2020 has been such an insanely F*#@ED up year. The absolute devastation that started June 5 with the Twitter explosion about racism in the program which obviously has continued and will be front and center again as the response to this lawsuit heats up. And the complete and utter disruption of everything important in the world from COVID, particularly the cancellation and restarting of the B1G season, no fans and the attempt to have a sense of normalcy in college athletics. Despair has been everywhere and people certainly desperately want some return of life. Then the season gets underway for Iowa football and the struggles against Purdue and Northwestern turn the fanbase into raging maniacs and doomsday predictions are everywhere. Obviously people know that I am loyal to a fault and many think that I am unable to see through that loyalty. But my thoughts on the response of many to the losses and the ultimate end of the Ferentz regime was a complete lack of understanding. If nothing else, how do people not see how the process has worked for the last 20 years? Not having spring practice and no actual August camp was more devastating to the Iowa program than any program in the country, especially in light of the summer disaster that occurred. I know we are a society of seek and destroy if anything doesn't go perfect immediately, but the response to the Purdue loss in particular, when we commit 10 penalties and fumble away an opportunity in the fourth quarter that most assuredly would have put that game away, was completely absurd. The leadership that we are witnessing by this staff led by Kirk in response to everything that has happened has been second to none. I know many think (and hope) he will step down or he lacks the energy and determination and commitment to get Iowa football through this series of events, but I gotta tell you that you could not be more incorrect. The swagger that you saw last night with the timeout response is just a glimpse into what Kirk actually is. It saddens me (and pisses me off too) that people want to always get rid of people when things get difficult. This is a tremendous staff and we are so incredibly fortunate to have them. Every single coach on this staff is solidly locked into continuing to lead this program forward and quite frankly my biggest concern is losing a couple of them as they move up the ladder, namely Foster, Woods and Bell. There will be losses on the field and in the recruiting world (it's just a couple of kids, right Flick?) and the meltdowns will return, but I need to salute every aspect of this program at this point for the incredible work ethic and powerful response to the most F*#@ED up year of my 60 seasons on this planet. I have NEVER been more proud to be a HAWKEYE, and just needed to let people know that in every way I can. And not being able to attend games is way more devastating than I ever imagined...
