In your opinion, what would Brian have to do to prove he is ready? Just curious.
I think it goes beyond x's and o's. I think that the perception of the football program and university as a whole has to be reflected in the personality of the head coach. Of course winning trumps everything, but, the level of winning for really any program is unsustainable if the personality and desired perception don't match. Look at why the spread didn't work at Nebraska, why everyone hates Fleck, and why Miami is still to this day seen as a program with a bunch of thugs and criminals from the Jimmie Johnson era. The responsibility of a coach is much more than winning and losing, because not only do you have to win first, you are the face for your entire state, moreso than any politician, and that goes double for a state like Iowa that has no pro teams and is the biggest draw in the state.
In Iowa's case, the reason that Ferentz has been so successful and the longest tenured coach is because he is humble, always deflects praise and always accepts blame, incredibly hard-working, lets the performance on the field do the talking, and is perceived by everyone as an incredibly nice man that if you saw him in the grocery store that you could approach him and have a conversation, and above all, that things are never as good or as bad as they seem with him, and that level-headed sentiment is reflected in his players and coaches. If you think about it, I think the personality of Kirk reflects the state as a whole. Hayden was a bit different in that he was a little more brash, but all those other traits were still embodied in him, and why so many Iowans look up to those guys as role models. It is why fans like me love to see under-recruited tough kids that play their hearts out, play hard-nose defense, run the ball down your throat kind of stuff. I don't appreciate the 49-45 games where there is no defense and its all about the flash, that is just poser football to me.
So as it goes with Brian, I think he kind of got off on the wrong foot with the Iowa fans as people perceive him to be someone who is hot-headed, not even-keeled and maybe not the nicest guy in the world, and someone with little humility. And Brian had it even harder than Kirk and Hayden did because they didn't have to face the idea of nepotism, so Brian had to be even more "good ole boy" than them. But Brian really did this to himself and I don't know what he has to do, aside from winning, that will change that or if he will even be able to change that. There will always be people that will say they loved Kirk but Brian not so much no matter what happens from here on out.