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Kirk Ferentz definition of success

PlutoDroid

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Aug 16, 2015
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Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
 
Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
And he's done it against horrible conference schedules year in and year out. Put tOSU, PSU, Mich on Iowa's schedule every year and KF is a .500 coach.
 
you got it.

He's like the Goldbergs.

It was September 23, 1980-something.

Eff that.

it is time to move on from the family Ferentz.
The Iowa A.D is afraid of the unknown. She knows his hand right now, it's three of a kind. She's afraid of asking for another hand. It could be a royal flush, or two twos. Lifetime job security as long as the program stays above water.
 
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And he's done it against horrible conference schedules year in and year out. Put tOSU, PSU, Mich on Iowa's schedule every year and KF is a .500 coach.

Did he see Oregon today? Has he seen what Washington has done this far? Washington is recruiting at Iowa's level, but their offense is dynamic. No longer will Wisconsin be their guaranteed annual hardest game. He's not beating Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State in a division less B1G to make it to Indy. He's not beating USC, Oregon, or Washington if the B1G goes back to divisions. Tonight is a preview of what he's getting annually starting next year.

The man can't change. He's too stubborn. His son will never be a head coach anywhere. He'll never be an offensive coordinator anywhere but Iowa.
 
The formula is simple as far as Barta has set it up. Go 2-0 vs the mac/mtn west/fcs caliber opponents on the schedule, go 5-5 vs the power 5 teams on the schedule, and beat an unimpressive team in a meaningless bowl where the other team will likely have several players opting out and boom....you get to claim 8 wins and get lifelong employment and longevity bonuses for self and staff.

That was 2022 and all Kirk really wants besides keeping the grandkids in Iowa City. He doesn't even talk realistically about winning a big ten title anymore, much less take any action to do so like change his broken offense. We are all just along for the ride. Such a competitor🤣
 
KF has a model and it’s generally a good one for Iowa. Problem is it has worked for 3 years due to poor scheduling masking O problems. PSU exposed the deficiency and with league changes coming Iowa can’t hide anymore. Change is needed now and KF’s comments are concerning
 
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Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
If you think iowa is equivalent to Ohio State and Michigan in most years you are delusional as hell. Huge difference in resources.

If we ever get to a true NFL like framework then we can talk.
 
Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
Stupid post, will likely go 10-2 this year. #10 in wins over past five years in all of college football, doing it in a state of 3 million with no major urban areas.

Just dumb
 
Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.
 
Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.
No Iowa won’t always be a top 25 team, that’s not promised by any stretch of the imagination. Iowa could very easily be Illinois or Minnesota. KF will be in the hall of fame for a reason, people should appreciate that. A lot of what is getting thrown about are agenda driven smears and not in the best interest of Iowa FB.
 
No Iowa won’t always be a top 25 team, that’s not promised by any stretch of the imagination. Iowa could very easily be Illinois or Minnesota. KF will be in the hall of fame for a reason, people should appreciate that. A lot of what is getting thrown about are agenda driven smears and not in the best interest of Iowa FB.
He MIGHT be in the HOF.......with each passing year the odds of getting to and staying above the .600 mark will be difficult.
 
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Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
So, you create KF's "definition of success" and then trash it. You set his "standard" and then trash it.

We have no idea how KF measures success. I doubt he runs around giving high 5's after an 8 win season. Maybe the next coach will announce his goal is to win a Natty. Iowa fans will wet themselves, and then watch the Hawks perhaps finish with slightly better results, or the same, or not as good.

You say he would be fired at another school with the results he has shown. Well, not at over half the B1G schools, or about 75% of the D1 schools in the country.

I think this is his last year, and I'm ok with that. But I am a little weary of fans finding new ways to trash him every day.
 
Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.
Nothing is a given. Iowa could also end up looking like the 10 year dumpster fire out in Lincoln, regardless of whether change occurs or not. Given the realignment changes coming next year, the level of difficulty reaching 8-4 ior 9-3 is going to take a huge jump. Depending on the specifics of the schedule, this year's team would probably be lucky to hit the .500 mark and there'd probably be a few more nights like last Saturday. That's just the reality of the changing landscape that Iowa finds itself in.
 
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Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.

Some just don't want to believe this obvious truth; Nebraska fans keep lying to themselves, believing they are in the same conversation with the Big 3 in the current B1G.

I believe KF is 7-8 vs Michigan and now 10-8 vs Penn St. It's been a tough few years watching this offense, but it shouldn't take away all the great things KF has done for Iowa.
 
So, you create KF's "definition of success" and then trash it. You set his "standard" and then trash it.

