1. Because the fans want a better Offense
2. It's his duty to improve where it is failing
3. We the fans want to see 60 minutes of football. Isn't that what we pay for?
Can anyone honestly say Kirk is serious about improving the offense?
- Thread starter RagnarLothbrok
- Start date
2. It's his duty to improve where it is failing
3. We the fans want to see 60 minutes of football. Isn't that what we pay for?
The record would hold more weight if I only looked at stat sheets for entertainment. Alas, I want to watch football games and be entertained.
KF is digging a program perception hole that any new coach will have to struggle to turn things around with offensive recruiting. As a fan of Iowa Football, it's difficult to respect what is happening, and bewildering that there are fans that can't see that outcome coming.
KF is digging a program perception hole that any new coach will have to struggle to turn things around with offensive recruiting. As a fan of Iowa Football, it's difficult to respect what is happening, and bewildering that there are fans that can't see that outcome coming.
Agree to disagree then - I think you're vastly underestimating the impact of the transfer portal as well.
Player recruitment hasn't been the problem of late - it's been player retention, especially at WR which has been reported on often this winter. Out of the last 5 years, only 5 or 6 WR recruits stuck around.
As for post-Kirk; that's entirely dependent on the quality of the coach that gets hired. Iowa's always had an uphill climb when it comes to recruiting receivers especially; and that's not a new trend.
Relying solely on defense and special teams is also not sustainable.
I cannot believe the number of fans posting here who still don’t understand that.
This is a great point. The entertainment value of the product on the field is pretty low for most fans. Not that Ferentz should necessarily care about fan satisfaction, but he should care about the big goose egg his son’s offense put up in 2023 against teams worth a shit. Three games, zero points. That’s not complementary football. That’s one side of the ball being inexcusably and bafflingly terrible.
Will the Iowa offense be better in 2024? Well, we’ve been saying since the 2021 season it can’t get any worse. And yet it got worse in 2022 and still even worse in 2023. With that said, and with Brian being gone, logic would dictate at least some marginal improvement will happen in 2024. Unfortunately, that’s probably all it’s going to be—marginal. And as long as Kirk insists on meddling in the offense to where he’s pretty much making all the decisions on personnel and strategy, I think “marginal improvement” is the ceiling for the Iowa offense under Kirk Ferentz.
The question becomes how that will translate into wins and losses. I’ll just say this: unless something unforeseen happens, 2023 is probably going to be Kirk’s last ten-win season. There’s just no way to duplicate 2023’s results without marked improvement on offense. The defense just can’t hold up against good competition, as evidenced by giving up on average more than 30 points a game against the three teams Iowa played in 2023 that were legit opponents.
When Iowa is struggling to win 5-6 games a season, will that be good enough for the unwavering Ferentz apologists? Sadly, it probably will be.
No, I don’t think so.
It indicates some fans come up with ridiculous rationalizations for why the offense has to suck.
Which implies you think posters are happy with the offensive production. I don’t know of anyone whose said the offense has to suck.
Which is it then? That posters think the offense has to suck, or that they agree The offense has to improve?
I would also add that some fans seem to think KF dictates the offense or has some hang up on risks. No, he wants to be able to run and pass. He wants to be able to control the clock and thus field position if need be. NOW if you want to get technical about it, what he probably does do is give Phil first choice of players. There is no way a school produces as much DB talent and so little WR talent if that were not the case. Both positions are very similar in athletic ability, size, speed and everything else. So does he favor defense over offense? Maybe in that way he does. It is how we stay in games and how we always have for that matter. But that is not dictating offense. The answer is simple, recruit better. They have to know by know exactly what they are looking for in a DB, so finding talented WR's should not be that hard. As for QB, I have no idea. I know we can not have a statue back there. some accuracy hitting moving targets would be nice as well.
You said posters are coming up with rationalizations for why the offense has to suck. please explain.
Read anything from Eyesofhawk the last 6 months
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
As an outsider I'll say this...
There are people (on this board) who don't understand that KF's lack of urgency and conviction to make real change has dug you into a deep hole (on O)
A lot of you (on this board) see it and say it...it's past the point of just making minor adjustments...there needs to be wholesale changes
Are you suggesting that KF asked Beth to do his dirty work for him because he was too much of a pussy to do it himself?
KF hired those DC's. And to say he got lucky is absolutely ridiculous
No, what he's suggesting is that none of us could know for certain what Kirk would have done had Goetz not acted first.
I for one thing Kirk expended a great deal of his political capital with the renegotiated contract for BF last year. Whether he might have tried to keep BF after another dreadful offensive season to me is a moot point - I'm not sure he could have done so again.
I doubt that you pay a dime to the university yet always complain. As a long time ticket holder and I-club supporter, I want to see winning seasons, bowl trips, a clean run program, and young men graduate. Kirk checks those boxes. Over the last five years, Iowa has won ovee 70% of their football games, ranking as one of only 10 programs to do so. The other teams always have top ten ranked recruiting classes except Utah at #9. I would like to see our offense improve, but I'm not unhappy with Kirk or the program.
Knowing how things work at Iowa, Kirk will probably have a lot of input into the next coach. Didn’t Fry have some involvement? I honestly don’t remember.
I wouldn’t want Kirk anywhere near the coaching search
I think you're giving KF way too much credit suggesting that he may have asked his boy to move on from a $900K job if he wasn't forced to. Although it is a FACT that none of us know for sure, I think we sort of do. There is absolutely nothing about KF's history to suggest that he would have made such a move, including the likelihood that he STILL doesn't think anything was wrong with the offense and that BF was doing a good job.
