Kirk's Big 10 and overall record

[uihawk82]

Kirk is 128 W and 88 L's in Big 10 play for 59.2% winning percentage. That of course is 6 wins out of every 10 Big 10 games, not HOFamish but better than most coaches.

He is 204-124 overall at Iowa which makes his non-conf and bowl record 76-36, if my math is right, which is a 68% win rate. His teams have had to line up against what some people would say are higher rated, stronger teams in bowls and I now think he is 10-10 in bowl games which is above avg for the bowl situation.

How do you rate this? As he gets ready to pass woody hayes I think that 59% Big 10 win percentage is lagging a bit. But we are only lowly Iowa.

 

[eyesofhawk]

204-124

 

[eyesofhawk]

Bowl record actually 10-11

 

[BonzoFury]

Kirk is 128 W and 88 L's in Big 10 play for 59.2% winning percentage. That of course is 6 wins out of every 10 Big 10 games, not HOFamish but better than most coaches.

He is 204-124 overall at Iowa which makes his non-conf and bowl record 76-36, if my math is right, which is a 68% win rate. His teams have had to line up against what some people would say are higher rated, stronger teams in bowls and I now think he is 10-10 in bowl games which is above avg for the bowl situation.

How do you rate this? As he gets ready to pass woody hayes I think that 59% Big 10 win percentage is lagging a bit. But we are only lowly Iowa.

How is 10-10 above average? Thats about as “average” as you can get. 50/50

 

[Incredible Hawk]

Bowl situations - LOL........

 

[Etalicus]

For me to be Hall of Fame warranted you have to win when it counts and his teams simply don't or have done something to force everyone else to literally change the way they play and again he did not.

 

[uihawk82]

How is 10-10 above average? Thats about as “average” as you can get. 50/50

The thread is more about his Big 10 record. I just threw in the bowl record.

Longevity gets him the record. I would say 59% in Big 10 play is pretty good when you have OSU Mich and PSU in the league along with a strong Wisky and MSU at times. But a 70% winning percentage in conf at Iowa would be GREAT.

I think Fry is just a little higher at 62% in big 10 play

 

[stanzithemanzi12]

For me to be Hall of Fame warranted you have to win when it counts and his teams simply don't or have done something to force everyone else to literally change the way they play and again he did not.

He'll be a hall of famer for sure. His players track record in the NFL speaks volumes. Ferentz no only produces good football players and good football teams, he also produces stand up citizens who are successful in life beyond football.

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

After watching the play off games and some of the other bowl games, it truly is time for KF to ride off into the sunset and HoF.

 

[rfgiowa]

How do I rate it...

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

Transfer portal is a little too sexy for us. We're Iowa, after all.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Here's the story of Ferentz.
Career records that are probably where they should be expected:
14-4 against Illinois
10-6 against Nebraska (10-4 in conference play)
11-13 against Wisconsin (working back towards the right direction lately)
9-9 against Michigan State (9-8 regular season)
2-10 against OSU

Career records that are much worse than they should be.:
13-11 against Northwestern
13-8 against Purdue
11-5 against Indiana (Randle El was responsible for two of those losses, take him away and this moves to the expected results batch)
19-7 against Minnesota
14-11 against ISU
2-2 against Western Michigan

He has too many losses to teams that he shouldn't have that many losses to. The Northwestern and ISU records are atrocious considering the differences between our programs and he's lost too many games against Minnesota that he shouldn't have lost. And there's several Purdue games he lost that he shouldn't have too. If he turns just 14 of those games against NW, Minnesota, and Purdue around his record is 142-74 for a >65% winning percentage in conference play.

These were all winnable games for us, several are ones that we would say Ferentz is specifically responsible for losing.
Purdue 2012, 2018, 2020
NW 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2018, 2020
Minnesota 1999, 2000, 2010, 2011, 2023

If you think about it, there's only two programs that can legitimately gripe about Ferentz's record against them.
10-9 against PSU
7-9 against Michigan (7-7 regular season)
Several of the Michigan wins were during their down period and many PSU wins were against Paterno at the end of his career.

