- Sep 13, 2002
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Tuesdays with Torbee
by: Tory Brecht
This past weekend after I loaded my recently inherited meat smoker with several pounds of curry-braised beef short ribs, added a mix of mesquite and apple wood chips, poured a bourbon and sat down to bask in the aftermath of a relatively stress-free Iowa football win, I got to thinking.
I had plenty of time, as in order to get the proper spicy and salty bark while maintaining off-the-bone moist meat under that crust, one must carefully tend the process over several hours. Is there enough water in the drip pan? Do I need to add more wood chips? Is the heat maintaining at a reasonable, but not too hot level?
So, I was thinking, Kirk Ferentz sure mentions microwaves a lot.
I went back and looked at press conference transcripts and here was Coach Ferentz on Feb. 1, before spring practice kicked off:
“It’s a good reminder that in this day in age everything is about microwave, instant gratification,” he said. “Back in 1999 we had just started building. We are little further down the line now than we were then, but that’s the way we operate. It’s the way it’s been in this program for 33 years.”
And then again on media day, Aug. 11:
“That’s one area I know a little something about in football; that’s about it. I’ve been saying you really can’t microwave maturity. You just can’t do it.”
Finally, in his postgame comments following Iowa’s 22-0 dismantling of Rutgers last Saturday, the most complete game this current iteration of the Hawkeyes have yet played:
“You can’t microwave this stuff — same thing with the offensive line. I thought today was their best day. But it’s a matter of you’ve got to practice, you’ve got to watch film, look what you’re not doing well and then keep working at it.”
Ferentz is a legend at coach speak, so when he says something that doesn’t sound like a canned cliché from 1,000 other boring press conferences, you have to assign it greater meaning. In retrospect, he was subtly warning Iowa fans to expect a low, slow burn of a process. That there would be no shortcuts or quick fixes. That patience and perseverance would be the only way to achieve an eventual payoff.
I couldn’t help but think about how different his approach was to that of the other Big 10 West measuring stick program, the Wisconsin Badgers, who dumped their plodding and patient ways for the new hotness. Following demoralizing and frankly embarrassing losses to Indiana and Northwestern the past two weeks, the heat-it-up and serve-it-quick fix appears to be curdling in Madison like month-old dairy.
Checking in on the post-game comments from players of both programs, it’s clear which culture is healthier at the moment.
Nico Ragaini after last Saturday’s win, in which he and the other receivers, tight ends and backs finally found a spark and put up 223 passing yards, their best total to date:
“He’s the same coach Ferentz I’ve known for the past six years,” Ragaini said. “I’ve been hearing the same things over and over at the beginning of my career. It used to go in one ear out the other ear. But now being older, I realized that when he speaks, it’s like listening to the smartest guy you’re ever going to listen to.”
Contrast that with the clearly exasperated Badger safety Hunter Wohler, venting after Wisconsin’s 24-10 home face plant against the Wildcats:
“This is not what I came to Wisconsin for, to be completely honest,” Wohler said. “This is miles different from what I grew up watching. “We’ve come out soft. We’ve come out flat. We have zero energy on either side of the ball. We get whooped around the field. There’s no answer to getting smoked.”
This is not to say Wisconsin is doomed to misery or that Coach Luke Fickell can’t eventually build a winner in Madison. However, it certainly demonstrates that the lure of a fast fix is often a fleeting illusion. Something Kirk Ferentz has been subtly reminding anyone who would listen for months, if not years.
There is a culture and character at the Iowa football complex that is comfortable and familiar. Maybe sometimes too comfortable and familiar, in that needed change can often come at a seemingly glacial pace.
As we enter the twilight of the Ferentz era at Iowa – one that will likely see him surpass Woody Hayes as the conference’s all-time winningest coach – I predict the appreciation for his steadfast commitment to development-over-flash is only going to grow. How he, his coaching staff and ultimately the players manage to block out the “what have you done for me lately” noise and rancor of modern football fandom is almost miraculous.
As the smell of the curry wafted out the top of the smoker in tantalizing billows about two hours into a four-hour cook, I really, really wanted to open up the door, poke around and maybe take a taste. But I didn’t.
Slow and steady. Patience. That’s how you make the really, really good stuff.
