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Brian's Last Stand

How do we know you aren't part of Brian's PR team or Kirk's acting on his behalf? Knowing that Kirk has one it's now kind of hard to trust anything positive I see on these boards about father or son. :)

Yeah, Brian is more aggressive. I can't imagine Kirk screaming expletives at officials in the press box. He'd just make some underhanded comments about being glad he doesn't have the officials' jobs or something like that.

What do you think anyone could do with current personnel that would work any better than what we're seeing?
I wish I was talented enough to be on Kirk's PR team! He's got some good coin...

With the OL the mess that it is, I could only think of opening it up more... More shotgun. RPOs, spread it out... Less I-formation for sure.

But what do I know... I'm going off what others that have expertise, or at least a lot more knowledge than I have on the subject.
 
To be honest, IMHO, BF has not had a fair shake here. And that is ALL on Kirk. Brian has been hamstrung by his dad's offensively arcane coaching philosophy for running an offense...
We all know it, Iowa has rarely had a really good offense under Kirk Ferentz.

That is a majority of our issue. Coupled with some OL/WR injuries, and some misses on OL recruiting(i think the new chop block rule plays in here some, too).

So, does KF take the leash off, and let BF run the show how Brian would like to?? Or does he just let it play out until Brian is either fired or demoted...?

Brian is definitely more aggressive than his father. I am certain that he would run things differently.... And I was hoping that Brian would finally be the OC to make it happen!!
I would like to see that before he is driven out, and his dad wrecks his career.

This is Kirk's last chance, before Brian has to move out of town with his tail between his legs.

My two cents
He's making $900,000 a year. The football team and the paying fans are the ones who haven't gotten a fair shake.
 
It's baffling to me that anyone could give BF a pass because he is so handcuffed by KF. That is simply KF hate.

There is nothing about the offense that is sooooo restrictive that the offense can't gain first downs, let alone points. There is nothing in the offensive scheme that suggests that the QB should throw passes to the guys in the red shirts like on Saturday, or throw to a well-covered LaPorta instead of a wide open Bruce. There is nothing in the playbook that says you should overthrow receivers, or throw only to LaPorta. Does KF tell BF to avoid throwing to WR's? No, they don't throw to WR's because they don't get open in time for an inaccurate QB to throw to them.

It's the OC's job to recruit, develop and prepare the offense to compete on Saturday. So, the offense uses a FB - so what? Does having a FB in the game ruin everything?

KF is completely to blame for hiring and keeping BF. BF is a bad OC, and has had several years to prove it.
 
I suspect that Proctor starts at tackle, Colby moves inside, and with an experienced center we see some improvement next season, but we still won’t be world beaters. I waiting for Barnett to show signs of development with these guys, but at seasons end he can be gone if he can’t show progress.

I’d look for a QB coach who has a transfer in his pocket and line coach that is a recruiter. We need an OC with some flash that can bring skill guys in.

I think our running backs room has potential , but our offense generally needs players.
This is exactly what I'm thinking too, great take on OL. It WILL be better, it has too and KP will make this team better instantly, Colby moves inside, Logan gets another year at Center. LT isn't too bad, find a LG, grab a QB and a few WRs in portal along with some coaching moves and we are at least serviceable next fall.
 
My 2 cents; it's not the X's and O's for Iowa, as much as the Jimmy's and Joes.

This is college football, you modify the X's and O's to fit the current roster.

I feel like it’s both at this point. Injuries, attrition have hurt but at the same time the current guys can’t miss open receivers, drop passes, miss blocks. Those things can all ruin any perfectly good play cal.

At the same time…coaches have to put players in position to succeed. Exhibit A is the first okay last week. Spencer has always struggled rolling to his left and throwing on the run - so why in the heck is that the first play call of the game, coming off a bye? Terrible throw/decision by Petras, but an even worse play call imo.

Just a flat out mystery to why the Oline has been struggling. We were regarded as one of the top developmental programs in the nation especially developing linemen and now the wheels have fallen off. Not sure we can blame recruiting "misses" as we have a number of 3* & 4* recruits on the roster. We cant lay the blame on Barnett at this point as it's safe to assume that Kirk & Brian have had to get involved in trying to fix things. Maybe losing Doyle has had some bearing on this? Just never thought there'd be such glaring issues with something we've always considered the strength of this team.
Between injuries and transfers, the 17-18 recruiting classes are all but gone; leaving us with primarily RS sophs or freshmen on the line. Highly ranked but they haven’t gelled at all. Idk if that’s poor coaching by Barnett; recruiting misses or what.

I coached for 35 years.....when I listen to Brian in the late summer he has these long interviews when he is over-explaining the offense. I have always thought to myself that it should not be as detailed or as hard as he is making it. I think that his comment lately about not having "backyard quarterback" is also telling. Instincts and letting kids play is a big part of coaching. I get the timing and precision is needed but also playing without thinking too much is a big deal. There has to be a medium in there somehow.

I think Brian is as smart as they come when it comes to the knowledge of the game; and puts a lot of stuff into game planning in the off-season/game weeks. But all too often he gets into trouble imo during actual games and overthink play calls, or struggles to adjust in game to a plan B.
 