 

[BonzoFury]

Too many losses to ISU

 

[Iafootballfan]

14-11 against ISU

That's a pretty eye-opening stat considering most on this board act like we're so far above the Cyclones.

 

[wneff]

That's a pretty eye-opening stat considering most on this board act like we're so far above the Cyclones.

Kirk started out 0-4, so he's been doing a little better since then.

 

[BonzoFury]

He’ll be a hall of famer. Looong tenure, good (not great) record but a number of teams that made some noise. Widely respected among his peers and lots of players in the NFL, many of them lightly recruited out of high school.

 

[uihawk82]

Here's the story of Ferentz.
Career records that are probably where they should be expected:
14-4 against Illinois
10-6 against Nebraska (10-4 in conference play)
11-13 against Wisconsin (working back towards the right direction lately)
9-9 against Michigan State (9-8 regular season)
2-10 against OSU

Career records that are much worse than they should be.:
13-11 against Northwestern
13-8 against Purdue
11-5 against Indiana (Randle El was responsible for two of those losses, take him away and this moves to the expected results batch)
19-7 against Minnesota
14-11 against ISU
2-2 against Western Michigan

He has too many losses to teams that he shouldn't have that many losses to. The Northwestern and ISU records are atrocious considering the differences between our programs and he's lost too many games against Minnesota that he shouldn't have lost. And there's several Purdue games he lost that he shouldn't have too. If he turns just 14 of those games against NW, Minnesota, and Purdue around his record is 142-74 for a >65% winning percentage in conference play.

These were all winnable games for us, several are ones that we would say Ferentz is specifically responsible for losing.
Purdue 2012, 2018, 2020
NW 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2018, 2020
Minnesota 1999, 2000, 2010, 2011, 2023

If you think about it, there's only two programs that can legitimately gripe about Ferentz's record against them.
10-9 agai
7-9 against Michigan (7-7 regular season)
Several of the Michigan wins were during their down period and many PSU wins were against Paterno at the end of his career.

A great breakdown and what I have posted before in my recent thread asking people to count of the Nth number of loses that Kirk has had where we couldnt hold a lead or tie late in a game and ended up losing.

To me that close it out mentality is really where the toughness of the team is measured

 

[BonzoFury]

A great breakdown and what I have posted before in my recent thread asking people to count of the Nth number of loses that Kirk has had where we couldnt hold a lead or tie late in a game and ended up losing.

To me that close it out mentality is really where the toughness of the team is measured

It is one of the strange contradictions of Kirk ball. The formula that allows lesser teams to beat Iowa is the same formula that allows Iowa to pull off some great upsets. This may be the biggest difference between Hayden and Kirk Hayden would adjust his strategy based on the opponent and situation. Kirk rarely does.

 

[joelbc1]

Transfer portal is a little too sexy for us. We're Iowa, after all.

The transfer portal “as is” is a poorly thought out idea. It changed football more than moving to 2 platoon football did in the late 50’s. It’s not “too sexy” as much as too stupid. Ask Nick Sabin…’cause he will tell you.

 

[danny14]

Hall of Fame credentials?

Kirk is 17th on the win list of college coaches. About 1/2 of those have coached over 30 years, a handful over 40. The majority of those 16 coaches have had much higher rated players than Iowa, so you can say he may have done the most with the least. For that reason, I don't think you can penalize him for never being a top 4 team or winning a national championship. Looking at this he probably should be a Hall-of Famer.

I'm not a fan of his style of coaching, but it has made him a successful coach. His conservative style makes most games winnable, but also allows lesser team to stay in games, making the majority of games close, that can go either way. He not interested in putting an exciting product on the field, but over-managing and trying to beat other teams fundamentally in a controlled game. A very ugly style of play for fans, but the type of game he aspires to coach. This system gets 9-10 wins on a great season, 7-8 on average, and 4-6 in a bad year. We've seen them all.

