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Do we give KF enough credit for the coaching staff he has put in place?

Franisdaman

HB King
Nov 3, 2012
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KOK--former OC, mentoring Brian; look at the QBs he's recruiting
Brian--trained under Bill B of the Patriots; now in year 2 as OC
Tim P--former OC, now OL coach and look at the OL
Copeland--yr 2 for him; suddenly we see life in our WRs

Reese Morgan--DL coach; what a job he has done
Seth Wallace--LB coach; asst DC; losses to graduation and injury and LBs still playing really well
Phil Parker--bend, don't break D worked under Norm and it works under Phil

Lavar Woods--trick plays vs Ohio State last year and MN this year; look at the improvement in punting this year

If we are gonna bash KF for GDGD, shouldn't he get some credit for the current staff?
 
KOK--former OC, mentoring Brian; look at the QBs he's recruiting
Brian--trained under Bill B of the Patriots; now in year 2 as OC
Tim P--former OC, now OL coach and look at the OL
Copeland--yr 2 for him; suddenly we see life in our WRs

Reese Morgan--DL coach; what a job he has done
Seth Wallace--LB coach; asst DC; losses to graduation and injury and LBs still playing really well
Phil Parker--bend, don't break D worked under Norm and it works under Phil

Lavar Woods--trick plays vs Ohio State last year and MN this year; look at the improvement in punting this year

If we are gonna bash KF for GDGD, shouldn't he get some credit for the current staff?

Probably not but same guy kept GDGD around for years due to his stubbornness.
 
Well, he also got rid of the 2 coaches tied to the Eno Benjamin fiasco

BK is at Stanford. GDGD "retired" on his couch after being "retired" for a couple years with zero job offers. Who do you think is more respected in the profession?
 
Probably not but same guy kept GDGD around for years due to his stubbornness.

Was it 3nor 4 years Davis OC? I seriously can’t remember. Either way, you really couldn’t have got rid of him following the 2015 season could you?
 
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Was it 3nor 4 years Davis OC? I seriously can’t remember. Either way, you really couldn’t have got rid of him following the 2015 season could you?
Seemed like 10.
Pretty sure it was 4 and I think his previous high was 2 years at Texas. Only lasted a year at a couple places before that I think.
2015 was all defense, personnel and CJB making plays. Easy to blame execution but GDGD was fricking terrible.
 
Seemed like 10.
Pretty sure it was 4 and I think his previous high was 2 years at Texas. Only lasted a year at a couple places before that I think.
2015 was all defense, personnel and CJB making plays. Easy to blame execution but GDGD was fricking terrible.

You might be right but I thought he had been at Texas for quite a while, like over 10 years.
 
Seth Wallace is probably the best hire KF has made since his initial hiring of coaches IMO.
 
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Davis was at Texas from 1998-2010. Won assistant coach of the year in 2005 and was the second highest paid assistant in the country behind Jimbo Fisher at one point. Texas was something like 133-34 with him as the OC. Unc had a couple 10 win seasons with them there. While he didn’t do great at Iowa, he did at other places.
 
No, it is nearly unheard of for a college coach to turn over his entire staff and thrive, which is just what Kirk has done.
 
KOK--former OC, mentoring Brian; look at the QBs he's recruiting
Brian--trained under Bill B of the Patriots; now in year 2 as OC
Tim P--former OC, now OL coach and look at the OL
Copeland--yr 2 for him; suddenly we see life in our WRs

Reese Morgan--DL coach; what a job he has done
Seth Wallace--LB coach; asst DC; losses to graduation and injury and LBs still playing really well
Phil Parker--bend, don't break D worked under Norm and it works under Phil

Lavar Woods--trick plays vs Ohio State last year and MN this year; look at the improvement in punting this year

If we are gonna bash KF for GDGD, shouldn't he get some credit for the current staff?
You're missing Kelvin Bell, who is very good and Derrick Foster, who I have a good feeling about. Also, Doyle is basically a coach.
 
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KF 's staff has seen a little turnover over the last twenty years. There have been a couple of coaches that have left to enjoy success elsewhere. It took a couple of years on a couple of those openings to get a coach that was buying in to as I have heard so many players say "The Iowa Way". That dline coach who went to nebby and the receivers coach who set us back at least a couple of recruiting classes. And of course GDGD whose scheme was probably never really gonna work in the B1G. So its kinda tough to say KF doesn't make good hires especially with the way we seem to be trending upward
 
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A lot of internet denizens liked to snear that Kirk's early success was "because of Norm Parker." Uh, that is the point, you're supposed to hire excellent coaches.