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What I think happened is that Kirk and Brian had the idea together that they could mimic what they were doing in New England at the time Brian was the tight ends coach here at Iowa. They knew that elite skill position talent would be hard to get on a regular basis as well as one of the few elite dual threat quarterbacks that come out every year, but, they could still be dynamic with a tight end centered offense. And I think they went all in on it.

That plan is predicated on having an elite offensive line and elite tight ends. I think they thought that 3 star talent at the WR positions and the running back positions would be serviceable and they are available. I think they bet on the fact that if they had an average QB they could win 8 games, an above average QB could push them to 10 but a real talented QB could all them to do some really special things. The problem is now that our offensive line is well below average and our tight ends as a whole have declined recently. But I still think the plan makes sense.

Now the real problem is that with them going all in on it, I don't think there is a plan B. I think Brian has shown at times to be a pretty decent play caller when he has some horses, but, he is not experienced enough nor has the mind to be creative in finding solutions as an OC when he doesn't. And that is what we are seeing right now, that there really is no adjustments being made because they don't know what to do. But I am sure it is really hard to do and I can't really site anyone that does a lot with little on offense.

Just know this, nobody is going to succeed as an OC here until the offensive line is fixed.
Very good perspective here! You can see this in every part of their decision making process from recruiting, development, scheming, playcalling as well as speaking in press conferences.
Finally, the o-line performance is dismal which amplifies the problems 10 fold.
Very good post NCHawkeye24!
 
This idea - that we really aren't seeing BF on O just KF, and that in order to save his son's career KF will let him off the leash - was the hopium I snorted two years ago, wanting BF to work out.

Respectfully, it is delusional to believe this now. The time to let BF do more to save his credibility and future HC chances has long since passed. And as other posters have pointed out, BF has done NOTHING to signal this O is despite any of his wishes.

This will never happen. Not only is this offense Kirk's, this offense is Brian's.
 
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Very good perspective here! You can see this in every part of their decision making process from recruiting, development, scheming, playcalling as well as speaking in press conferences.
Finally, the o-line performance is dismal which amplifies the problems 10 fold.
Very good post NCHawkeye24!
Thank you, I really appreciate that. I think that if we had a solid, above-average offensive line that we would see a much different picture. I don't think people understand how bad this oline really is. It is by far the worst one of the KF tenure and that is not discrediting it enough. I really don't know what you can do as an OC or as a QB when defenses get pressure with just their down linemen and against any protection scheme. Opposing defenses know that they are not going to have to cover any longer than 2.5 seconds so they can play everything tight without having to blitz. That is why we are 131 out of 131 offensively.
 
Thank you, I really appreciate that. I think that if we had a solid, above-average offensive line that we would see a much different picture. I don't think people understand how bad this oline really is. It is by far the worst one of the KF tenure and that is not discrediting it enough. I really don't know what you can do as an OC or as a QB when defenses get pressure with just their down linemen and against any protection scheme. Opposing defenses know that they are not going to have to cover any longer than 2.5 seconds so they can play everything tight without having to blitz. That is why we are 131 out of 131 offensively.
True, but the OL should be in the OC's purview, so it still points back to Brian IMO. But you can bet George Barnett will take the fall. What will the excuse be next year?
 
True, but the OL should be in the OC's purview, so it still points back to Brian IMO. But you can bet George Barnett will take the fall. What will the excuse be next year?
Hey, I completely agree that the OC should be responsible for the OL play, and beyond that it falls just as hard on KF. There really is no excuse because first of all one would think that if there is any position that KF and BF should have a bead on talent, to scout it, evaluate it, coach it, it would be the offensive line. To add to that, its not like we don't have some talent on the dline to test them. It is the one thing I am most disappointed about because this has been a major problem for quite some time. I am not saying KF needs to be fired, but if he ever was fired to me it should be because of poor development and performance of the oline.

I agree with you too, Barnett will take the fall. But if he was a difference maker as a coach you would think we would see some type of improvement and consistency after 2 years. When you watch this line, so many times it looks like they have no idea what to do. To me that falls on coaching and I don't think Barnett is a great one. And we need a great one.
 
I coached for 35 years.....when I listen to Brian in the late summer he has these long interviews when he is over-explaining the offense. I have always thought to myself that it should not be as detailed or as hard as he is making it. I think that his comment lately about not having "backyard quarterback" is also telling. Instincts and letting kids play is a big part of coaching. I get the timing and precision is needed but also playing without thinking too much is a big deal. There has to be a medium in there somehow.
Agreed. Equivalent to a lay person explaining a heart surgery. In way too deep
 
I coached for 35 years.....when I listen to Brian in the late summer he has these long interviews when he is over-explaining the offense. I have always thought to myself that it should not be as detailed or as hard as he is making it. I think that his comment lately about not having "backyard quarterback" is also telling. Instincts and letting kids play is a big part of coaching. I get the timing and precision is needed but also playing without thinking too much is a big deal. There has to be a medium in there somehow.
I get this from listening to the WUW. They make football sound like rocket science. It definitely can be when you break it into every little technique and timing and read and tendencies and stars... but part of your job as a coach is to communicate those things at the level the players and team need to succeed. It shouldn't be hard to understand. Difficult to execute perfectly, sure. To understand, no. Not on the player's level.
 
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