I do agree that it's a moot point now, but boy, the damage has been done...
BG will do the respectable and honorable thing by listening to any input Grandpa Kirk has and letting him believe that she cares, which she won't. She's way too smart. I am not the least bit concerned that she will be influenced enough by him to make a move that she wouldn't make otherwise.
Wasn't the deal that the AD was BF's boss? So who does anyone think was going to fire him? I also agree with the poster who brought up the fact that BF took a pay cut before his last season and if nothing else, that says that it is time to do or die. That along with stipulation about points that needed to be scored. Nobody knows what would have happened, because yes, there were injuries to key players that hampered the effort. BUT also you still have to be able to put up at least some points, after all, East Carolina even got a field goal against Michigan. So I think nobody knows how things would have shaken out when everything was looked at and both sides of the argument were weighed. Who knows, BF might have chose to move on. Whatever you want to say about him, he does want to win at the highest level and he does love the program. Maybe even a little more then someone who never attended or played for the U? Maybe more then someone who didn't grow up with a father as the coach?? I think if nothing else, it stands to reason that he cares a fair amount about the program as it has been in his life for a long time. Did anyone notice that when they announced it, they said that he would not be with the program after the season. They did not say he was being let go, fired or anything else. There is more then one way to read that.
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So, BF was so pissed off at himself for quitting that he quit wearing Hawkeye clothing during the games?
The Offense will continue to be abysmal against teams with a pulse because Kirk will Kirk.
Or, after growing up pretty much within the program, then playing for the program, then coaching for (and he had options) the program, it became distracting to himself and the team to hear the chants and see the signs fans had. Hence the U announcing that he would not be returning when they did. As for wearing the tiger hawk? Idk, I was not to proud of our fans either, and my parents did not donate millions to the very childrens hospital that said "fans" were putting said signs in the windows of. So yeah, I can understand if he maybe did not feel like wearing Iowa gear. I just think the fans took everything way over board. Especially knowing he was not coming close to meeting the stipulations set in his contract and thus it was most likely his last year, be that a mutual decision or his own or the Universities.
Meeting contractual stipulations had nothing to do with it being his last year or not.
I think fans were justified with the signs and chants.
Brian was not qualified when he got the job. Besides the nepotism I wasn't fully 100% against the promotion. I was even somewhat hopeful he could bring new ideas into his dad's office and be productive. Yes some did not like him but it did not take over the Iowa media, National Media, or Kinnick until this season.
The last half of '21, all of '22 and '23 was abysmal offensively. Fans who pay to watch that garbage had every right to display their frustration. Lets be 100% honest with Kirk as HC it is not a 100% fact that Brian would have been gone. He isn't even on a staff now. If Brian would have struggles to get a job this offseason Kirk very well may have brought him back.
We all knew that Brian was going to take over the OC (and i still think plan was set for him to become head coach).
His first few years were not great but he sprinkled in some nice games (cue the 2017 OSU and 2019 USC haha). Those first few years he had KOK and some weapons on offense.
We all of them in 2021 and we saw Brian could not scheme to the players he had. I believe both Brian and Kirk felt the only way to win was to punt to the 2 yard line and hope for defense to get offense closer to FG range. There was never ever any urgency from the offense. It was we’ll do what we do without taking huge risks and if we punt we punt.
Kirk knew how bad the big10 west is/was, so again there was not any urgency to change anything. Iowa will win with no offense and the fan base will be happy. We’ll accept this is the way.
All it took was losing to a horrible horrible MN team (tho a fluke penalty which may have been the cause of Brian’s firing) to see any change.
Now we have Lester and he’ll talk the talk. But when Iowa lines up next year, the offense will go right back to conservative mode.
Think about when Iowa actually did score points….iowa would be up 7-14-17 points and the offense was shut down. Only to see the opponent slowly gain momentum and it turn into a stressful finish.
Kirk wants to win his way. Doesn’t matter who the coaches are anymore. Doesn’t matter we have little to no talent so the scheme needs to fit what they can do best, it’s about doing what Kirk sees best
His first few years were not great but he sprinkled in some nice games (cue the 2017 OSU and 2019 USC haha). Those first few years he had KOK and some weapons on offense.
We all of them in 2021 and we saw Brian could not scheme to the players he had. I believe both Brian and Kirk felt the only way to win was to punt to the 2 yard line and hope for defense to get offense closer to FG range. There was never ever any urgency from the offense. It was we’ll do what we do without taking huge risks and if we punt we punt.
Kirk knew how bad the big10 west is/was, so again there was not any urgency to change anything. Iowa will win with no offense and the fan base will be happy. We’ll accept this is the way.
All it took was losing to a horrible horrible MN team (tho a fluke penalty which may have been the cause of Brian’s firing) to see any change.
Now we have Lester and he’ll talk the talk. But when Iowa lines up next year, the offense will go right back to conservative mode.
Think about when Iowa actually did score points….iowa would be up 7-14-17 points and the offense was shut down. Only to see the opponent slowly gain momentum and it turn into a stressful finish.
Kirk wants to win his way. Doesn’t matter who the coaches are anymore. Doesn’t matter we have little to no talent so the scheme needs to fit what they can do best, it’s about doing what Kirk sees best