The system will be gone in the near future, so we'll see if things get better or worse. I'm sure the offense will be more exciting to watch, not sure about the wins and losses. One thing that won't change is the forum members will find something to complain about! LOL

 

[Etalicus]

He'll be a hall of famer for sure. His players track record in the NFL speaks volumes. Ferentz no only produces good football players and good football teams, he also produces stand up citizens who are successful in life beyond football.

The life beyond football is good fantastic even but isn't relevant towards HOF.
Iowa doesn't own the rights in putting players into the NFL last i looked they come from all the teams playing. That in simple terms is just something the happens and allot of those players are just good athletes and would of made it on other teams. He doesn't have the win percentage. He doesn't have the amount of big wins to deserve it and the game has left him behind.
He has done good things but not great

 

[joelbc1]

The life beyond football is good fantastic even but isn't relevant towards HOF.
Iowa doesn't own the rights in putting players into the NFL last i looked they come from all the teams playing. That in simple terms is just something the happens and allot of those players are just good athletes and would of made it on other teams. He doesn't have the win percentage. He doesn't have the amount of big wins to deserve it and the game has left him behind.
He has done good things but not great

But he has done great things for football at UIowa.
Kirk is a first ballot it HoF coach. Haters get phuqued.

 

[stanzithemanzi12]

The life beyond football is good fantastic even but isn't relevant towards HOF.
Iowa doesn't own the rights in putting players into the NFL last i looked they come from all the teams playing. That in simple terms is just something the happens and allot of those players are just good athletes and would of made it on other teams. He doesn't have the win percentage. He doesn't have the amount of big wins to deserve it and the game has left him behind.
He has done good things but not great

You're dumb. The voters will vote. And he'll be a hall of famer. Watch.

 

[TXHCHawk]

For me to be Hall of Fame warranted you have to win when it counts and his teams simply don't or have done something to force everyone else to literally change the way they play and again he did not.

I’m fine with HOF, if he achieves 60% winning. However, I’ll slightly disagree with your assertion he hasn’t changed the way opponents play. For years, even the media narrative was Kirk-ball forced teams to be much more patient, to the point he will force you to play his style of game.

 

[83Hawk]

I’m fine with HOF, if he achieves 60% winning. However, I’ll slightly disagree with your assertion he hasn’t changed the way opponents play. For years, even the media narrative was Kirk-ball forced teams to be much more patient, to the point he will force you to play his style of game.

What I find ironic, is Kirk wants to force the other team’s offense to be patient and not make mistakes…..yet that is exactly what he expects out of his own offense.

 

[joelbc1]

What I find ironic, is Kirk wants to force the other team’s offense to be patient and not make mistakes…..yet that is exactly what he expects out of his own offense.

How so? Ball security is priority #1 with Kirk… and it always gas been? Wgat are you talking about?

 

[83Hawk]

How so? Ball security is priority #1 with Kirk… and it always gas been? Wgat are you talking about?

You don’t see the irony of Kirk expecting Iowa’s offense to do the very thing he is trying to force the other team’s offense to do?

 

[joelbc1]

You don’t see the irony of Kirk expecting Iowa’s offense to do the very thing he is trying to force the other team’s offense to do?

I see Kirk’s offense fitting in to how he sees UIowa needs to play football to win. Kirk understands that in college football “long offensive drives” scoring chances are diminished with every snap of the ball. That is why special team play, ball security and field position are crucial to his idea how football games are won at UIowa.
In effect, Kirk isn’t forcing the opposition to do anything. He wants his defense to “keep the play” in front of them and sooner or later the other team will screw up.

 

[BrotherHawkeye]

Kirk has done more with less over his career at Iowa. I do agree that at times he could have done even more, and that is frustrating. His style of play has won them many games. But there have been losses attributed to this same style, as well. It's anyone's guess how many, but it's not a stretch to say that. The lack of offense since 2021 has highlighted Iowa’s troubles winning games we think they should win. That recency bias plays a big part of the perceptions about the success of the program.

