You are forgetting some very key facts. Do you not remember the times that it wasn't the RB coach or even the OC who determined which RB got playing time, but rather the offensive genius KF?
How about clock management? After season after season of proving his incompetence, have you seen him delegate that to someone on the staff who has a clue, or even ask for their input. It's impossible that they are all as clueless.
How about the struggle with KOK for so long to keep Stanzi on the bench. And many other player decisions.
So many of our top performers finally got their chance, not because of a good decision allowed by a position coach or even a coordinator, but as "no choice" because of injury.
I could go on and on, but the biggest limitations of the program have been created by KF making decisions that he's unsuited to make. Do you think it's coincidental that he admittedly concentrates more on the offense and that's where we significantly underperform?
I get it. You hate KF.
I have no idea who decides which RB's play. Ultimately it's always the head coach's call. This decade, which RB has not played which should have been?
Clock management. Iowa has become much better about game management in recent years. Yes, they still make mistakes. Literally every fan base of every team complains about their coach's clock management, with the exception of perhaps Belichik. In the last 6-7 years, Iowa has gone a lot more into the analytics route and as a result they go for it on 4th down a lot more than they used to (I wish they would still more).
Oh yes, back to the Stanzi decision. I have posted many times at length about that. Yes, Iowa dropped the Pitt game because Christensen stunk. It's obvious in pre-season that the coaches thought Stanzi had gained ground/passed Christensen. So they played both guys right away. Stanzi was better. So they started him against Iowa State and he was absolutely terrible. 5-14 with 2 picks. Christensen came in, basically didn't turn it over and went 4-5, Brodell returned a punt for a TD and Iowa won. So they started Christensen and played both QB's the next week at Pitt. Christensen led Iowa on a TD drive to go up 21-20 in the second half and they let him ride out the game. He couldn't get it done and Iowa lost. So KF went to Stanzi full time after that. And proceeded to lose the next 2 games to Northwestern and MSU, and Stanzi wasn't very good in either one. But they stuck with him. And the rest is history.
Christensen was a guy who started every game the prior year. The coaches saw Stanzi gaining ground, so they played both guys. Stanzi was handed the start at Iowa State. If he would have played well, that would have been it. But he imploded so they went to back to Christensen and gave him a chance to prove it or not against a non-conference opponent. He couldn't do it so they went back to Stanzi and stuck with it. So no, KF and O'Keefe didn't hold back Stanzi. They did what they said, the opened it up and switched QB's.
Who are these other players that finally "got a chance" only because of injury? Dez King did get a start right away as a freshman due to an injury. But he shined and they kept him in. So many of the recent draft picks all played as freshmen. A. Nelson, played as a freshman. Same for Hooker, Epenesa, Wirfs, Hockenson, Fant, Brandon Smith and ISM played as freshmen. Same for Ragaini and Tracy. Dane Belton played as a freshman. Hankins did too. Kaevon Meriweather started every game last year as a freshman. Linderbaum started every game as a redshirt freshman. Goodson played every game as a freshman and took over as the starter late in the year. How are guys being held back? If you can play, you will see the field.
