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Why Great Leaders Make Big Mistakes: A Study of Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz

Brian Ferentz is one of the brightest minds in the game of football today.
he's been successful at every thing he has done.
which includes his time on the team as an Offensive Lineman from 2001-2005

he is 40 years old now and just hitting his prime.

the same people that hate the Ferentz' ... hate the McCaffery's

and they that hate them, hate the Iowa Hawkeyes.

the really strange thing about this hate is..
these haters have positioned themselves to now root against the team they pretend to support.
"Brian Ferentz is one of the brightest minds in the game of football today.
he's been successful at every thing he has done."

-----------All due respect, but are you on HALLUCINOGENS??????
 
Despite the Offense.
oh I forgot that Phil is a god to you Brian haters, as he runs everything. draws up the offensive play's as well as the defense. Phil is the example of pure greatness. Woods is also a god that can do no wrong.

Brian is the anti christ who fails at everything he does. I surprised that you don't give Woods the credit for Hockenson and Fant even though Brian was the OC/TE Coach.

how ever did IA Survive before these 2 superior coaches hired to coach under Kirk.
 
oh I forgot that Phil is a god to you Brian haters, as he runs everything. draws up the offensive play's as well as the defense. Phil is the example of pure greatness. Woods is also a god that can do no wrong.

Brian is the anti christ who fails at everything he does. I surprised that you don't give Woods the credit for Hockenson and Fant even though Brian was the OC/TE Coach.

how ever did IA Survive before these 2 superior coaches hired to coach under Kirk.
Keep on ranting.
It's a good release.
 
Didn’t know that, but it was obvious for sure. You can heckle him for poor QB, recruiting, poor QB development, poor offensive line, recruiting & poor offensive line development and refusing to use the portal when it was obvious, we needed to…

But past that, my guess is under the circumstances he probably did a pretty good job of bailing out the season… Yes, it’s maddening as hell that we lost to Illinois, Iowa State and Nebraska but it is what it is!
I think your last paragraph drives home the most pertinent point. Given the QB and OL issues, a lesser coach would never have won eight games as we did last year. The losses to ISU and Nebby were mostly attributable to player mistakes. I'm not suggesting KF is perfect but I believe we are extremely fortunate to have him as our head coach.
 
it is a absolute fact everything come to end, this definitely includes winning streaks or losing streaks. Hayden stopped 2 decades of losing and individual game losing streaks.

imagine how Purdue fans felt after Iowa under Fry broke their 25 game winning streak over Iowa.
 
"Brian Ferentz is one of the brightest minds in the game of football today.
he's been successful at every thing he has done."

-----------All due respect, but are you on HALLUCINOGENS??????
That poster is the "sane" Karnack.

Wait, that poster is somehow related to karnack. Both are idiots.
 
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This is such a weird post by the OP. I'm not a KF guy but leadership to me is by far KF's greatest attribute. To me the OP put this under leadership but it's more stubbornness and inability to adapt. It's easy to make an argument about KF being stubborn, nepotism and his inability to adapt. But why choose leadership which in my opinion has been a huge strength for the time KF has been in charge.
 
That poster is the "sane" Karnack.

Wait, that poster is somehow related to karnack. Both are idiots.
I am beginning to think that comment by ol' F5n5 might be an attempt at humor.
He couldn't possibly actually believe that, could he???
I mean 130/131 is just a BIT of a competence red flag.
 
I honestly think we had a better qb in Labas but I'm not the coach. The o line was terrible and missing so many upper classmen we had as freshman that fell by the wayside they didn't have a chance. I would have gone to Labas but I'm an armchair expert. When KF went after the portal he went all in and it strikes me that he makes big changes when things need to be fixed. I reported he was going to the portal and got laughed at and made fun of but had inside info. KF has done this kind of thing before and will make big decisions when it is called for. I trust his ability and willingness to do what is best for the team and get the results we all want.
 
KF is/was responsible for hiring Norm the former and now forgotten DC. them promoting Phil to the DC position and he also HIRED Woods and moved him around on the coaching staff.

he has redone his coaching staff 3 times, the biggest was after the 2005 season when other teams started to raid his staff.

the last time was just in time for the 2012 season, by hiring Woods, Davis and Brian. this was after the 2012 recruiting class had signed their LOI. replacing them 1 or 2 at a time.

even so he is still replacing coaches, but I HOPE he is done for now. this class is almost done and they got a lot of Athletes in this class. with a true DT/QB in Resar.

I really like the RB in this class 6'0 220 lb'der a bulldozer with the speed of Green or maybe the 2nd coming of Coker,

the recruiting keeps improving the best thing is the depth is is increasing at all the positions,
 
I honestly think we had a better qb in Labas but I'm not the coach. The o line was terrible and missing so many upper classmen we had as freshman that fell by the wayside they didn't have a chance. I would have gone to Labas but I'm an armchair expert. When KF went after the portal he went all in and it strikes me that he makes big changes when things need to be fixed. I reported he was going to the portal and got laughed at and made fun of but had inside info. KF has done this kind of thing before and will make big decisions when it is called for. I trust his ability and willingness to do what is best for the team and get the results we all want.
Labas had a month to prepare for what was a depleted KY team. 139 yards passing was his total. Certainly game pressure wasn't on him with the turnovers we got, but let's not pretend that he showed he was better in the bowl game. KF made a really bad mistake for2022 by not going hard after a transfer QB last year when there was a ton in the portal.