To speak to Kirk's success at Iowa, and to add a little perspective, when you look just at the Big Ten since Kirk has been here, Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana, and Purdue have all had double digit seasons of losing records. Kirk has had four, including the first two years when the cupboard was bare. Outside of the blue bloods, OSU, Michigan, and Penn State, Wisconsin has had fewer. PSU has even had 5 but they unquestionably have had far more success. Even Nebraska has had 8, and that’s just since 2012.

No one likes to hear it let alone acknowledge it, but Iowa has distinct disadvantages. A small state. That we share with Iowa State. Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin don’t have an instate competitor. Shoot, even OSU and PSU don’t really have to share their states with another school. So Iowa’s recruiting search has to be wider, going into other states that have major college programs that are pitching those kids to stay home. Also, Iowa doesn’t have a lineup of uber wealthy donors who will pump money into the program every year. (I just missed my shot when my Mega Millions ticket came up 6 numbers short). Not that Iowa is the poor boy of the B1G, but the big booster scroll is pretty short. In this day, (unfortunately) it's become a bigger factor.

In short, it's complicated. I got no complaints with anyone wanting more out of the program, I include myself in that group. It's to be expected out of fans. Maybe Iowa’s next coach will take Iowa to greater heights. That would be great and I want that to happen. We’re all going to find out soon enough. But I wouldn’t hold it against the next coach if it doesn’t happen. One thing, that new coach will be taking over a program that is on solid ground, thanks to Kirk. What he can do with it will be exciting to see. This I feel confident about, there will be I told you so's, coming from one segment or the other.

 

[swihawk]

Here's the story of Ferentz.
Career records that are probably where they should be expected:
14-4 against Illinois
10-6 against Nebraska (10-4 in conference play)
11-13 against Wisconsin (working back towards the right direction lately)
9-9 against Michigan State (9-8 regular season)
2-10 against OSU

Career records that are much worse than they should be.:
13-11 against Northwestern
13-8 against Purdue
11-5 against Indiana (Randle El was responsible for two of those losses, take him away and this moves to the expected results batch)
19-7 against Minnesota
14-11 against ISU
2-2 against Western Michigan

He has too many losses to teams that he shouldn't have that many losses to. The Northwestern and ISU records are atrocious considering the differences between our programs and he's lost too many games against Minnesota that he shouldn't have lost. And there's several Purdue games he lost that he shouldn't have too. If he turns just 14 of those games against NW, Minnesota, and Purdue around his record is 142-74 for a >65% winning percentage in conference play.

These were all winnable games for us, several are ones that we would say Ferentz is specifically responsible for losing.
Purdue 2012, 2018, 2020
NW 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2018, 2020
Minnesota 1999, 2000, 2010, 2011, 2023

If you think about it, there's only two programs that can legitimately gripe about Ferentz's record against them.
10-9 against PSU
7-9 against Michigan (7-7 regular season)
Several of the Michigan wins were during their down period and many PSU wins were against Paterno at the end of his career.

Sounds like you need to follow another school. You seem to be stressed out about the hawks success.

Lots of "better" programs out there. I'll keep enjoying my hawks and their old school HC. Hopefully when he retires we'll find a Kirk Ferentz clone.

He'd be hard to replace.

 

[Mohawkeye]

After watching the play off games and some of the other bowl games, it truly is time for KF to ride off into the sunset and HoF.

Why?

 

[waterboy4582]

That 60% winning thing is probably keeping him out of HoF.

 

[ShonnDeereGreene]

I see Kirk’s offense fitting in to how he sees UIowa needs to play football to win. Kirk understands that in college football “long offensive drives” scoring chances are diminished with every snap of the ball. That is why special team play, ball security and field position are crucial to his idea how football games are won at UIowa.
In effect, Kirk isn’t forcing the opposition to do anything. He wants his defense to “keep the play” in front of them and sooner or later the other team will screw up.

But that’s the irony. Iowas offensive philosophy basically keeps the play in front of the opposing defense for them!

