Jon Budmayr, the "Offensive Analyst." Kirk calls him a "Gift from Heaven."
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whether barnett and budmayr have anything substantive to offer will have to be proven on the field. on a completely unrelated note, my take is that the decision to completely close off practices has something to do with coaches on the offensive side...they don't want to expose brian's dynamic with the assistant coaches. i found it odd that budmayr (who is all of 32) in his interview says brian is willing to put his ego aside to learn from budmayr and that brian told him, ‘I want the best for Iowa football. I want to improve.’ it may be true but hardly something you expose in an interview.
Budmayr helped attract the current top two at quarterback for the Hawkeyes: Michigan transfer Cade McNamara and Wisconsin transfer Deacon Hill. Budmayr was promoted to Kirk Ferentz's "special assistant" on Dec. 5, four days after McNamara committed to Iowa.
Budmayr tried to recruit both quarterbacks while at Wisconsin; though he missed on McNamara, the two developed a strong relationship. Having McNamara arrive in January gave Budmayr license to tailor offensive concepts to McNamara’s refined accuracy.
After reading this story, I think you will all finally see why KF considers Jon a gift from heaven.
Leistikow: On 'special assistant' Jon Budmayr's growing influence within the Iowa football offense
Chad Leistikow
Des Moines Register
Aug 15, 2023
Jon Budmayr is in his 2nd season helping the Iowa program and has been impressed at how much voice Kirk and Brian have allowed him to have.
IOWA CITY − For 12 years, Jon Budmayr proudly wore the red and white colors of the Wisconsin Badgers. He did so as a backup quarterback, as a student assistant, as a graduate assistant coach, as a quality-control assistant and then for three years as quarterbacks coach under Paul Chryst.
On Friday, he happily wore a white polo with the Iowa Hawkeyes’ signature Tigerhawk logo. Friends back in Madison ask Budmayr what it's like to now be wearing the black and gold for a school he once saw as a bitter border rival.
“Within this profession, that goes away so fast,” Budmayr said at the Hawkeye football team’s media day, his first public interview since joining the program as a volunteer coach in the spring of 2022. “This place, you can’t get a better staff, from top to bottom. That was very similar to my time at Wisconsin. Coach Chryst, he’s a mentor to me. He did an unbelievable job of making you feel that. And when I came here, I felt that same thing.
“Coach (Kirk) Ferentz is a Hall of Fame football coach, but you sit down with him for 10 minutes and it doesn’t take long to figure out he’s a better person than he is coach. That’s been a real highlight for me and my family.”
Budmayr has been somewhat of a mysterious figure outside of the walls of the Hansen Football Performance Center ... and even inside. His presence caught some players off guard two springs ago. During an August 2022 podcast, former Iowa tight end Sam LaPorta joked about seeing Budmayr for the first time, saying: “Out of the blue, there’s this new guy in the building, and he has his hands in the offense. I’m just like, ‘Who the (heck) is this guy?’”
Budmayr has gone from taking no pay then to now earning more than $27,000 a month − the equivalent of $325,000 a year − plus medical and dental benefits to serve as a “senior special assistant to the head coach” and "no later than" Jan. 31, 2024.
That Budmayr is so handsomely compensated despite NCAA rules that prohibit him from providing in-person instruction to players shows how much he is valued by Ferentz, the 25th-year Iowa head coach, and Ferentz's oldest son, Brian, Iowa’s seventh-year offensive coordinator.
Brian Ferentz freely admitted that as a former offensive line and tight ends coach he had much to learn about quarterback play when he took over that position group following Ken O'Keefe's retirement in early 2022. Enter Budmayr, who Iowa has known about since the mid-to late-2000s when it tried to recruit him as a player out of Woodstock, Illinois.
“That’s not my expertise, that’s not what I’ve done,” Ferentz said Friday. “So, I lean on him in a lot of regards. Simple things, fundamental things. I want to learn. I want to know as much as I can about the position.
“I have the utmost respect for Jon. I think he’s an excellent football coach, I think he’s an excellent quarterback coach. As an offensive football person, I think he’s really smart. I think he has a really bright future, and I just feel fortunate that we have him here.”
Even if Budmayr left the program tomorrow, his impact would be heavily felt in Iowa's 2023 season. In an NCAA rule change, non-coaching staff members can now contact prospective student-athletes on the school’s behalf. Budmayr had gone from volunteer coach to analyst at Iowa last fall and helped attract the current top two at quarterback for the Hawkeyes: Michigan transfer Cade McNamara and Wisconsin transfer Deacon Hill. Budmayr was promoted to Kirk Ferentz's "special assistant" on Dec. 5, four days after McNamara committed to Iowa.