We have no idea how KF measures success. I doubt he runs around giving high 5's after an 8 win season. Maybe the next coach will announce his goal is to win a Natty. Iowa fans will wet themselves, and then watch the Hawks perhaps finish with slightly better results, or the same, or not as good.

You say he would be fired at another school with the results he has shown. Well, not at over half the B1G schools, or about 75% of the D1 schools in the country.

I think this is his last year, and I'm ok with that. But I am a little weary of fans finding new ways to trash him every day.
Pretty easy to see his view. Watch any of his pressers. You can get offended if you like, you can love what a guy making millions more than anybody in the state is doing. Your views aren't universal though.
 
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Stupid post, will likely go 10-2 this year. #10 in wins over past five years in all of college football, doing it in a state of 3 million with no major urban areas.

Just dumb
Yeah against the gauntlet of West teams this year, he better. He'll get trashed by Penn State, Michigan or Ohio State. Next year he'll get trashed by USC, Oregon, Washington, and whatever Eastern power he plays.

What a stupid response. Have a nice day😀
 
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If you think iowa is equivalent to Ohio State and Michigan in most years you are delusional as hell. Huge difference in resources.

If we ever get to a true NFL like framework then we can talk.
Fair enough. I would argue that Iowa has built up a pretty good brand. I wouldn't say they should look to be a playoff team every year. But as bad as the Western division is, they should be expected to beat out Northwestern, or Purdue every year. I would argue they should be able to do what Utah has done. Watch how that program under Whittingham has continually raised their profile.
 
Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.
Iowa should be able to do what Utah has done. That's a team that wasn't even a P5 program until a decade ago. They took Ohio State to the limit with a QB several notches below what any Blueblood would start. They beat USC twice last year. They have a strong defense, a tenured head coach, and a less than stellar recruiting base. Yet they play above their heads. I'm not expecting Iowa to beat Ohio State every year. I do expect a head coach making millions to fix an obvious issue, one that's plagued his program for three years.

It looks even worse that the problem is his son. That man is not suited to fill the position he holds.
 
And he's done it against horrible conference schedules year in and year out. Put tOSU, PSU, Mich on Iowa's schedule every year and KF is a .500 coach.
Bullshit.

Ferentz is 10-9 vs. PSU.

7-8 vs. Michigan.

8-8 vs. MSU.

Only 2-9 vs. OSU. But there aren't many teams much better against the Buckeyes and the Hawks did beat them by 31 last time they played in Iowa City.

The bottom teams in the East haven't been as strong as the bottom teams in the West. Teams like Rutgers and Indiana haven't been good enough to have given the Hawks the occasional hiccups that NW and Purdue have. So essentially, if Iowa had been in the East their records would have been about the same.

Also, Iowa's success in trophy games isn't given enough credit. These are huge games and are not easy. Especially when you play more trophy games than any other team in the country. Iowa is the Super Bowl every year for ISU. Iowa is one of two games that Minnesota is able to summon some extra juice for. Nebraska is always juiced for Iowa. And Iowa is always an important game to Wisconsin. This is not at all an easy dynamic to have to navigate every season. And with the exception of Wisconsin, Iowa's record has been absolutely dominant in recent trophy games. Thoroughly impressive.

It's easy to say the Hawks will struggle against the newcomers from the Pac-12, but we don't know that. What we do know is the Hawks put 49 points up last time they played USC.

Iowa has always held its own against good competition. Bowl games are always quality opponents. Ferentz is 10-9 in these games.
- 5-5 vs the SEC
- 2-2 vs the Big12 (as Missouri was part of that league at that time)
- 2-0 vs the ACC
- 1-2 vs the Pac-12

It's really unfortunate that people create false narratives to minimize the success of a hall-of-fame coach.

Other than a handful of programs that have the resources to be great every year, Iowa has been as good or better than everybody. The numbers bear that out. Iowa has literally been as good a football program as anyone could possibly expect. And yet there is a contingent of assholes that do nothing but whine about style of play.

Do you know how many programs and fans of programs would kill for the sustained success that Iowa has had? Pretty much everybody.

Take ISU for example. Their fans pretty much despise everything about Iowa. Yet you don't ever hear an ISU fan honestly claim that Iowa sucks. The only people you ever hear say that are Iowa fans. Think about that, from a few different levels, and then give these men the respect they deserve
 
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Bullshit.

Ferentz is 10-9 vs. PSU.

7-8 vs. Michigan.

8-8 vs. MSU.

Only 2-9 vs. OSU. But there aren't many teams much better against the Buckeyes and the Hawks did beat them by 31 last time they played in Iowa City.