The early and successful 2000’s saw a ton of play action and pushing the ball downfield. Not always successful but often threatening the defense. KOK didn’t push it as often as fans would have liked even then, but it was a HELLUVA lot more often and effective than the last 10 years. Last important game I recall it being used effectively was BIG champ game against MSU (Tevaun Smith TD and just barely overthrew Vandeburg for another). Heartbreaking story reminder aside, no idea why that is so hard to do a few times a game now. Even with below avg WRs we can at least threaten it! We used to try with TEs but not so much lately. Ugh…. Instead we try to dink and dunk all the way down the field - exactly what Kirk thinks other teams can’t do but with superior talent.

 

[ShonnDeereGreene]

That 60% winning thing is probably keeping him out of HoF.

They won’t budge for Mike Leach who is just under 60% also. He arguably has had a much much greater impact on the sport at the college level than Kirk has as well. So far there’s been no indication to remove the 60% requirement even in the case where a coach has a great trump card like changing the game or any other factor.

If the 60% rule continues, and if Kirk falls just short, I’m on record as stating that he really only has himself to blame because of all the last minute losses due to mismanaged clocks, overly conservative play, and other questionable decisions. Which is a total bummer imo bc I have loved him as a coach.

 

[Zooropa_NCR]

But that’s the irony. Iowas offensive philosophy basically keeps the play in front of the opposing defense for them!

The early and successful 2000’s saw a ton of play action and pushing the ball downfield. Not always successful but often threatening the defense. KOK didn’t push it as often as fans would have liked even then, but it was a HELLUVA lot more often and effective than the last 10 years. Last important game I recall it being used effectively was BIG champ game against MSU (Tevaun Smith TD and just barely overthrew Vandeburg for another). Heartbreaking story reminder aside, no idea why that is so hard to do a few times a game now. Even with below avg WRs we can at least threaten it! We used to try with TEs but not so much lately. Ugh…. Instead we try to dink and dunk all the way down the field - exactly what Kirk thinks other teams can’t do but with superior talent.

I do wonder if the offensive philosophy changed with how bad the OL has been the last 4-5 years ? Which is still bad since Kirk is supposed to be some OL guru

But there’s been maybe a dozen or so throws over the last five years that have travelled over 30 yards in the air. We just don’t take any chances and it puts so much pressure on offense to be perfect

Which is the exact same thing you’re saying is the Parker scheme. Make the opponent be perfect to get a TD

Throw in the last few years under Brian and using next to no motion (minus the jet sweep 2x a game) and it’s no wonder Iowa never moved the ball.

Having KJ this year bailed out Lester and Iowa. Next year will be interesting to see if we can get big plays to the house. Or if we’ll have to execute 45 play drives to go 50 yards

 

[swihawk]

I do wonder if the offensive philosophy changed with how bad the OL has been the last 4-5 years ? Which is still bad since Kirk is supposed to be some OL guru

But there’s been maybe a dozen or so throws over the last five years that have travelled over 30 yards in the air. We just don’t take any chances and it puts so much pressure on offense to be perfect

Which is the exact same thing you’re saying is the Parker scheme. Make the opponent be perfect to get a TD

Throw in the last few years under Brian and using next to no motion (minus the jet sweep 2x a game) and it’s no wonder Iowa never moved the ball.

Having KJ this year bailed out Lester and Iowa. Next year will be interesting to see if we can get big plays to the house. Or if we’ll have to execute 45 play drives to go 50 yards

We have good running backs returning, five quarterbacks to work through, lots of new guys to develop on both sides of the ball.

We'll be alright.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Sounds like you need to follow another school. You seem to be stressed out about the hawks success.

Lots of "better" programs out there. I'll keep enjoying my hawks and their old school HC. Hopefully when he retires we'll find a Kirk Ferentz clone.

He'd be hard to replace.

Let me see. Born in Iowa City, grew up 45 minutes away. Bachelors and Masters degrees from Iowa, while being a student athlete as an undergrad. Both parents attended Iowa, Mom with two degrees. Brother attended Iowa. Wife attended Iowa. Season ticket holder before moving out of state.

Yes, I better find a new school to follow. How dare I expect us to have a coach that does not lose a bunch of games against the likes of Northwestern, Iowa State, and Western Michigan.