Budmayr tried to recruit both quarterbacks while at Wisconsin; though he missed on McNamara, the two developed a strong relationship. Having McNamara arrive in January gave Budmayr license to tailor offensive concepts to McNamara’s refined accuracy.
Budmayr successfully recruited Hill to Wisconsin, but he left for the OC position at Colorado State before Hill arrived. Now, that duo has also been reunited.
“He’s helping me understand a lot of defenses, what we’re trying to attack and why we’re attacking it,” Hill said. “With him, I’ve seen our group grow exponentially.”
Budmayr was on the practice field during Saturday’s Kids' Day at Kinnick scrimmage and was one of the first to put his arm around McNamara after he returned from the locker room with what Kirk Ferentz indicated was likely a quad strain. While Budmayr is not allowed to provide “technical or tactical instruction” (per UI compliance), that doesn’t stop him from being a respected, influential figure among players. Under the rules, Budmayr can even recommend play calls to a full-time coach on game days from the field or the press box.
“The biggest thing for (the quarterbacks) is having a plan in place that I believe helps them play efficiently, play in rhythm (and) understand what you’re being presented with defensively,” Budmayr said, “so that you can make good decisions and ultimately get the ball to playmakers.”
Budmayr appreciates the relationship he has with both Ferentzes.
“You come into a situation that I walked into here, and it can go one of two ways,” Budmayr said. “It can be the guy who is sitting in the back of the room and taking it in, or you can provide value. (The latter) doesn’t happen unless you have a coordinator like Brian who is willing to put his ego aside and say, ‘I want the best for Iowa football. I want to improve.’”
It is not hard to envision a scenario in which the Iowa offense, under McNamara’s capable direction and with Budmayr’s growing influence, improves considerably from its 2022 depths and allows the embattled Brian Ferentz to transition to another job elsewhere, perhaps in the NFL. If something like that happened, it would be an easy leap to think that Kirk Ferentz would be comfortable tapping Budmayr as his next offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Coincidence or not, the $325,000 Budmayr is making annually at Iowa is what he was paid to be Colorado State's OC in 2021.
That’s emblematic of the type of trust and respect the program is showing toward Budmayr, who was left without a job after the Colorado State staff was cleaned out following the 2021 season.
“At the time, that was very hard for me – being young in the profession and being exposed to what can happen,” Budmayr, 32, said. “Just real fortunate to be here and be surrounded by really great people.”
Jon Budmayr is in this 2nd season with the Hawkeyes as an analyst and special advisor to Kirk Ferentz, and he is highly respected by Iowa QBs.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 28 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
Leistikow: On 'special assistant' Jon Budmayr's growing influence within the Iowa football offense
The ex-Wisconsin QBs coach who is assisting Brian Ferentz is grateful for the opportunity to make a real difference at Iowa.www.hawkcentral.com
"Under the rules, Budmayr can even recommend play calls to a full-time coach on game days from the field or the press box."
"Under the rules, Budmayr can even recommend play calls to a full-time coach on game days from the field or the press box."
very interesting column, I have to say
Yes it was. Will be very interesting to see what this offense looks like. I look for the first 3 games to be very plain and vanilla, unless Iowa State plays close then they have to open things up more.
I agree. Save the playbook for Penn State. I can't wait to see how the OL performs. If they give Cade time....
2023 schedule:
Sep 2 Utah State
Sep 9 at Clown U
Sep 16 Western Mich
Sep 23 at Penn State
Sep 30 Michigan State
Oct 7 Purdue
Oct 14 at Wisconsin
Oct 21 vs Minny
Nov 4 at N'western
Nov 11 vs Rutgers
Nov 18 vs Illinois
Nov 24 at Little Debbie
yeah, i am fine with anything, even losing all 3 ooc games, if it helps us win the conference matchups.
Put only the things on film you want your future opponent to see and have to think about. Maybe have Hayden Large throw deep!
Nothing will change with this offense. It will be the same struggle overall.
Tackles are bad.
WR route tree suck.
Play designs are bad.
Tackles are bad.
WR route tree suck.
Play designs are bad.
Your posts are bad.
I guess we will see. What hope do you have things will change?
In addition, The Capt's offense is outdated/ineffective.
Kirk has had about 5 offenses in his tenure that were considered good. That’s a balance of the run and pass being even above average in Division I
Needs to go to some form of a Spread offense.
