ADVERTISEMENT

The Program Long Term

CFNiteHawk85

HB All-State
Dec 1, 2013
798
1,363
93
Tough game tonight. It really could have gone either way and the kids played their hearts out. Obviously, lots to be proud of and there is still work to be done this year in a great bowl game against a great opponent.

Having said that, the sick feeling I have in the pit of my stomach is that this may have been the greatest opportunity in the program's history and now it is past us. Ferentz has been a great coach and these seasons that come out of nowhere like 2002, 2004, 2009 and this year are euphoric. What he hasn't been able to pull off as of yet is a way to leverage the success of a season like this into even bigger things in the future. There seems to be a general pattern of an outstanding season that comes out of left field, followed by a decent season that does not live up to expectations and then 3-5 years of mediocrity.

Granted, we are not OSU or Alabama. However, it seems like Dantonio continues to build off his program's recent success year after year of his tenure (2012 aside). That has compounded to the point where a traditionally middle of the pack BIG program is now a serious contender for a national title.

If MSU can pull that off, why not Iowa? How can a program like Iowa leverage a year like this to get to that next tier and sustain a level of consistency that we have not seen as of yet and potentially build to the point we can seriously contend for a NC?
 
Hoping like heck we can take that next step. This year, we were obviously right there. It's just now sinking in for me just how good this Iowa team is. I think MSU can hang with any of the top 4 and we just hung with them. It probably just makes the loss sting all the more, but this group has what it takes to win the whole enchilada. Hoping MSU does just that and further validates this year's Hawks.
 
Agree with everything said here. I've also wondered the same thing, why some teams that don't have a strong tradition build consistency to a higher level every year, but Iowa hasn't been able to thus far. Hopefully we're over the cusp now, and we will. But all things aside, I think Ferentz has solidified his status as a legend in Hawkeye lore.
 
Ferentz has proven that he an be successful with a developmental program using under the radar recruits who have a workman, chip on their shoulder mentality. To be more consistent and have a better chance against some of the elite teams, we need to improve our recruiting.

I think we saw that with our OT's and DE's against MSU, they just weren't up to par to go up against top tier talent. No knock on any of them as I think they will develop into good players with more time. It's the difference between having a guy ready as a sophomore vs needing two more years of development. Plus having the depth that when players go down, you don't see a huge gap in talent.

Next year we bring a really good core of players back and have the potential to be really good again. That is the first step. Continue our success and recruits will notice. Being talked about nationally like this year, both good and bad, is good advertising for recruits. Some of the guys that we just miss out on against Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, Notre Dame, Indiana may start swaying back our way again. This will help us recruit.

Having the core of our program be walk-on's and under the radar talent coupled with top tier recruits like the Bulaga's, Clayborn's, Roth's, Moeaki's of the world will be the difference.
 
Last edited:
This is as good of a chance as Kirk has ever had. First things first, he had to refocus this team after what had to be an absolutely enormous letdown losing that game last night, and especially the way we lost it. We did everything right in that game until that drive. Refocus and hopefully we get the Rose Bowl and can finish it off with a big performance in that game.
We have a TON of pieces coming back and what we're losing we seem to have some depth to replace it. And most importantly we have CJ back, which I think is the most important part of this.
The good thing with the loss is I think it will sit in their craw and I don't think we gotta worry about any fat cat nonsense this time around. And Kirk has been in this spot before. He seems to be decent at learning from his mistakes so I think this is the time we finally take that step. It helps that our division is in some turmoil and they're am open door for Iowa to grab a strangle hold on things.
 
I have a sickening feeling the bomb to Smith will be considered Iowa football's Pickett's Charge five years from now. The high point of the program.

