I think the truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. Personally, I think BF was qualified for the OC job that he got in 2017. He was an all-conference offensive lineman for a P5 team. He analyzed, then was a position coach, on the offensive side of the ball in the NFL. He then became an OL coach for a P5 team and held that spot for 5 years, the last 2 of which he was also run-game coordinator. So remove the name "Ferentz" and if that person was hired as OC at Iowa, I think most would say the career progression would indicate he was qualified.
Then, in his first 4 years, his offense avg'd 28, 31, 26, and 31 ppg....which was good for 66th, 44th, 88th, and 40th in the country in scoring offense....an avg ranking of right at 60th (we'd kill for being ranked 60th in ppg this year). Then even the first half of the 5th year (2021), he avg'd 32 ppg which on it's own would have been ranked around 35th. But then starting with the Purdue game in 2021 thru the end of his tenure, he avg'd 17 (back half of 2021), 18, and 15 ppg, which was damn near DFL in all of D1.
So what happened? I think it came down to 3 factors:
1. The first failure happened by naming BF the QB coach and removing him as TE coach in 2022. He was in no way qualified to coach QBs and it showed immediately. While I wasn't a huge fan of KOK, he did know how to coach QBs, especially in Iowa's system which asks alot of it's QBs in setting protections, audibles, etc. I think that transition started in the back half of 2021 and it showed. Then 2022 and 2023 happened.
2. The 2nd corresponding failure was in recruiting. The number of misses on the OL, QB, and WR was astounding. Some of that is attributable to Polacek and Copeland being terrible recruiters, but ultimately that fell on BF (and KF) for allowing it and signing off on it. The result was having a green and incapable offensive line, an avg QB (but terrible at facing any pressure), and no one to throw the ball to.
3. The final failure was BF's stubbornness to adapt to the personnel hand he was dealt, whether thru lack of talent or the injury bug (particularly in 2023). I don't buy that he was following orders from the old man because I can distinctly remember 2004 and losing nearly our entire RB group and coming out of the bye week with nearly an entire new offense that KOK put together. KF obviously didn't have an issue with going to a more pass oriented offense then, and I doubt he would have this time either. It was BF's hubris that he's always the smartest guy in the room coupled with his lack of knowledge in more sophisticated passing game concepts that ultimately resulted in what we witnessed in 2022 and 2023 (with 2023 being probably more about injuries than lack of talent, but he still didn't adapt to those injuries).
I think he proved a capable OC early in his tenure, when he had the type of players he wanted to run his scheme. But he was ultimately undone by a lack of talent coupled with his inability to adapt to the hand he was dealt and constantly thinking he was smarter than anyone else. Couple that with the fact that he was just a complete asshole, and well, it probably made the decision that much easier (and he proved that with his refusal to wear team gear after being fired).
Great post until your 3 factors, although some of it I agree with.
I agree BF should not have been the QB coach. I'm not calling it the #1 reason for Iowa's struggles on offense though (although you may not have been ranking your factors in order).
Did you ever consider that the racial suit has hurt recruiting? It certainly hasn't helped.
Recruiting misses did not leave Iowa with a green and incapable O-line. It was a storm of various attrition. And the greenness of the replacements was compounded by them losing Doyle at the same time that they lost developmental workouts during the Covid shutdown.
Yes, the immobility of Petras coupled with that green line was a huge issue.
But there was also significant attrition at receiver that year that had nothing to do with recruiting misses.
You are correct, Iowa was running more of a BF offense than a KF offense over the years. A lot of Patriots' concepts in there.
And for the record, from where I sat, which was a grossly under informed position, I never thought BF had a great feel as a play-caller. But at what point was BF supposed to have "gone to a more pass oriented offense"? He already threw the ball a hell of a lot. And that just wouldn't have been the adjustment to make with Hill playing last season.
BF did adjust to the hand he was dealt with in Hill. He pared everything down and tried to limit the big mistake, just like they do, even in the NFL, with a backup QB. I'll agree that BF did not adjust enough. I'm not sure what your adjustment would have been. But I would have ran the ball a hell of a lot more under Hill.
In 2022, the main problem with the offense was an awful O-line that was forced into action before their time. It's that simple. Yes, there were other factors compounding things. But those were all things that could have navigated around with a serviceable O-line.
2023's struggles were due to an O-line that was still below average, at best, combined with a very poor backup QB. Yes, there were other compounding factors. As I've said, I think the most appropriate adjustment once Hill took over would have been "three yards and a cloud of dust." But any coach could have tried about any scheme with that offense and gotten about the same results.
I don't know the reasoning for BF losing the Hawkeye attire. I didn't think it was a great look. But the team did rally around him and played better down the stretch after the announcement to let him go was made. His personality may not have been for everybody. But I can tell you there are a lot of asshole football coaches out there and the team seemed to respond to him and have his back. That's really all that matters.
The important part is that KF was able to navigate the circumstances to 10 wins last season and a bowl win the previous season
