Only one direction? Even a casual fan would know that Iowa's ship has sailed out to sea and back to port a few times under Kirk Ferentz:
1999 1-10
2000 3-9
2001 7-5
2002 11-2
2003 10-3
2004 10-2
2005 7-5
2006 6-7
2007 6-6
2008 9-4
2009 11-2
2010 8-5
2011 7-6
2012 4-8
2013 8-5
2014 7-6
Many of those years were anchored at sea midway between posts but KF has had years where the ship is pointed full steam ahead and has also reversed course and pirated the ship in the opposite direction.
His detractors and his supporters concur on very little nowadays but both camps would probably agree that, under Ferentz, the program has moved in different directions a number of times since 1999.
I think we can all agree that KF did a wonderful job of pulling us out of the dregs of HF's finals year or two. It was nothing short of remarkable, and all praise was well deserved. He kept us at that level for three seasons before we started seeing some slide back. I am not naive enough to think that IA is the type of program to stay at the 10+ win level indefinitely, but looking at the last 10 years, there are several examples of my biggest issue, not beating teams we should be able to beat/inability to finish a game.
2005: ISU was not a terrible team that year, but it is still Iowa State, and getting beat by 20 was absurd; we got dicked in the MI game, but still did not finish like we should have; and NW was a brutal. All three teams were 7-5, which is not bad, but we should have still either been competitive or put them away.
2006: losses to IN, NW and MN this year were all games we should have been able to take care of. Even if we get another one or two it is a better year.
2007: another loss to ISU, IN and Purdue were not terrible that year, but still not great, and a loss to W. MI.
2008: that goddam Pitt game, MSU and NW were close games that could have been pulled out, and a bad loss to IL.
2009: great year but could have been amazing. went tight against NW and tOSU. what could have been had we kept attacking NW and had some stones in the Shoe. Great year, though, and proof that the team can be brought back.
2010: all tough losses where we just could not finish. another good team, but I those losses sucked.
2011: another ISU loss and a loss to a terrible MN team.
2012: total and complete bloodbath. ISU (again), Central MI, Indiana and Purdue are tough pills to swallow any time, but all in one year is brutal.
2013: pretty good year. should have put N. IL away, but they were a good team that year. This is definitely one of the high points in the last 10 years, even if the record does not support it as we lost to good teams.
2014: with one of the easiest schedules in the country, and coming off a good year, we under performed in a big way; the ISU loss was a joke and what broke the camel's back for a lot of people, MD, WI and NE all slip away, and we got piss pounded by both MN and TN.
KF will be remembered for a lot of things. He brought the team back from the cellar. He rebounded a couple times and won a BCS game. He had us competitive in a lot of games where people may not have given us a chance, but he also lost a lot of games that should not have been close or that we let slip away. If even a handful of the games listed above went IA's way, I doubt we would be having most of the discussions we are about firing him.