That's not to be negative or say anything against Ferentz or the team. It's just that everything was aligned last night after a full undefeated season. Honestly hard to see that happening again anytime in the near future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dekhawk
With the current division setup there's a chance we are sitting in the same spot next year. The west should be winnable each year. We should never have a year where we are completely out of the race going into the last four weeks. That would be a bad season. If everyone returns and Ott gets the redshirt, we have a chance to run the table if the oline improves again. Realistically, a team like Iowa will need to run the table until the playoffs expand to 8. At that point the 5 major conference champions will be in and teams like Iowa or a Minnesota/Northwestern type team will just need to win the west, win a title game, and then try to make a magical run in the playoffs. The playoffs are for the best of the best right now. Unfortunately some very good teams will be left out. I can see expansion happening in the next year or two to be more inclusive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: naturalmwa
Was just thinking about this very thing. We need to make it stick. The problem is, what happens is now that we have this success, the f***ers who coach these programs we beat last year, especially at the upstarts in the conference (and on our schedule), make us a focal point (maybe not THE focal point, like ISU, but one of them). So now we'll have all the West division coaches getting their teams amped to gun us down, and you know Campbell is gonna want to make an impact and he seems like kind of a rah-rah motivational (Al Pacino, Game of Inches speech) type coach, so they're not gonna abandon the rivalry anytime soon. Then of course we get Harbaugh and Franklin on the schedule.

Next year could very well amount to this scene from American Gangster:

 
Next year will determine the extent to which we caught lightning in a bottle this year. Even after a 12-1 record and multiple people coming back, the overall recent history suggests that most games on Iowa's schedule next year could go either way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: naturalmwa
Iowa still at a recruiting disadvantage over a MSU. Michigan has a pop. of 7 million while Iowa is 3 million. Plus with Dantonio ties to Ohio he gets a lot of recruits from there. With the good season Iowa had maybe recruiting will be a little better. I think Ferentz and his coaches should get credit for developing recruits that are not heavily recruited. No matter what anyone says it's tough to get 4-5 star recruits to come to Iowa.
 
I have a sickening feeling the bomb to Smith will be considered Iowa football's Pickett's Charge five years from now. The high point of the program.

That's not to be negative or say anything against Ferentz or the team. It's just that everything was aligned last night after a full undefeated season. Honestly hard to see that happening again anytime in the near future.
Dude, I was thinking the EXACT same thing, and I still am. But as good as they were, they just couldn't do it. URGH, just a few inches changing the season. I actually called this when MSU was down by the goal line, "PUNCH THE BALL OUT!" I didn't think we'd be able to stop them, so I was hoping they'd knock the ball out, because I saw several occasions where they were holding the ball with one arm. Man, how sweet that woulda been if King or somebody knocked the ball out and fell on it. You're probably right - everything seemed aligned at times last night. Maybe the spin of an electron in a galaxy far, far away was all it took to change the firing neurons controlling the players' muscles.

But if we were the better team, we would have won. Tough pill to swallow, but that's the reality. As tough as it is to move on, we have to. Optimistic for our future.
 
The difference in the two programs is recruiting. They've both got intelligent coaching staffs, but MSU goes out and gets the players that will keep their program nationally relevant. Meanwhile, Iowa's staff goes out and gets guys that won't be disciplinary problems. You can't be consistently competitive if you're limiting the scope of your recruits
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigHawksFan
Winning the Rose Bowl would be a good start. And then following it up with a good 2016. And don't miss in recruiting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: naturalmwa
This years success will garner attention from recruits. New facility will help land more top targets.
 
Tough game tonight. It really could have gone either way and the kids played their hearts out. Obviously, lots to be proud of and there is still work to be done this year in a great bowl game against a great opponent.

Having said that, the sick feeling I have in the pit of my stomach is that this may have been the greatest opportunity in the program's history and now it is past us. Ferentz has been a great coach and these seasons that come out of nowhere like 2002, 2004, 2009 and this year are euphoric. What he hasn't been able to pull off as of yet is a way to leverage the success of a season like this into even bigger things in the future. There seems to be a general pattern of an outstanding season that comes out of left field, followed by a decent season that does not live up to expectations and then 3-5 years of mediocrity.

Granted, we are not OSU or Alabama. However, it seems like Dantonio continues to build off his program's recent success year after year of his tenure (2012 aside). That has compounded to the point where a traditionally middle of the pack BIG program is now a serious contender for a national title.

