Well aware of that. Brian fit into the culture too apparently. Let's hope this round goes better.
OC Tim Lester officially announced
- Thread starter ichawk24
- Start date
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It’s possible he could work out, I just don’t know that you get gather much about the coaching from numbers accumulated in the MAC and expect that to mean much for big ten. Having played in games that both teams scored 130 total is not relative to most power 5 games. Biggest positive is he likely much more a qb expert than anyone KF has previously had.
I guess you could say he got fired at mac team because he didn’t have a coordinator or recruiting to keep up on defense.
It's The Capt's offense.
Doutbful any significant innovation will be PERMITTED.
Whether Lester is competent or not is basically irrelevant.
Doutbful any significant innovation will be PERMITTED.
Whether Lester is competent or not is basically irrelevant.
Welcome to Iowa City, Tim.
Just be average - in the B1G & national stats - and you will be well liked here.
(and yes, I realize how sad & pathetic that sounds)
Just be average - in the B1G & national stats - and you will be well liked here.
(and yes, I realize how sad & pathetic that sounds)
I'm not. He didn't gave Kirk and Phil having his back for him there. Just call the plays and develop the young QBs.
Yep, fine tune the passing routes etc and find and recruit some faster WRs
And offense, he hired a new OC the last season, wasn't so good.
The WMU pulled a Nebraska, the new coach went 4-8.
Literally dozens of people cheered.Tim Lester Hired As Offensive Coordinator
hawkeyesports.com
TIM LESTER HIRED AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Tim Lester has been hired as the University of Iowa football’s offensive coordinator. The announcement was made Wednesday by Moon Family Head Football Coach Kirk Ferentz.
Lester comes to Iowa City with 22 years of coaching experience, including 12 years as a head coach at the Division I, II and III levels, and 12 years as an offensive coordinator. A native of Wheaton, Illinois, Lester spent last season as a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers.
“I am excited to welcome Tim to our coaching staff as our offensive coordinator,” said Ferentz. “His experience as both a head coach and a coordinator at several different levels of football gives him an excellent perspective. I believe his expertise and personality make him a perfect fit for this position.”
During Lester’s time as a senior analyst, Green Bay won nine regular season games, earned a playoff berth, and defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the 2024 NFC Wild Card round. The Packers were defeated by eventual NFC Champion San Francisco in the Divisional Round.
Lester served as head coach at Western Michigan University (WMU) for six seasons (2017-22), during which time the Broncos won 37 games and appeared in three bowl games. WMU’s offense was ranked in the top 35 nationally in total offense four consecutive seasons (2018-21), with Lester serving as the primary offensive play caller for three years (2018-20).
In 2020, WMU ranked 16th nationally in total offense and QB Kaleb Eleby finished third in the nation in passer rating, trailing only Heisman finalist Mac Jones (Alabama) and Zach Wilson (BYU).
Prior to taking the head coaching position at WMU, Lester was the quarterbacks coach at Purdue in 2016, mentoring David Blough to 3,352 passing yards and accounting for 30 touchdowns. Lester served as Syracuse’s quarterbacks coach from 2013-15 and doubled as offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015.
Lester was a four-year starting quarterback at WMU from 1996-99, leading the Broncos to a Mid-American Conference championship appearance his senior season. He earned MAC Freshman of the Year honors and was a second-team all-conference selection his junior and senior seasons. Lester graduated fourth in FBS history in passing yards (11,299) and sixth in touchdown passes (89). He set 17 school passing records and eight Mid-American Conference records. Lester was inducted into the Western Michigan Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Lester and his wife Dawn have three sons, ages 14, 12, and 10. He is also the father of Quinn Isaacson, a 2022 NVCA/AVCA All-American volleyball setter at Ball State University, who has represented Team USA in the Volleyball Nation’s League and currently plays professionally in France.
Love to see some way to get WR involved early and often. They appear to have feet for hands, but when you only get 1 throw a game it does put a ton of pressure. Same with having to try and catch a 99mph fastball over your head.
Some curls. Slants (not thrown 99mph). We used to throw those like of scrimmage screens and felt like they’d be good for 3-5 yards a pop
Also not having the TE run routes that place their knees in line with defenders shoulders is key too
Some curls. Slants (not thrown 99mph). We used to throw those like of scrimmage screens and felt like they’d be good for 3-5 yards a pop
Also not having the TE run routes that place their knees in line with defenders shoulders is key too
I think the first game will answer the question of how much leeway KF gives Lester. If the depth chart has Hill as CM’s backup, we’ll know it’s not much. I can’t believe that a former QB would want Hill being one blow to CM’s knee from starting the rest of the season.
Unless he can fix Hill. Deacon was considered to have an NFL arm coming out of high school, but perhaps (as Crash Davis might say) he has a 10 cent head, and obviously some other issues like ball security. Maybe Lester can make him better. I'd wager Marco emerges as QB2, however.
Just be below average even. I don't care. Just don't be putrid.
