Thats just a lazy and incorrect narrative
Tim Lester, my thoughts, FWIW
- Thread starter GunnerHawk
- Start date
I asked what coach has built a program better than KF in the Midwest and you responded with Wisconsin. Lol.
Interesting because you didn't actually say anything about a coach, at all.
Maybe English isn't your first language? In English, "who" can often be used interchangeably with "what" (a team, organization, etc.) just as it can be used to refer to a person. We both know you're backpedaling, please cut your losses.
I think he chose the right option for what he wants, which may not be totally aligned to the best interests of Iowa football. People might have gotten too excited about Johns (though Elko did not take him to A&M). He would be have been seen as a savior by many and gotten hopes up, with lots media attention. Lester is more of a question mark and will probably not change things too much, so excitement will be muted. If he's just incrementally better year one then Kirk can point to Proctor/McNamara and say it was mostly personnel changes and lack of injuries that made the difference.
BirdistheWord
HR Heisman
We waited this long and it was a binary decision? Two options across CFB + NFL? I could have waited a little longer for something better. I don’t give a shit how good of a player he was. I do agree that chemistry matters but honestly we need to shake things up. This feels very comfortable, no possible friction .
His resume is very underwhelming. I feel like he has more experience than BF but also a terribly low ceiling. Would love to be wrong but this is why I am ready for KF to move on.
I’ll put it together for you since you seem to be a little slow.
This is the biggest positive of the hire. Really wish they paid Johns what he asked for but maybe he wanted more than Parker.
Hopefully he can do better to develop QBs more than KFs track record. Don’t point to anything on his resume as being deserving of this opportunity but if he be a competent qb coach he could make an impact on this bottom barrel offense.
His offense at Michigan performed better in 2021 than Iowa.
14 points at Michigan. Iowa had 3 in Indy.
WMU had 5 explosive plays at least, 4 different receivers over 20 yards, 22 yard run.
No turnovers
Didn't have Iowa's special teams or Phil Parker’s defense.
BirdistheWord
HR Heisman
Opening game against MAC opponent vs Big10 Champ game and playoff berth (Iowa barely escaped SDSU who isn't DI FBS)
7 of those 14 came w/ 3+ min left vs reserves
Scott Frost's Nebbie team (3-9) scored 29 and only lost by 3
Iowa's Spec teams and PP def didn't do much to stop Mich either
Semantics. Alvarez. Had KF's number, won bigger games, and played better non-con.
"Allegedly"..........Johns wanted more money than Iowa was willing to pay him.
Thus they went to Lester, and he accepted.
Thus they went to Lester, and he accepted.
Lester was a great player. Johns was an all-American @ Dayton and was 20-1 over his last 21 games. 2x MVP also.
Lester coached QBs at Purdue and his offenses at WMU were high scoring and he learned from LaFleur.
Johns was a 2022 Broyles Award nominee and learned from Randy Walker, Kevin Wilson, Pat Fitzgerald, Cliff Kingsbury, has called many wins over P2 programs
2022 Broyles Award nominees
Maybe his social media posts were his undoing.
Kevin Johns FB Coach Twitter (X)
Lester coached QBs at Purdue and his offenses at WMU were high scoring and he learned from LaFleur.
Johns was a 2022 Broyles Award nominee and learned from Randy Walker, Kevin Wilson, Pat Fitzgerald, Cliff Kingsbury, has called many wins over P2 programs
2022 Broyles Award nominees
Maybe his social media posts were his undoing.
Kevin Johns FB Coach Twitter (X)
This 2021 Tim Lester quote probably sealed the deal for Kirk. He is speaking in Kirk's favorite term...."Complementary football" I got this from Chad Leistikow
“That was one of the things we didn’t do last year; we did not play complementary. We scored so fast, we left our defense out there for 80-some plays a game," Lester said. "Right now, our defense is playing like 50 plays a game, so it’s good to play complementary football and be efficient.”
Lester’s last five teams at Western Michigan (in order) averaged 32.0, 33.1, 41.7, 32.5 and 19.0 points per game before he was fired. The last year of 2022 was said to be a rebuilding year before he was fired, but if he can duplicate the prior 4 years at Iowa, this could turn out ok. I guess we will see. Of course, the MAC is not know for great defense. LOL
“That was one of the things we didn’t do last year; we did not play complementary. We scored so fast, we left our defense out there for 80-some plays a game," Lester said. "Right now, our defense is playing like 50 plays a game, so it’s good to play complementary football and be efficient.”