If MSU can pull that off, why not Iowa? How can a program like Iowa leverage a year like this to get to that next tier and sustain a level of consistency that we have not seen as of yet and potentially build to the point we can seriously contend for a NC?
The problem I see with us sustaining, is our recruiting class is pretty much done. We need to follow up this season with 2 or 3, 9-10 win seasons to solidify in the recruits minds, the quality of our program. That's how sparty's gotten to wheare they are.
 
I think the senior leadership on this team has never been better..bottle that up and pass it on to the juniors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigHawksFan
2016 has the makings to be a great squad as well. However, time will tell for that one - we return a lot of great guys ... but we're losing a lot too. Typically, having a strong D and a high caliber QB can get you far ... the Hawks have both of those bases covered.

Frankly, the D looks like it could be great for years ... so the big question will be at QB starting in 2017. Can we field a guy who can both lead and improvise ... and, most of all, be a TEAM guy?
 
  • Like
Reactions: td77
Starts with CJ Beathard. Kid's a straight baller, and we don't get one's like him often. Ends with defense.We return 8 starters if we retain King, and Ott. We also play 2 teams in the middle of the east instead of the bottom feeders, so that will help the SOS case, plus we will start high next year so we can afford a loss.

X factor will be kicking. I know we like to rag on Koehn, but he was actually pretty good. I'll take a kicker who goes 15/19(maybe 16, I still think the one from Minnesota was good) and drills 40+ers. Tough to replace, but Iowa's had some pretty good kickers with Meyer, Kaeding, Schlicher so we'll see.
 
Tough game tonight. It really could have gone either way and the kids played their hearts out. Obviously, lots to be proud of and there is still work to be done this year in a great bowl game against a great opponent.

Having said that, the sick feeling I have in the pit of my stomach is that this may have been the greatest opportunity in the program's history and now it is past us. Ferentz has been a great coach and these seasons that come out of nowhere like 2002, 2004, 2009 and this year are euphoric. What he hasn't been able to pull off as of yet is a way to leverage the success of a season like this into even bigger things in the future. There seems to be a general pattern of an outstanding season that comes out of left field, followed by a decent season that does not live up to expectations and then 3-5 years of mediocrity.

Granted, we are not OSU or Alabama. However, it seems like Dantonio continues to build off his program's recent success year after year of his tenure (2012 aside). That has compounded to the point where a traditionally middle of the pack BIG program is now a serious contender for a national title.

If MSU can pull that off, why not Iowa? How can a program like Iowa leverage a year like this to get to that next tier and sustain a level of consistency that we have not seen as of yet and potentially build to the point we can seriously contend for a NC?

I believe we have begun the transformation. My reasons: 1) inauguration of the state-of-the art UI football facility; 2) stability and excellence of coaching staff; 3) excellence of the team on the field, and more importantly, a change (for the better) in mindset of the players in the program, from top to bottom; 4) more aggressive and up-to-date (the greatly improved UIFB profile on twitter/facebook/etc) recruitment tactics that yielded the greatest number of commits (by June 2015) in the history of the Ferentz program; 5) the current players (and recruits) now know they can compete with the best programs in the country. Throughout this time, there has been the unwavering support of the financial backers of the program, and a decent portion of the fan base, which are keys to success, too.

Thus, the UIFB program has undergone multiple changes, from many angles, which I think puts in several steps ahead, moving forward into the future.
 
With Ike & Drew Ott we' d be better at those slots. A difficulty of a developmental program is we don't have size ready depth and injuries in the trenches hurt us more then the blue bloods.

I feel good about our returnees and hope our future recruits will find our successes and new facilities attractive. It can't happen retroactively and given the results the staff has achieved with this years team I'm not ready to write off the future. Will we be 6th in the polls next year? I don't know but we did have some pretty impressive #8 teams in recent Hawkeye memory and as a fan the mid fifties I'd be really happy with that.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT