Honest question. It is a no lose situation to be honest. Kirk cannot do a single thing to prevent Brian from being fired. Barta has the outright authority to do it. Ferentz can't fire Barta.
What would Kirk do If Barta fired Brian.
- Thread starter paednoch23
- Start date
I'm pretty sure that Barta can't fire anyone named Ferentz or that might be married to a Ferentz.
pretty sure he'd be worried since it would mean the center of the earth was frozen, or wherever hell is supposed to be located
Last edited:
Take the Ferentz name out of it for a second and think about it logically:
If your supervisor hands you a department and promises you total control over it, then goes over your head to fire one of your hand-picked subordinates.
Any coach in the country, whether it be KF or Nick Saban, would be irate about that, regardless of the coordinator’s performance.
If your supervisor hands you a department and promises you total control over it, then goes over your head to fire one of your hand-picked subordinates.
Any coach in the country, whether it be KF or Nick Saban, would be irate about that, regardless of the coordinator’s performance.
If GB had any balls, which he doesn’t, he would tell KF that BF will not be with us next year, then give him a timeframe to have one of his NFL buddies do him a favor and hire BF to some meaningless position, then come up with a cover story about how BF is “choosing to move on.” The consequences of not following through would be an outright firing of BF.
Last edited:
OK back to my original question. What do you all think Kirk would do if Barta fired Brian. Just play pretend that Barta had the balls and actually did it. What do you think Kirk woudl do?
And who is going to take BF when his name is currently attached to a discrimination lawsuit from former players?
Promote Lavar Woods!
Kirk would have to name someone as Interim OC and Lavar would be a good choice IMO,
Kirk would have to name someone as Interim OC and Lavar would be a good choice IMO,
Hire another one of his sons.
Ferentz name aside, the University (Barta) never should have made an exception to the nepotism policy by allowing Kirk to hire Brian in the first place. This situation of a son failing to produce was always a potential issue and one of the reasons why nepotism regs exist in the first place. There is no easy way to solve this given the family dynamics. Kirk is obviously never going to replace his own son, regardless of how it impacts the program.
He'd probably tell the U President to fire Barta and Brian would take his position. 🤣
Barta's transgression will get written up in a small spiral bound flip notebook so that the appropriate corrective measures are taken over course of the season.
That would hold more weight if there weren’t hundreds of football coaches hired in a nepotistic manner throughout the country. It happens all the time.
Just for conversation, if there actually are, "nepotism regs" as you stated, then how are there sons of coaches working on their staffs all over both college football, AND basketball? People bring this up constantly, but no one ever explains how this happens at almost EVERY school where the coach (in either sport) has a son who has played these sports. I mean if it really is a "rule or law" or whatever, then how does everyone else get away with it, because its rampant all through college athletics. As I've said repeatedly, this is NOT an Iowa issue. Its inherent in college sports.
Ok, in my scenario, if KF played chicken with GB and then BF actually got fired, then I believe that KF would coach the remainder of the 7 years left on his contract, and if fired would demand the full payout due. As it stands, I think he'll coach 1-2 more seasons and negotiate a reasonable retirement package.
Even though NFL is chock-full of coaches of upmost integrity and ethics, I think he would land a spot. Again, something like a "quality control coach" or some other made-up job, one where he is never on TV and no one ever hears his name.
I don't know about other places/sports. I do know as it pertains to Iowa football BF reports directly to Barta. Seems like there are some "reg gymnastics" that had to be done in order to make the hire happen,
Uhhhhm…the whole reason Brian supposedly answers to Barta and not the head coach is because of the Ferentz name, so your whole point makes no sense.
Last edited:
It is literally the only leverage of Kf right now. His buyout literally prevents any other recourse. But it depends on if KF legitimately sees Brian as a real possibly to replace him when he retires. If he’s being honest with himself, he has to see that isn’t a possibility right now any longer. Then again, it’s the same Kf that demands we stick with Petras too so maybe he does still have delusions of HCBF. If he does, I could see him leveraging Barta to get Barta canned and then consciously or unconsciously have less energy and passion for the program and results would slide even more.
Either way, recruits that come here usually LOVE the continuity and stability of KFs longevity. Regardless, that attraction has serious dents now - and even more so if/when BF is gone.
Either way, recruits that come here usually LOVE the continuity and stability of KFs longevity. Regardless, that attraction has serious dents now - and even more so if/when BF is gone.
If said subordinate is costing the company (in this case UofI is the laughing stock of P5), yep, the higher up with authority has every right. It may piss people off, but you can't please everyone and as a good CEO/AD your priority is the image of your firm...
I believe KF, publicly, would say it was out 9f his hands. privately he would probably tell GB that its a mistake and he hasnt seen the whole product...
Except that’s not a good analogy.
CEOs exert total control over their companies, and as such would not be in such a situation.
ADs promise control of their programs to their coaches.
There are most definitely a set rules around nepotism that are in place at most if not all larger institutions including Iowa. It states that a family member cannot be responsible for evaluating or setting compensation for that individual. The workaround was to put Brian under Barta on an org chart. Everyone knows how it really works.
Yep. Barta should fire BF and if Kirk has a problem he can resign.
I don't know that it happens ALL the time although I won't argue that it happens frequently. It doesn't mean it's a good idea. All it reflects is the power that college coaches wield in their institutions as if they are above the law. The reality is that when it goes sour, as is the case here, conflicts exist that would otherwise not come into play. Kirk isn't going to fire or demote his son. It's going to get ugly should things continue as they are.
When it comes to the Iowa offense Brian is merely the symptom, Kirk is the underlying disease. Until Kirk is ready to admit the offense results aren't acceptable and hand over the O nothing else really matters. Another Kirk puppet OC would just be swapping out band aids. Hopefully Phil and Levar can keep things respectable in the W/L column like usual but they can't count on that forever
If Brian doesn't get moved to another asst position after this year...or move on to another organization, KFz will have burned up a big chunk of the good will he's built. His legacy will be irretrievably tarnished.
If Barta is remotely competent he'll tell Kirk the Brian experiment is over at the end of the year and he needs to make a change. If Kirk balks, Barta tells him either you do it...which would be the best for everyone...or I will. But it's going to happen.
Where's the University President in all of this? You don't have to be a football expert to understand the nepotism angle.
If Barta is remotely competent he'll tell Kirk the Brian experiment is over at the end of the year and he needs to make a change. If Kirk balks, Barta tells him either you do it...which would be the best for everyone...or I will. But it's going to happen.
Where's the University President in all of this? You don't have to be a football expert to understand the nepotism angle.
This is probably the most ridiculous thread I have EVER seen on this board. Have fun guys.
I honestly don't know. The relationship between Gary and Kirk would be severed, which may not be the worst thing. I think that Kirk would go into a shell publicly but still coach. However, he may make it known to recruits and the media he will be done in a year or two which would be a dig at Iowa and hurt us.
I don't know what all the answers are but I just want guys like Woods, Copeland, Betts, and Parker to stay regardless of what happens.
I understand how it was set up. I've posted that several times myself in this forum. That doesn't answer my question. There are high profile coaches all over college sports who have hired their sons. If I have time tomorrow I'll try to put together a list of some, and I think you'd be surprised how many there are. Just a few off the top Pitino at Louisville, Sutton at OKState, Snyder at KSU, Frank Beamer at VT, Bobby Bowden at FSU had TWO sons on his staff, Joe Pa, Bobby Knight and his son Pat, Don Shula....
Last edited:
Why because it won't happen, but should happen...? F'in Coe College would fire the OC if the offense was this abysmal and the HC probably wouldn't be far behind.
The Ferentz’s told us Barta hired Brian and that Brian “answers to Gary.”
So who is lying? You or the Ferentz’s?
When Brian was hired as OC, many on this board said Kirk was going to live or die by how well Brian did and that he made his own bed by hiring his son.
To the original poster, I don’t think Kirk would quit. I believe he has aspirations to at least pass Woody Hayes and Bo as the winningest BT coach possibly passing Stagg as the all-time winningest BT coach.
Similar threads
