Van Ness has already said he has no plans to leave. I haven't seen anyone suggest that Lee is ready to go pro. What position do you think he could play ?
Are we in for a whole lot of ugly?
- Thread starter LarryMullenJr.
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Van Ness has said he is going to evaluate everything at the end of the season. Lee could play in a 3-4 or 4-3 defense in the NFL. He is married and his draft stock won't get any higher if he stays. I could see him move on to get his next chapter going in his family's life.
It is very possible Iowa loses 5 of its top 6 DL this year. I hope Van Ness and Lee stay and even Evans comes back for another year but something tells me we lose more than we think we will this offseason.
And hopefully that will back fire on Wisconsin too. Nebraska had a coach (Solich) who was winning 9-10 games a year. Fired him and the worst years in Nebraska followed. We will see how big a genius their AD is soon
Something tells me Fickell is a good HC and the Badger program will remain in good hands.
What some of you just don’t get is you assume whatever winning the program has done in the past will just keep continuing at that level. Things were slipping at Wisconsin under Chryst since 2020- a change was made before it got bad. They didn’t hire Mike Locksley to send it in another direction but rather a guy whose won big and has been to the CFP. You aren’t able to see bigger picture- likely why McIntosh is their AD and not you.
You should pump the brakes on Illinois and Bert. They lose a whole lot and no doubt he will go the portal route. But not a sure thing he's again that successful with it. If he has another good year then yeah I'm on board with ya. Until then I'm a wait and see guy.
Fickell will have a hard time matching Chryst's overall record. Big task ahead. These kind of moves seem to backfire a lot.
Nebby yeah 'cause they have only one way to go.
I'm in Bielema's corner and think he's going to make Illinois a factor in the years ahead.
With all due respect, many here want to believe nobody else can ever do anything that makes them better-- and when someone has, like Bielema, they want to say it's just a fluke. I get it. It's no different than the people on Nebraska's message board and Michigan's and others stating the Iowa program is in the stages of going backwards and have sited our 11-9 record in last 20 games. Do we believe that or that gets some here angry? I'm sure so-- but it's all part of the competitive banter fans will have.
This is why this off-season is very important for Iowa. The arms race in the B1G is on in many ways-- jockeying for position has started. Everyone accountable for themselves-- and that includes Iowa. I contend we did not adequately prepare last off season for this year. We had a glaring hole at QB and glaring OL weaknesses and were left with 6 WRs, yet didn't get them fixed. We paid for it and why we are going to play in the Pinstripe Bowl this year most likely and not play for a much bigger prize.
The elimination of division play is going to be huge and not favorable for the teams in the B1G West.
I didn't say what Bielema did was a fluke. Let's see if his formula is sustainable. He has warts.
And most coaches have warts. Ryan Day starting to look like he has "not beating Michigan" warts. Kirk Ferentz has "risk adverse and antiquated" warts. PJ Fleck has several warts. Nobody immune.
I think a lot of what you are saying is wishful thinking. If coaching changes at Wisconsin, Illinois, and yes, Nebraska say anything, it's that they don't want to be an Iowa. Ferentz will never come close to sniffing another Big Ten Championship as he hasn't in the past 20 years. Every other team in the Big Ten no matter how delusional at least has that as one of their goals. Let's say we don't hear anything by February or March about what he's doing about BF. Then, we are entering the period defined by Albert Einstein: Insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
I think a lot of what you are saying is premature. Yes they all look like good hires but look at the classless tweet from Bielema. That guy could implode...even tho he looks like he could explode.
Not trying to be a Richard, but the "hasn't in the past 20 years" comment is wrong. We were one play/stop away from a championship and a trip to the playoffs. Correct, that stop didn't happen, but that was certainly more than a 'sniff'....and I'm not a Ferentz apologist. I believe he has done a ton of good for the program, but he's certainly not perfect.
And, I know...too soon.
KF has done lots of good here, won lots of games here. However, I also think of how many games more we could have won had he simply a better built offense to compliment amazing defenses. He's chosen not to improve the offense-- as national stats annually would bear out.
Yes, it was wrong. I said that before waking up my brain with a big ass cinnamon roll and java down here at The Encounter Cafe.