Football head coaches are CEOs. They are running a $100+M operation. Hiring of coaches is very high on the list of responsibilities, and those hirings make or break a coach.
 
Yes, of course, but then as others have noted, you also have to blame him for hiring and keeping people like GD. And there were several others over the years who clearly were not good hires.

So yes, it appears KF may have FINALLY, after about 20 years, organized an outstanding staff. Well done. But there may be those who wonder what took so long....
 
Yes, of course, but then as others have noted, you also have to blame him for hiring and keeping people like GD. And there were several others over the years who clearly were not good hires.

So yes, it appears KF may have FINALLY, after about 20 years, organized an outstanding staff. Well done. But there may be those who wonder what took so long....


You’re crazy if you think it took 20 years for KF to assemble a great staff. He accomplished that right out of the gate, but most folks refused to acknowledge it. Sure there have been a couple stinkers over the course of two decades, but overall his staff is largely responsible for the sustained success Iowa has experienced since fry retired. While KF staff doesn’t have the wide ranging tree of current head coaches, he had assembled many that were comfortable in their own shoes and happy to be position coaches or coordinators not to mention several from the initial staff that found their way to NFL staffs
 
Probably not but same guy kept GDGD around for years due to his stubbornness.
I would say it was more out of loyalty than stubbornness. My understanding is that he is a very loyal guy. He let a couple coaches go because of the recruiting debacle, but he didn't throw them under the bus.
 
You’re crazy if you think it took 20 years for KF to assemble a great staff. He accomplished that right out of the gate, but most folks refused to acknowledge it. Sure there have been a couple stinkers over the course of two decades, but overall his staff is largely responsible for the sustained success Iowa has experienced since fry retired. While KF staff doesn’t have the wide ranging tree of current head coaches, he had assembled many that were comfortable in their own shoes and happy to be position coaches or coordinators not to mention several from the initial staff that found their way to NFL staffs

100% correct. KF took a lot of flack for his initial staff, which included Norm Parker, who was coaching linebackers at Vanderbilt (had been at MSU as d-coordinator). He was too old. People no one had heard of like Ron Aiken, Joe Philbin, and O'Keefe. And no one was jumping up and down about getting the secondary coach from Toledo (Phil Parker). It also included Bielema and Chuck Long. As Iowa won, guys naturally moved on or retired (like Carl Jackson), but the first staff was great. Not all of the hires subsequently have been great (Kaczenski, Bobby Kennedy, Chris White) and overall the Greg Davis thing was curious, although it did produce 2015. The current staff is a good mix of old and younger, and outside influences and those familiar with Iowa. Copeland, Foster and Polasek didn't come up through the Iowa program, so they can introduce other ideas. Even Wallace and Brian Ferentz spent significant time in other programs, so they've been exposed to other ideas.
 
Probably not but same guy kept GDGD around for years due to his stubbornness.
Some folks aren't going to like to hear this ... but I think that part of the reasoning that went into the hire of Greg Davis was that Kirk knew that he was going to retire before too long ... and he wanted someone who would be able to be a really good mentor to Brian. Kirk trusts Philbin ... and a strong endorsement by Philbin was, in part, what led Kirk to interview Greg.

I think that we all agree that Greg may not have been the best "fit" for the Hawks ... but, on the flip side, he was also the OC when the Hawks enjoyed their first-ever undefeated regular season.

Anyhow, with Brian at the helm, he was able to distill many of the things that Greg did that worked ... and incorporate it more within O'Keefe's O. And the rest is history ....
 
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Some folks aren't going to like to hear this ... but I think that part of the reasoning that went into the hire of Greg Davis was that Kirk knew that he was going to retire before too long ... and he wanted someone who would be able to be a really good mentor to Brian. Kirk trusts Philbin ... and a strong endorsement by Philbin was, in part, what led Kirk to interview Greg.

I think that we all agree that Greg may not have been the best "fit" for the Hawks ... but, on the flip side, he was also the OC when the Hawks enjoyed their first-ever undefeated regular season.

