are much better then. iowa was already going to struggle to get to 6-7 wins this year. most of us knew that. Also i think most of realistic knew that getting a win over the last four games was going to be very rough. not saying they wont win a game or two still, just that these games are against better teams then iowa.

this is why you dont lose against teams like minn. you make sure you go out and try to win games. granted, the staff did not miss two field goals, or fumble away the ball. to tell you the truth, iowa should have never had the game that close for those mistakes to come back on them.

but what i will put on the coaches, is not being ready for that onside kick. no excuse. every fan on both teams knew it was coming. iowa looked like it got caught sleeping. i dont care what kf said after the game. i did not see his hands team in there.

also that last drive with 2 minutes to go? really no protection for vandy? that was very poor play calling. everyone knew that the blitz was coming. again you asking vandy to become dan persha or even gray at this point, something he cant do.

also it is time for the defense to come into today's world of college football, and find a way to defend all these types of spreads, and the running qbs. our defense is set up to stop traditional type smash mouth football. i think out of our 12 games this year, how many games do we get like that? 3 maybe?

okay i said my piece, i think without a melt down.
 
hawkinn3 said:
Miller seem to be arguing our 7/12 lot in the conference is inescapable. So why should I care? If we can never hit that next level and the only thing I look forward to is the better than average season that will always be balanced out by the worse than average season then that is depressing as all hell. I am still young enough that I don't accept this but maybe in a few years I will.
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i am old enough to know better. (55), but i still don't accept loses to teams like minny. never will. no excuse. at least haydens teams rarely lost to teams like this,
 
How many of Fry's staff went on to bigger and better things?

How many of Ferentz's staff have gone on to bigger and better things?


Perhaps some of our shortcomings lie within the answers to these two questions.
 
Kirk Ferentz and staff reality:

Sunday through Friday: Probably the best staff in the country.
Saturday: Average at best.

That's Kirk. Take it or leave it, but I'm not sure that Iowa could get someone that's better when you add up Saturday through Sunday.
 
hwks1 said:
WOW just WOW.... I am so happy to be .500 over time. Whoohooo we are Iowa we're 6-6 lets roll.

I will give this staff a TON of credit for what they have been able to do with the Bowl Games. Take those stats out and see how the stats change. I would be curious to know.

I think the biggest problem those of us who care enough to post here is the absolute refusal to change.. anything. I will go back to McCann and Christensen for example - the fans had to BOO the coaching staff to force changes.

I like Kirk - my kids like Kirk too. I really don't want to see him go BUT it is obvious the guy is actually playing to be average good... he has no real desire to win a B1G or NC. I honestly believe that he has no real desire, that's not how he is built. He only wants to keep a steady average team on the field.

I'm mostly tired of the mediocre Offense EVERY YEAR. What is the average rank of the Offense production over the KF era - versus Defense? If Kirk didn't have Norm he would have run out of Iowa City a long time ago. I think Norm is tired and ready to let it go, and its probably time for him to do that also.
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You can't be serious! I am going to be blunt here....you're an idiot.
 
All we as fans can look at are trends. Are we trending up or trending down.

There is no doubt we are trending down.

So we look at the roster.

Are we young? Not overly.
So then we must have studs waiting in the wings? Not really.

Is there a reason to believe that we'll trend back up based on the roster? No.

But there is a reason to believe. KF started down, built her up, lost her, and built her up again.

Does he have a 3.0 in him? If he does have it, it puts him in seriously elite company.

But your post suggests that last year was still a successful year overall. It suggests that everything is ok. And yes, it suggests that 7-5 is what we should be happy with. Many others brought it up before, he puts an inordinate amount of talent into the NFL, the no talent argument doesn't hold water.

I don't want to see KF fired either, and think doing so would be viewed as insanity. But I listed 10 things that need to change inside the football program, and I think that is a really good start. It will help him achieve 3.0 and actually become the coach that you think he is now.
 
SirJamaLot said:
Jon

Great post!

1. I love having Ferentz as our football leader, class act but we are paying for an elite football program and losing to the lowly Gophers is embarrassing!

2. We need a new defensive coach with a lot of fire (MIke Stoops) who can also improve RECRUITING

3. Offense is still too predicatable

4. Where are all the tough guys?? Angerer, Gallery, Banks, ect. we have become soft
Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head here. I hate using the "money" card but it is what it is, the prices we pay for season tickets are probably in the top 20 in the nation, our coach is one of the 10 highest paid and yet going 6-6 over the last 12 games is suppose to be ok because our recruiting class is middle of the pack every year?

I don't expect 12-0 either, but 6-6 with two of those losses coming to the worst team in the Big Ten over the last 12 games is inexcusable and should not be defended by anyone. Someone needs to be held accountable for that and it starts with the coaching staff.