The bottom teams in the East haven't been as strong as the bottom teams in the West. Teams like Rutgers and Indiana haven't been good enough to have given the Hawks the occasional hiccups that NW and Purdue have. So essentially, if Iowa had been in the East their records would have been about the same.

Also, Iowa's success in trophy games isn't given enough credit. These are huge games and are not easy. Especially when you play more trophy games than any other team in the country. Iowa is the Super Bowl every year for ISU. Iowa is one of two games that Minnesota is able to summon some extra juice for. Nebraska is always juiced for Iowa. And Iowa is always an important game to Wisconsin. This is not at all an easy dynamic to have to navigate every season. And with the exception of Wisconsin, Iowa's record has been absolutely dominant in recent trophy games. Thoroughly impressive.

It's easy to say the Hawks will struggle against the newcomers from the Pac-12, but we don't know that. What we do know is the Hawks put 49 points up last time they played USC.

Iowa has always held its own against good competition. Bowl games are always quality opponents. Ferentz is 10-9 in these games.
- 5-5 vs the SEC
- 2-2 vs the Big12 (as Missouri was part of that league at that time)
- 2-0 vs the ACC
- 1-2 vs the Pac-12

It's really unfortunate that people create false narratives to minimize the success of a hall-of-fame coach.

Other than a handful of programs that have the resources to be great every year, Iowa has been as good or better than everybody. The numbers bear that out. Iowa has literally been as good a football program as anyone could possibly expect. And yet there is a contingent of assholes that do nothing but whine about style of play.

Do you know how many programs and fans of programs would kill for the sustained success that Iowa has had? Pretty much everybody.

Take ISU for example. Their fans pretty much despise everything about Iowa. Yet you don't ever hear an ISU fan honestly claim that Iowa sucks. The only people you ever hear say that are Iowa fans. Think about that, from a few different levels, and then give these men the respect they deserve
Guy says they'd be .500 with the best teams on their schedule every year. You follow that up with stats indicating...they'd be .500 with the best teams on their schedule every year.
 
Figure out a way to have dominate line play, and I think they can compete moving forward. I'm talking road graders like the 2002 line.

You're only good as your line play in football.
 
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Pretty easy to see his view. Watch any of his pressers. You can get offended if you like, you can love what a guy making millions more than anybody in the state is doing. Your views aren't universal though.
Clearly.

I don't love KF, but I respect what he has done for the last 25 years. I see no reason to make up stuff about him and bash him for it on a message board. But that's just me.
 
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Guy says they'd be .500 with the best teams on their schedule every year. You follow that up with stats indicating...they'd be .500 with the best teams on their schedule every year.
No. If Iowa was in the East they would lose to OSU almost every year. Vs PSU, Michigan, and MSU they would be .500. They would beat everybody else in the East. And of the 3 crossover games vs the West, Iowa would probably lose 1 every 2 or so seasons.

That means Iowa would average approximately 3 loses per year. Which is far different than KF being a .500 coach as the poster suggested
 
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Stupid post, will likely go 10-2 this year. #10 in wins over past five years in all of college football, doing it in a state of 3 million with no major urban areas.

Just dumb
Unfortunately with this offense, they could also go 6-6. But I'll take 10-2!
 
Winning 8 plus games, beating Iowa State, and being a fringe top 25 team. He knows his chances of making another B1G title game is next to none starting next year. There was a question posed asking if Kirk was a hall of famer. Can you name a hall of famer with those sets of standards?

Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh would be fired if they had those standards. At the end of the year he'll have his 8 wins. Might even make the conference title game. A reporter will ask him if Brian will remain. He'll ask them what they're record is, and point out his top 25 ranking.
Jimmy and Joes

College football has always been about the Jimmy and Joes not the Xs and Os. Look at Miami's coaches in the 80s thru early 2000s. 4 coaches won national championships there. Jimmy Johnson’s best year at Ok St was 8-4 in 5 years with an overall record of 29-25-3, his Miami record was 52-9 with 3 top 2 teams in 5 years and 1 NC. Dennis Erickson was top six 5 of his 6 years with two NC and after leaving Miami had a 31-17 record at Oregon State and 31-31 record at ASU. Larry Coker was top 5 three of his six years at Miami with a NC and was 22-26 in 4 years at UTSA.

The three Florida schools have all won at least 2 NC since 1999 and have won 10 in total under 8 different coaches. No surprise to me as the 2024 recruiting class in Florida had 6 five star recruits and 68 four star recruits while neighboring Georgia had 5 five star and 46 four star recruits. By comparison Illinois has 1 five star and 11 four star recruits and Iowa usually produces 2-5 four star recruits.

