Ok, to say you owe Kirk anything may not be the best way to put it. I would say fans at least owe him the benefit of the doubt, if not their respect. And certainly disrespect and constant complaining and questioning would not align one in the category of a fan.
I don't know if keeping Brian would have been in the best interest of the program or not. I'm not armed with any of the inside information. I would lean towards saying the change is a healthy move just to end all of the fan negativity around it.
We don't know for sure if KF would have brought BF back or not. He may too have decided that the negativity was just not worth it.
But if BF were brought back, I would defend it by saying KF has earned the benefit of the doubt. I certainly don't have enough inside information to have had any problem with it.
And from my perspective, there are ways to defend Brian returning. One, is not a lot of people make big changes in the midst of success. To do so it certainly a risk. Another, is to judge an offensive operation in a season where Iowa played the worst QB (to get significant snaps) that I've seen them play in my 39 years of watching Iowa football, is silly. BF had very little to do with that. It's similar, I'm sure, to why BF was brought back last season. To have judged his operation on a season ('22) where Iowa had the worst offensive line that I've seen at Iowa in 39 years, is even more silly. And BF probably had even less to do with that.
Without the benefit of inside information, I never thought BF had the best feel as a play-caller. And I think it was a mistake to have him as QB coach, although I understand the reasoning why he was made QB coach. But (again, without the benefit of inside information) I think BF as OC was a ways down the list of reasons Iowa's offense has struggled. If true, no doubt KF knew it. It's not coincidence how when an O-line falls apart, all of the sudden, the offense falls apart too. Very few OC's could have done much better with that line.
As for thoughts about the QB room, that has previously been addressed in this thread. I'm not going to repeat it all. But will say that everyone was thrilled to have brought Cade in. He got hurt. I will also say that he most likely got hurt again from having played hurt, and that is on KF. It would have seemed that Iowa had a completely serviceable backup, in Labas. Unfortunately, it appears that his lifestyle took him out of that position. KF has an excellent track record of recruiting high character guys.
How many teams actually have more than two QB's ready to go at a given time? Shoot, there are a lot of teams that are searching for one guy that's any good. If anything, KF deserves credit for having having the foresight to bring Hill to campus as an emergency QB.
I have no idea what you're talking about with any "plague" at Iowa when it comes to QB's. Sure, the past couple/few years have been tough. But I would certainly characterize the QB play at Iowa during KF's tenure to have been more than fine. I doubt he would have stuck around for 26 years if any "plague" that you have suggested were reality. The past couple seasons, when it comes to QB play, is another example of where KF has earned the benefit of the doubt. Especially when you consider injury and terrible O-line play (that had little to do with KF). You can also add in significant attrition to WR's in '22 (that also didn't have a whole lot to do with KF), and a QB that may have gotten lost in a weed cloud.
In the end, the Brian thing, the offense thing, and the QB thing have been WAY overstated. KF has had enough in place in the program to navigate all that to 9.33 wins over the last 3 years, and 9 wins over the last 2. The struggles in those areas just haven't been that big of a deal. For fans to have had as big a problem with winning that many games simply means that they are butthurt from having not been "entertained" enough.
You can judge KF's "best teams" however you want. The only thing that goes into the record books are wins and losses. And KF's recent stretch of years have been his most successful period at Iowa.
A 13-10 win is the same as a 30-10 win. And to minimize the success of a program that's been winning for near the entirety of 25 years is just silly. Winning is never easy. There are no bad teams in the Big Ten conference. And there aren't many teams that want anything to do with 4 trophy games every season.
I'm not sure what your problem with good punting is. But the sport is called "foot"ball.
You make a good point that KF is compensated very well. Dealing with negativity in the community is part of the job. But annual surveys of high school coaches show that dealing with parents and the community is the least favorite part of their job. It's not much different for college coaches. Negative "fans" do make their job and their lives harder. If one considers himself a fan, why not simply support his team?