Open things up, OLine doesn't have to sustain blocks as long.
I have zero hope your posts will get any better.
They haven’t been good for a decade at this point.
Every time you repeat this you show how little you actually know about football.
I mentioned above how Budmayr was largely responsible for Iowa landing Cade.
Check out the story and video here:
www.ourquadcities.com
Check out the story and video here:
How Coach Budmayr brought Cade McNamara to the Hawkeyes
Back in March — in Cade McNamara’s first interview as an Iowa Hawkeye — he alluded to a relationship he forged over six years ago in his hometown of Reno, Nevada. When Wisconsin&#…
www.ourquadcities.com
We’re starting this all over again? Let’s just wait and see and stop this nonsensical thread that is regurgitation of the last 6 months complaints about the offense. We know it sucked. We think we know why it sucked. Let’s see if KF and company move in the direction. Case closed for now!
gift from heaven?
or gift from Hell?
or gift from Hell?
after reading that and one of the linked articles i’ve become convinced that the iowa offense will show up this year. now my main worry is pu might poach budmayr along with ragaini and wetjen next year.
the offense not only didn't show up last year, it's a complete bust this year....
we were all sold a bunch of BS
The one part of all of this that I cannot for the life of me figure out is why in the world does KF and BF not do anything about the oline? We all know that if both of them have a specialty it is that. One would think that KF either has no idea that is lines are bad and have been bad or he doesn't care, one of the two, but I just cannot accept that either of those is the case. Whatever happened to taking undersized, under the radar, guys with some athleticism, bulking them up and turning them into great effective lineman? I know some want to throw Doyle in here but the lines were showing degradation before he was ousted. Seems to me we have a bunch of big guys that are strong but are slow and not athletic at all, like the coaching staff has become enamored with weight lifting performance. I don't get it.
KF calling Jon Budmayr "The Offensive Analyst." and a "Gift from Heaven."
I think what KF meant was "He just sits there and does what I tell him to, so I frigging love the guy!".
Final judgments?..................
Two fingers WAY up!!!!!
......at Budmayr.
KF calling Jon Budmayr "The Offensive Analyst." and a "Gift from Heaven."
I think what KF meant was "He just sits there and does what I tell him to, so I frigging love the guy!".
nailed it
Final judgments?..................
Two fingers WAY up!!!!!
......at Budmayr.
unfortunately, I think the offense is being run how KF wants it to be run
Yeah, and that's too bad, because that's where you start to move the discussion from stubborness to bitterness with regards to Kirk approaching the end of his career at Iowa.
To think, Iowa was actually at one point, whether by fluke luck or whatever you want to call it, sort of ahead of the game for a very brief period in time as far as having an athlete/dual threat at QB.
Brad Banks at Iowa was such an anomaly for so many reasons, especially with history and hindsight as our lenses. But it also was sort of revolutionary in a few ways as well, albeit in ways that Iowa chose (we can say chose at this point) to not ever capitalize on in the years since.
How many other programs in and around 2002 were really utilizing QBs like Brad Banks or Michael Vick at Virginia Tech or Antwaan Randle El with Indiana? Certainly not the powerhouses of the time. Ohio State won a national title that year with Craig f***ing Krenzel. They didn't permanently move to the dual threat all-world athlete at QB until after we kicked their ass in 2004, a game that forced them to see that Troy Smith, and QBs like him, was their best bet going forward.
Even Nick Saban eventually caved in and stopped relying solely on mobile pocket passers.
From 1996 to 2004, all but one QB from the national championship-winning team was a pocket passing QB of some kind.
1996 Florida- Danny Wuerffel
1997 Nebraska/Michigan- Scott Frost/Brian Griese
1998 Tennessee- Tee Martin***
1999 Florida State- Chris Weinke
2000 Oklahoma- Josh Heupel
2001 Miami- Ken Dorsey
2002 Ohio State- Craig Krenzel
2003 LSU/USC- Matt Mauck/Matt Leinart
2004 USC- Matt Leinart
Tee Martin is the only one who would be considered "dual threat" though he only rushed for a little less than 240 yards and 7 TDs.
The point though, is to illustrate that Iowa was ahead of the game, and didn't even fully understand what they had in Brad Banks (even if many others did.......), following the 2002 season.
Because it was only a short time later that dual threat QBs began to become the norm across CFB offenses, including teams like 2005 Texas with Vince Young, 2006 Florida and Ohio State, 2007 LSU with Jamarcus Russell, hell even Tim Tebow was technically a dual thread QB moreso than a traditional pocket passer. And the list goes on and on and on and only continues to grow as you get closer to the present day.