Hill has a huge arm, but that is his only skill. He he doesn't have the overall athleticism or technique to play QB. When he throws deep, its like Luis Tiant. He filled in admirably and did his best in a 10-win season, but this is one situation where I agree a guy isn't a D1 QB.
Heard something interesting today - When you actually look at the number of points scored during his involvement with Syracuse, against elite teams..if he had our D…
I think Ferentz does have a good chance here he just needs to not **** it up by bogging TL down. An above average O
…just above average not great..and we’re talkin.
I think Ferentz does have a good chance here he just needs to not **** it up by bogging TL down. An above average O
…just above average not great..and we’re talkin.
My take is not like Lane Kiffin or PJ Fleck or Scott Frost. Fits in with the style of how Iowa works and manages to put out top tier defenses and special teams units most years. Not a guy who's going to make himself the center of attention unless it's to take heat off his players
Do you really think Kirk is really going to let him run this offense. It is going to be the same old sh**. But good luck Tim
The problem with this is that the offensive "culture" sucks ass and it needs to change. I'm afraid we are looking at Brian 2.0, just another "yes" man. I guess time will tell.
Biggest concern is if KF is strong arming Lester into making JB the WR coach. The OC should have full autonomy to fire\hire whomever he needs.
How in the ever living fvck could we know this?
Where do you see a new OC come in, and just start firing the rest of the offensive staff? Could you come up with a more toxic situation?
Maybe he has somebody he wants to bring in, or maybe he met and really likes Budmayr.
YEAH AND WE HAVEN'T SCORED A SINGLE POINT OR WON A GAME SINCE LESTER GOT HERE!
WAY TO GO KF. YOUR HOLDING LESTER BACK!
WE NEED TO LISTEN TO OBFUS!
He wouldn't be firing anyone they have a staff opening. Not really that weird for a coordinator hire to have some say in the staff on that side. O'Keefe and Greg Davis both brought in some of their own guys.
They had already decided ahead of time they were going to get Bud on staff in some capacity, people were talking about it before Lester even got hired or was even a candidate. Lester got hired like two days ago he did not meet him and immediately decide he was the best WR coach available lol. Bud is Kirk's guy. I'm relatively optimistic on the Lester hire but forcing a guy who has never been a particularly good position coach and had never coached WRs into the WR coach role just for the sake of having him on staff is not a great sign of Kirk letting go of the reigns.
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Tim was fired after his lone losing season (5-7) by WMUs new AD, Dan Bartholomae, who came from Oregon State and had no previous ties to WMU or Kalamazoo.
Lester was extended 2 years by Bartholomae in January 2022 and dismissed in December 2022.
A new AD has every right to go get his own coach and put his stamp on the program.
Lester was actually hired by AD Kathy Beauregard, who retired, working under her for 5 of his 6 years as HC.
Coaches get fired all the time for all sorts of reasons.
I don't hold it against him.
If Lester can turn Deacon into a quality B1G QB, I will get on my knees and kiss both his and KF's arses.
I agree with most everyone, though, that his best chance of having a quality offense in '24 is:
1) Strongly encouraging Deacon to transfer to Div III
2) Bring in a quality QB from the portal to compete with Marco for QB2
3) Pray that Cade stays healthy throughout '24
between lester and deacon we have two of the most abused personalities in cfb. what a storyline it would make if the two of them rise to the occasion this year. 25ppg, 2500 yards passing at 60% completion rate, 25 passing TDs. it could happen if OL becomes stout.
Yep. We almost entirely agree, but bringing in a guy for an open position is a far cry from “he should have full autonomy to fire whoever he wants.” That’s nuts.
What I would question you on is, why do you say Budmayr had never been a good position coach? The only time he had been a position coach, he was the QB coach at Wisconsin, and developed Jack Coan, who seemed pretty average, into a good QB. The only time he was a position coach seemed fairly good?
Abdul Hodge had never coached or played TE in his life, but he is our TE coach. Every staff does this. You find a guy who you think is a good coach, and you find a spot for him. Right or wrong, Kirk obviously thinks Budmayr is a good coach.
Does that storyline include Hill losing at least 25 lbs and taking 25 MPH off his fastball?
He was a position coach for three years there, he had a good QB for 1 of those seasons. Horibrook was noticeably worse the year he was being coached by Bud than he was the year before and then the next year they made the pretty disastrous choice to stick with Mertz over Coan even though Mertz sucked. His CSU QB also got significantly better the next year after transferring out. It's not a strong track record, or at least not one that makes me think he can just naturally slide into coaching a new position or that he was so obviously the best one that they didn't need to do any sort of search or consider other options, which seems to be what has happened.
You don't need to have coached the position before to do it but it's still a nice bonus and Iowa is a school that desperately needs better WR play so I'd rather not risk it. Much easier to justify at TE, which is a smaller room and where the players spend a lot of time working with other position groups and coaches. TE is a pretty common place to slot a newer coach who you are hiring for recruiting because it tends to be the least demanding of the position coaching slots. Iowa also had a strong proven track record with developing TEs that had held up over multiple coaches, which is not true at WR. Hodge had guys on staff who had done it before at a high level like Brian and LeVar to learn from. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.
