I think I’ll wait to see what happens in the fall before saying Lester is doomed before he even starts.
Can anyone honestly say Kirk is serious about improving the offense?
- Thread starter RagnarLothbrok
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Don't see where Lester will be PERMITTED to make substantial changes to the Offense.
We have 25 years of below average offense. Literally less than a handful of years where the offense was considered good, and those were near the beginning of Kirk’s career
I won’t get too upset in 2024 because the cupboard is bare. We don’t have any QB, our OL isn’t great, and we have no idea what our WR can do other than drop passes.
Yeah TE are solid but they don’t generate big plays or points for us. Iowa scores TD by slamming RB into the goal line.
What i hope to see is a little more competent schemes. Then maybe in a year or two better players can find their way into program.
Assuming Kirk really plans to stay till end of contract
You were the one implying that BF may not have been let go. So ya, if that were the case his little clothing protest would have to have been because he was mad at himself. Make no mistake, he was fired. If you feel the need to pretend that he wasn’t go ahead.
If you give Lester the exact same playbook as Brian had, do you think Lester is going to call plays the same way that Brian did? Or do you think that Lester will have a better talent for play-calling?
Then, if you give Lester the exact same quarterbacks as Brian had, to you think Lester is going to coach them the same as Brian did? Or do you think that he will be better able to coach them in quarterback techniques?
Now, I don't believe that Lester will be forced to use the same playbook that Brian had. But even if he had to, I think that he will have better instincts for calling plays than Brian demonstrated over the past two years. I think that he will be a better QB coach than Brian was over the past two years. The dramatic decline over the last two years occurred after Ken O'Keefe's retirement as QB coach. I don't think that is coincidental.
I'm also curious what he means by substantial changes. If Lester incorporates the RPO and makes it a significant part of the offense, I'd consider that a substantial change. If he overhauls the passing tree for the WRs, I'd also consider that a substantial change.
Honestly, I think where we're going to see the most changes will be in #1) playcalling and #2) pass routes. idk that we have to truly reinvent the running as much as the passing game has to open things up so defense can't stack the box.
Looks like ISU will be shopping for a new OC as well.
www.cbssports.com
Iowa State offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase leaving for job on Los Angeles Rams staff, per report
The 33-year-old is the latest college coach to depart for the professional ranks this offseason
www.cbssports.com
None of us can understand what KFZ is thinking. I was sure going into last year that substantial changes would be made. NO WAY Kirk lets his son become a laughingstock and bear the brunt of the embarrassment our offense had become. No head coach and no dad would ever do that. But he did... His comments after Brian's firing indicated that his intention was to blame injuries and the offensive staff was getting a pass. That's consistent with how he's handled things but I still can't grasp that he allowed his son to go through what he did instead of taking the heat himself. It's why I have no faith we'll see any difference this year. I wish and hope I'm wrong.
If last year had been the exception to the rule he’d have had a point with injuries to some extent. But that was the 3rd straight year as well know.
Whether Kirk was going to try to make that case to keep BF or not; imo he didn’t have the political capital to bring him back again.
I don’t think Lester is doomed before he even begins but the proof will be in the pudding.
Bullshit. He has 2 Division titles in the last 10 years. What is the combined score of the 2 B1G Championship games? Division titlists are supposed to be equal. It's an indictment of his inability to field competitive teams.
He wins games in an extremely weak Division. Move Iowa to the other Division and we'd be near the bottom.
The game has moved far beyond Ferentz. QBs actually throw passes and WRs catch balls. Run plays without running the clock to 0. Use imaginative offensive schemes. Imagine this. Every game. Every year.
JFC Iowa fans. You obviously didn't live in the Commings or Lauturbur era. Iowa deserves better.
And those wins either take a miracle or what feels like a seasons worth of effort to achieve.
It still completely baffles me how Iowa games end up being some of the ugliest ****ing football anyone has ever seen….and it’s every damn week!
One part is a testament to Phil and how he makes bad teams look even worse. I remember watching the IL - IN game which was high scoring. The QBs were throwing the ball all over the field. WR in open space. I was thinking IL might beat Iowa with that kind of offense.
The next week it was like IL had never thrown a forward pass (tho they did have moments of success). Iowa defense really does bend and not break. It has to be frustrating for QBs to always take the short underneath route. It also means your WR are going to get hit a lot.
But then you match that with Iowa offense and what you have is a tragic comedy of ineptitude
It would be one thing if Iowa’s 8-10 wins were 28-14, 35-10, 21-17
They’re winning (and losing sometimes) 9-6, 12-6, 13-10
So a win is a win, but it’s fools gold. No one takes Iowa seriously with this style
And, as Iowa has found out, no one wants to watch a shitty team on TV, no matter their record.
My point was more of the timing of it as to why he was not wearing the tiger hawk. Kf was not happy about it and so we can imagine neither was BF. I mean at that point he already knew (as did all the fans) that he was not going to come close meeting the contract and in all probability was done being OC. Did the U do it then to stop the chants and signs on national TV? Maybe. We will never know how things would have played out. Do they demote him to OL coach (where he was pretty good)? Does he resign and go somewhere else? Does KF and BF plead that it was all because of injuries?? We don't know, but the timing of it both created (with KF and BF) and eliminated (the chants and signs fans) a bunch of unneeded drama. Drama that had to be distracting to the team.
What drama came from that firing was more than offset by the drama that got removed when Goetz announced Brian wouldn’t be back in any capacity.
It had simply gotten too toxic to bring him back, period. Not to mention they stopped discussing the drive to 325 every game and such.
Idk if players rallied around BF for the closing stretch or what, but it was a move that had to be made.
I am certain that KF has lost all interest in winning football games! He just wants to spend countless hours working young players to death with no reward for himself, his staff and the players themselves. Rumor is, he wants to see how many consecutive games he can lose before being fired. Yep, that is the inside story!
This was my biggest issue with what unfolded. As a dad and as a son, I can’t imagine putting my son or my dad through that bullshit. Borderline cruelty.
So his intelligence was the reason for his offensive hires?
Or it could just mean that like most coaches, he’s made good hire and bad hires.
The mistake he has made is reluctance/stubbornness in admitting that a hire hasn’t worked out.
I agree. That is what I was trying to say, it got to the point that it was a lose lose situation and there was no "good" way out. Had the fans been more chill and the media not made such a big deal about the drive to 325, (kept the drama low), it might have all turned out different. Maybe BF steps down or leaves, maybe he goes back to OL coach, maybe KF tries to argue it was all injuries (but as mentioned, that would have been a hard sell after several years of poor performance). We just do not know what would have happened. BUT I agree the U had to get out in front of it and stop all the drama and BS somehow. So I am not saying they were wrong or unjustified.