Lester’s last five teams at Western Michigan (in order) averaged 32.0, 33.1, 41.7, 32.5 and 19.0 points per game before he was fired. The last year of 2022 was said to be a rebuilding year before he was fired, but if he can duplicate the prior 4 years at Iowa, this could turn out ok. I guess we will see. Of course, the MAC is not know for great defense. LOL
Last edited:
The same coach who thinks Deacon Hill is a P5 QB thinks Tim Lester is a P5 OC.
Listening to this bit, from his introductory press conference at Western Michigan, and I can see other things KF probably liked about him:
I don't know that I believe this. If you're out of a job I'd think you would take what was offered.
this could hit an area of need for us. A couple of questions hopefully Kirk can answer yes on.
1. can he recruit?
2. can his new wr coach recruit?
Well it's already been reported that Cade will be iffy to start for Iowa's first game.
If Johns was option #1 and he wanted the job, but more money....that's a huge fail. If he's your pick, you pay.
Hopefully Lester works out, but not a fan of bargain shopping for coaches. Not like the university has to pay players or anything, where else are you gonna use all that B1G money!?
I’m sorry but the only ones reporting that Lester was calling plays at WMU is the Iowa media.
From the Western Herald when WMU’s OC left for the NFL...
“Moreland has been at WMU since 2017, when he was hired as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator before taking over the offense on his own in 2018. In 2020 he shifted his positional focus from offensive line to tight ends. Moreland earlier served as WMU’s tight ends coach from 2005-’11.
During his time as offensive coordinator, the Broncos had LeVante Bellamy win MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 and have produced 11 first-team All-MAC players on the offensive side of the football. In his three years in charge of the offensive line, WMU had four first-team All-MAC offensive lineman and eight total All-MAC honorees.”
The article made no mention that Lester was the actual play caller at all, just talked about who Moreland’s replacements would be.
So this false narrative that the Iowa media is pushing appears to be nothing more than damage control.
From the Western Herald when WMU’s OC left for the NFL...
“Moreland has been at WMU since 2017, when he was hired as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator before taking over the offense on his own in 2018. In 2020 he shifted his positional focus from offensive line to tight ends. Moreland earlier served as WMU’s tight ends coach from 2005-’11.
During his time as offensive coordinator, the Broncos had LeVante Bellamy win MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 and have produced 11 first-team All-MAC players on the offensive side of the football. In his three years in charge of the offensive line, WMU had four first-team All-MAC offensive lineman and eight total All-MAC honorees.”
The article made no mention that Lester was the actual play caller at all, just talked about who Moreland’s replacements would be.
So this false narrative that the Iowa media is pushing appears to be nothing more than damage control.
Yeah, Alvarez was better, but he is no longer coaching. If you want to look historically there are quite a few coaches better than KF, like Bill Snyder. I’m not even saying KF is great by any means, I’m just saying he’s above his peers in the current landscape. That counts for something.
Is anyone really SURE it was a $$$ question from Johns and not a CONTROL issue trying to wrestle the offense reigns from Kirk's kung-fu grip? Not sure what the guy was making at Duke but apparently the budget was around 1.25 - 1.5 so can't see him asking for a bunch more than that..so many variables.
Was discussed on the radio this morning. Said should have seen this coming. John’s is more air raid type offense. Kirk is gonna pro style on out to the end.
This article talks about Lester taking over the play-calling duties in 2018, after Kevin Johns left: Link
FWIW, some of the media folks who have been reporting that Lester called the plays for most of his WMU tenure are those who have expressed skepticism about the hire. So I don't think it's damage control.
Seriously just push your CONTROL narrative, it's what you want to believe and it makes you feel better.
I think it's simply a matter of Kirk feeling like Lester was a better fit. And anyone is free to criticize that mentality, as I believe Johns had a better resume.
But I guarantee you that when the announcement is made formally, Kirk is going to say something along the lines of "We spoke to a lot of really great coaches, but what set Tim Lester apart is that I think he understands what we are trying to do here, and will mesh well with the coaches and players and culture we have in place."
seems like Allegedly was the correct word for this...LMFAO
So we can listen to another guy that knows nothing guess what happened leading up to Lester's hire.
This is the "source" of money situation, so I couldn't care less if you listen to it or not.
Bro, I honestly am not following. You make the statement of "so we can listen to another guy that knows nothing." No, the tweet is indicating that statement was misinformation, which has been discussed at length in this thread.