Anyhow, with Brian at the helm, he was able to distill many of the things that Greg did that worked ... and incorporate it more within O'Keefe's O. And the rest is history ....
Why do you think any of that? How do you know Philbin endorsed Greg? He helped Greg get an interview after Greg contacted Philbin about the Iowa job after Philbin passed Davis over in Miami, but I've read nothing that says he gave Davis a 'strong endorsement'. Plus, where do you get the idea that KF hired Davis because he was retiring? You seem to always be making broad assumptions.

Besides inside/outside zone, Iowa is doing pretty much nothing offensively that Davis did. The 'gap scheme' and the pin and pull plays are something that Brian brought in when he became run game coordinator, and the formations, route combinations, and audibles, etc... are entirely different than what GD did. And I would argue that Brian's offense is way more influenced by Bill BellyChick and Josh McDaniels than O'Keefe. This offense looks more like the Patriots offense than O'Keefe's offenses at Iowa.

You said some people weren't going to like this, well the only reason I don't 'like it', is because it doesn't appear to be based in any reality or facts. If you have some supporting evidence to anything you proclaim, I would be glad to change my opinion. Thanks.
 
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Some folks aren't going to like to hear this ... but I think that part of the reasoning that went into the hire of Greg Davis was that Kirk knew that he was going to retire before too long ... and he wanted someone who would be able to be a really good mentor to Brian. Kirk trusts Philbin ... and a strong endorsement by Philbin was, in part, what led Kirk to interview Greg.

I think that we all agree that Greg may not have been the best "fit" for the Hawks ... but, on the flip side, he was also the OC when the Hawks enjoyed their first-ever undefeated regular season.

Anyhow, with Brian at the helm, he was able to distill many of the things that Greg did that worked ... and incorporate it more within O'Keefe's O. And the rest is history ....
For folks who don't know ... Joe Philbin and Greg Davis had known each other for quite some while. Joe thought highly enough of Greg ... that when he was first hired for the Dolphins ... Greg was on his short-list to make the staff. Not surprisingly, Joe opted for O'Keefe instead ... he's on record stating that Ken has been one of his biggest football influences (at least on O).

Anyhow, Kirk is well known for being meticulous about how he approaches things. There's no way that he'd have hired Greg without talking extensively with folks he knew who could weigh in on Greg (including Joe Philbin). Given that Greg was on Joe's short-list and given that Kirk hired Greg ... it's not a huge leap to surmise that Kirk received a very positive endorsement from Joe about Greg.
 
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For folks who don't know ... Joe Philbin and Greg Davis had known each other for quite some while. Joe thought highly enough of Greg ... that when he was first hired for the Dolphins ... Greg was on his short-list to make the staff. Not surprisingly, Joe opted for O'Keefe instead ... he's on record stating that Ken has been one of his biggest football influences (at least on O).

Anyhow, Kirk is well known for being meticulous for how he approaches things. There's no way that he'd have hired Greg without talking extensively with folks he knew who could weigh in on Greg (including Joe Philbin). Given that Greg was on Joe's short-list and given that Kirk hired Greg ... it's not a huge leap to surmise that Kirk received a very positive endorsement from Joe about Greg.
None of that is evidence. You're assumptions and suppositions don't constitute truth and I'm not really interested in what you surmise (surmise.- to form a notion of from scanty evidence). Are you going to provide ANY evidence to support what you said, or are you just going to attempt your circular logic again and ramble on for paragraph after paragraph? Don't bother with the latter.
 
You’re crazy if you think it took 20 years for KF to assemble a great staff. He accomplished that right out of the gate, but most folks refused to acknowledge it. Sure there have been a couple stinkers over the course of two decades, but overall his staff is largely responsible for the sustained success Iowa has experienced since fry retired. While KF staff doesn’t have the wide ranging tree of current head coaches, he had assembled many that were comfortable in their own shoes and happy to be position coaches or coordinators not to mention several from the initial staff that found their way to NFL staffs
This. Its not a bad thing, that we have guys like PP, Morgan, and Doyle, who have been happy in their roles at Iowa, and have contributed greatly to the programs success, both past and present. If anyone believes that they've had no other options, I'd find that very unlikely. I really like the current staff's makeup of long time coaches who have been the bedrock here for 20 years, and young and hungry fresh faces, like coach Polesak, Bell, Wallace, and yes BF. Former players BF, Woods, and Binns can bring their own stories of what it means to bleed the black and gold.
 
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