Just like any other job, if you do average work you are going to get average pay or if you make more then your industry average I would think your boss would expect better results then the average Joe would produce. So if we are going to get average results then I think KF needs to look in the mirror and decide to take average pay or get this turned around and rather quickly.
 
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It is VERY important that Iowa gets out there and caps off a solid recruiting year this year even with us not playing well. This also goes along with next year too and then we are solid again in 2013 and 2014. I fear that we will lose recruiting ground if we have two straight years of poor football.
 
I agree 100% with Jon's post. But it's not losing to teams like Ohio State, PSU, Wisconsin, etc. that bothers me. Nobody needs to explain to me Iowa's natural recruiting disadvantges. I get all that. What bothers me is the fact that despite the great success we've had the past decade, we still seem to lay an egg at least a couple times a year against bad teams like Iowa St., Indiana, Minnesota, etc. That right there is the difference between going 7-5 and 9-3. That's a HUGE difference.

If we can beat PSU 8 out of 10, then why is it too much to ask that we win consistently against the bottom feeders of the league? We have also had more than our share of trouble beating Indiana. ???

We should be 7-1 right now except for the ISU and Minnesota games. Even if our remaining 4 games would most likely result in an 8-4 record or so.. I could certainly be satisfied with that. Instead, we're looking at maybe a 6-6 record and possibly not even a bowl invite.

I can handle being beaten by a better team, but we are not consistently beating the teams that we SHOULD beat (ISU, Minnesota, Indiana, NW, etc.), and that is what's bothering me more than anything else.
 
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I just love how we keep making excuses, yet just last year Jon predicted a 12-0 season. Seems kind of odd to do when we're lil old Iowa. Then we stink it up and it's back to the old "we can't compete with these programs". Yet it's not the OSU, NE, and MI teams we're expecting to beat EVERY TIME. It's NW, MN, IN, and ISU.

Now if you tell me we just can't compete with those bottom four teams of the big10 and big12, then that's fine. Let's quit predicting WINS against them every year.

And I find it odd that we keep going back to KF past record, yet we make fun of Nebraska fans for still living in their National Championship years. Can't have it both ways.

This program has problems, major ones. KF has shown he can put together a great team, but that was 8-10 years ago. 2009 was a great year too, but that was more lucky bounces than anything. Stanzi throwing pick sixes, Clayborn blocking a punt for a TD, those are not plays we see or overcome too often.

You can definitely tell this team, and coaching has changed. There is no FIRE with this team, and there really hasn't been since 2004. 2008 we had one of the best players ever in Shon Greene that we rode, and a great defense. But even then it wasn't like the teams of the past.

Our special teams are extremely poor. I used to love watching Iowa kickoff cause i couldn't wait to see the player get lit up. I think the last time that happened was Tarp lighting up a MI player a couple of years ago. We haven't tried blocking a punt or FG in how many years?

The staff has their head up their @$$ and they are fat cats. Trying to deny that means your head is up there too. Of course they want to win, but they're going to do it in a way that is unappealing to players, fans, and anyone else who watches the game.

I do respect KF and what he has done. But if the man refuses to change even a little (and i don't freaking count a couple of no huddle possessions), then it's time to move on.
 
[/quote]I certainly will blame talent right now.[/QUOTE]

Jon,
This was a quote from the first page in response to talent level.

Is our talent the greatest? No. However, my question to you is if this teams talent is greater than ISU and/or Minnesota?

In my opinion of our 3 loses this year being the least talented team on the field was not the case in 2 of them.
 
Very well written, Jon. At least it brought me in off the ledge, for the time being.
What gets me miffed is when I think of the salary this guy is paid (and compared to other Iowans it is outrageous) then I see our team get fooled over and over again on fake punts and onside kicks.
I wish the guy would take a little responsibility, instead of shrugging his shoulders and saying, "that's football" in the post game interview.
 
One more thing, the continued myth that we can't upgrade over Ferentz because Alford didn't work out taking over Davis is ********. The reason Alford didn't work at Iowa was because of one player's off the court actions and the divide it created in the Iowa fan base. Alford put together two teams in his time here (the first Recker-Evans team before Recker got hurt and the Brunner-Horner-Haluska team) that were better than any of Davis' teams in his last decade here. Also, Alford had become a very good coach during his last three years and had really upgrade the quality of players we were recruiting. I'm not surprised at all that Alford has had success at New Mexico and he will have his best team yet this season, one that will probably win 30 games.

OK4P is right in that the "next level" drop occured during the Alford to Lick transition not the Davis for Alford.
 
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