And while Iowa failed to capitalize on what they had, I also don't for a second buy into the bullsh** that their staff or any fans, let alone the negative-recruiting opposing coaches/fans, want to sell about Iowa not being able to get these kind of QBs.
They did it before and it wasn't merely luck. They simply quit giving effort and never again tried to match a QB with the style of Banks with their archaic pro-style offense, which uncoincidentally enough, actually makes the pro-style offense complete BECAUSE of that juxtaposition of styles, rather than trying to find a QB that "fits" the pocket passer pro-style.
I get the argument that the staff felt burned by some of their bad recruits in 2007 and the whole City Boyz Inc thing, but to completely abandon that type of athlete in the recruiting process was just an abject failure on the part of Kirk and his recruiting staff.
And I know some will say that they tried, but the pushback will always be that they either clearly didn't try hard enough, or that they simply failed in their evaluation/selection process (macro NFL example being the Bears drafting Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes, along with the other teams that passed on him........i.e you guessed wrong/chose poorly...........the in-house example being our staff allowing Spencer Petras to commit first and drive away potential commits from Zach Wilson, who despite his pro struggles, was a great college QB, and Trey Lance, who also had a ton of promise and probably left for the NFL too early despite his hugely successful first season at NDSU). Our staff guessed wrong/chose poorly......and then let their garbage ability to develop QBs into confident, competent upperclassmen, who in no way, shape, or form second-guess themselves despite the talent (or lack thereof) around them do the rest.
The big thing for me outside of the QB - and we’ve had guys with decent mobility at least for the most part; it’s just that the scheme hasn’t evolved. At all.
I'll just go by starters:
Chandler- big lumbering QB, hard to bring down....but not fast
Tate- scrambler, but not a runner, always looking to throw, sometimes to his detriment later on
Christensen- intramural QB playing CFB, including the fake "look what I can do" bravado....true story btw
Stanzi- good pocket awareness, but slightly above average mobility
Vandenberg- standard average pocket passer
Rudock- above average pocket passer
Beathard- good pocket passer and good, but not great/elite mobility........also stupid injuries are stupid
Stanley- a smaller version of Nate Chandler, and therefore slightly more mobile....oh and good pocket passer
Petras- below average pocket passer and feet made of the finest granite this side of the Mississippi
McNamara- good pocket passer with above average mobility............and also stupid injuries are still stupid and need to f***ing stop or die via jumping into the nearest active volcano
What's this about decent mobility for the most part?...........
I'll just go by starters:
Chandler- big lumbering QB, hard to bring down....but not fast
Tate- scrambler, but not a runner, always looking to throw, sometimes to his detriment later on
Christensen- intramural QB playing CFB, including the fake "look what I can do" bravado....true story btw
Stanzi- good pocket awareness, but slightly above average mobility
Vandenberg- standard average pocket passer
Rudock- above average pocket passer
Beathard- good pocket passer and good, but not great/elite mobility........also stupid injuries are stupid
Stanley- a smaller version of Nate Chandler, and therefore slightly more mobile....oh and good pocket passer
Petras- below average pocket passer and feet made of the finest granite this side of the Mississippi
McNamara- good pocket passer with above average mobility............and also stupid injuries are still stupid and need to f***ing stop or die via jumping into the nearest active volcano
What's this about decent mobility for the most part?...........
If you’re looking at guys that are going to run, then no. But I’m talking about being able to move in the pocket, escape if necessary and handle the rollout pass we use, then yeah I’d argue most Iowa quarterbacks have had decent mobility. Brad banks as the paragon of mobility only averaged 32.5 yards per game rushing.
Until Stanley, our QBs besides having decent mobility could run the occasional QB draw, not just the push-the-pile "sneak." Rudock and Beathard did so, for sure. Chandler was classified as dual threat on this web site, as were Jake C. and Ricky.
There also were dual-threat guys on the roster, but they didn't play much (at least not at QB). McCollom, Manson, McNutt, Derby, Cook, and Mansell.
Our current situation looks much better, except of course for Cade's injury. Labas, Lainez, and the incoming Resar all supposedly have running ability.
Kirk believes in the pro style offense, for better or for worse. He believes in running the ball. The problem is you need to have a good OL to open up the holes for the run game and to protect your statue at QB.
When's the last time you would say Iowa had a good/great OL?
and did Penn State show us how bad our OL is?
not sure what happened to the "bullies of the B1G...."
it seems like OL recruiting has slipped...too many misses....