Another good example is Steve Spurrier who in 12 years at Florida was 122-27-1 winning the SEC East 7 times and finished top 10 8 times with 1 NC. Tried the NFL for a couple of years and was back in the SEC East at South Carolina 4 years after leaving Florida taking over a team that was 6-5 the year before he got there. In 11 years at South Carolina his record was 86-49 with a winning percentage of 63.7%. He won the East 1 time in 11 years and had 4 ranked teams with three in the top 10.

Winning percentage
Jimmy Johnson Oklahoma St 50.1% Miami 85.2%

Dennis Erickson Oregon St 64.6%
Arizona St 50.0% Miami 87.5%

Larry Coker UTSA 44.8% Miami 80.0%

Steve Spurrier South Carolina 63.7% Florida 81.3%

Kirk Ferentz Iowa 62.0%

Three HOF coaches win at an 80% rate at schools with recruiting advantages and are similar to Kirk at other schools.
 
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Iowa should be able to do what Utah has done. That's a team that wasn't even a P5 program until a decade ago. They took Ohio State to the limit with a QB several notches below what any Blueblood would start. They beat USC twice last year. They have a strong defense, a tenured head coach, and a less than stellar recruiting base. Yet they play above their heads. I'm not expecting Iowa to beat Ohio State every year. I do expect a head coach making millions to fix an obvious issue, one that's plagued his program for three years.

It looks even worse that the problem is his son. That man is not suited to fill the position he holds.
Was that the Utah team that was Pac 12 champs playing the 3rd best Big 10 team in PSU at last years Rose bowl? Lost 35-21 and had to score a TD with 28 seconds to bring the score with in 14pts.
 
No. If Iowa was in the East they would lose to OSU almost every year. Vs PSU, Michigan, and MSU they would be .500. They would beat everybody else in the East. And of the 3 crossover games vs the West, Iowa would probably lose 1 every 2 or so seasons.

That means Iowa would average approximately 3 loses per year. Which is far different than KF being a .500 coach as the poster suggested
So you're saying if Iowa were in the B1G East we'd have finished as good or better than we've finished most years in the B1G West since the current divisions were implemented?

Lol, stay gold.
 
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Was that the Utah team that was Pac 12 champs playing the 3rd best Big 10 team in PSU at last years Rose bowl? Lost 35-21 and had to score a TD with 28 seconds to bring the score with in 14pts.
So....the results of 1 game negate all the others?

Interesting take....
 
Franklin, Day, and Harbaugh coach at schools with a far better tradition of excellence than Iowa and a billion times better recruiting grounds. I don't think it's fair to expect Iowa to win at their levels.

I do think it's fair to expect a better product, and offense, than what we're getting now. Brian and Barnett need to go and if Kirk won't do it, he needs to go. Do I expect to win at the levels of Franklin, Day, or Harbaugh if we replace Kirk with a new coach? No. Iowa will always be that fringe top 25 team in a decent year, top 10ish in a great year, and crappy bowl game in a down season. I don't see that changing.
This is a pretty good post. I agree with most of this but think your last two sentences reference what will soon be a thing of the past. With the conference expansion, Iowa’s down years could very much look like records from the Bob Commings era.

The reality is 4-8, 5-7 type seasons, if not worse, will almost be guaranteed if nothing changes with the Iowa football program. We know as long as Kirk is in charge Brian will be OC. On top of that, any talented skill position players, particularly at WR, will transfer out without a passing thought and all the NIL money in the world won’t convince top transfers to play in this shit show for an offense.

In other words, things are going to continue to decline and get worse so long as Ferentz hangs around. The best thing that can happen is Kirk sees the writing on the wall and bows out gracefully after this season or Ms. Goetz lays down an ultimatum that forces Kirk into retirement. Either way, it’s time for the next chapter in Iowa football. The last three years have proved Kirk cannot or will not evolve.
 
So....the results of 1 game negate all the others?

Interesting take....
How could anyone have this interpretation? I said nothing about negating any games.

Fact the Pac 12 champ did not play the Big 10 champ or the second best team in the Big 10 but the third best team in the Big 10 and lost big. They played two OOC power 5 teams losing to 6-7 Florida and PSU. Pac only had 7 teams in Bowls going 3-4 while the Big had 9 going 5-4. Maybe the Pac was not that strong a conference last year.
 
Fair enough. I would argue that Iowa has built up a pretty good brand. I wouldn't say they should look to be a playoff team every year. But as bad as the Western division is, they should be expected to beat out Northwestern, or Purdue every year. I would argue they should be able to do what Utah has done. Watch how that program under Whittingham has continually raised their profile.
Their brand is playing a style that makes your eyes bleed. I would just like a ball control offense that actually moves the ball.
 
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