Lest you need to be reminded about KF's perpetual weakness, the union cards. Situation reminded me of Mark Weisman, who was similarly well-liked, a leader, a 3 year starter, but who never, ever should have been a lead back (let alone for that long) in our offense.
 
oh I forgot that Phil is a god to you Brian haters, as he runs everything. draws up the offensive play's as well as the defense. Phil is the example of pure greatness. Woods is also a god that can do no wrong.

Brian is the anti christ who fails at everything he does. I surprised that you don't give Woods the credit for Hockenson and Fant even though Brian was the OC/TE Coach.

how ever did IA Survive before these 2 superior coaches hired to coach under Kirk.
Most of the folks on here and nationally recognized football minds, that have specifically stated that BF was an excellent position coach, they have also stated that (and facts back this up) that BF is a not a good OC.

I have not heard of anyone stating that PP or LW runs the offense, but I have heard folks on here and nationally recognized football minds (and stats back this up) that those two are exceptional at their jobs of DC and ST, respectively, and the talent is being wasted due to the woefully underperforming offense since BF was anointed with that position.

Facts don't care about feelings.
 
I honestly think we had a better qb in Labas but I'm not the coach. The o line was terrible and missing so many upper classmen we had as freshman that fell by the wayside they didn't have a chance. I would have gone to Labas but I'm an armchair expert. When KF went after the portal he went all in and it strikes me that he makes big changes when things need to be fixed. I reported he was going to the portal and got laughed at and made fun of but had inside info. KF has done this kind of thing before and will make big decisions when it is called for. I trust his ability and willingness to do what is best for the team and get the results we all want.
He made a big decision for the portal to try and cover his big decision of hiring his son as OC.
 
He made a big decision for the portal to try and cover his big decision of hiring his son as OC.
As a fan, I don't really care why the decision was made as it had to be made and they found some success with it this year, particularly on offense where the greatest need was. If the offense is effective, it can be a great year, and Brian gets a lot of credit for that, just as he has deserved a lot of the blame for what's transpired over the last few years.
 
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He made a big decision for the portal to try and cover his big decision of hiring his son as OC.
that's a pure bull shit lie. this was also the 1st spring/summer of the portal where the swarm had the money to spend in the portal. another lie about not using the portal, can't use something you don't have to spend.

the same thing is happening in BB they don't have the money to spend so they are going to miss more often than hit, so you just have to be happy with what the coaches get knowing that the coaches have limited resources to use.

back to Brian the hatred is so bad that he will never get credit for these years
2017 8-5
2018 9-4 1st finish in the top 25
2019 10-3 2nd finish in the top 25
2020 6-2 covid year 3rd finish in the top 25
2021 10-4 BT West Championship 4th finish in the top 25


but according to these Posters Phil and Woods won all those games by themselves and Brian had absolutely nothing to do with any of them. they are the biggest haters on the internet.

this fall any success the offense has, the credit will all go to Phil and Woods,
 
that's a pure bull shit lie. this was also the 1st spring/summer of the portal where the swarm had the money to spend in the portal. another lie about not using the portal, can't use something you don't have to spend.

the same thing is happening in BB they don't have the money to spend so they are going to miss more often than hit, so you just have to be happy with what the coaches get knowing that the coaches have limited resources to use.

back to Brian the hatred is so bad that he will never get credit for these years
2017 8-5
2018 9-4 1st finish in the top 25
2019 10-3 2nd finish in the top 25
2020 6-2 covid year 3rd finish in the top 25
2021 10-4 BT West Championship 4th finish in the top 25


but according to these Posters Phil and Woods won all those games by themselves and Brian had absolutely nothing to do with any of them. they are the biggest haters on the internet.

this fall any success the offense has, the credit will all go to Phil and Woods,
LOL! No, it will not. Should the offense be truly successful and efficient this year, Phil and Woods will not and should not receive the credit, just as Brian doesn't and shouldn't receive credit when the defense and special teams perform at a high level. They have no influence on the offense just as Brian has no influence on defense and special teams.
 
that's a pure bull shit lie. this was also the 1st spring/summer of the portal where the swarm had the money to spend in the portal. another lie about not using the portal, can't use something you don't have to spend.

the same thing is happening in BB they don't have the money to spend so they are going to miss more often than hit, so you just have to be happy with what the coaches get knowing that the coaches have limited resources to use.

back to Brian the hatred is so bad that he will never get credit for these years
2017 8-5
2018 9-4 1st finish in the top 25
2019 10-3 2nd finish in the top 25
2020 6-2 covid year 3rd finish in the top 25
2021 10-4 BT West Championship 4th finish in the top 25


but according to these Posters Phil and Woods won all those games by themselves and Brian had absolutely nothing to do with any of them. they are the biggest haters on the internet.

this fall any success the offense has, the credit will all go to Phil and Woods,
Look Mary, we get it, you want to defend your son at all costs.

"There are some that are calling this regression. Regression would mean things were better in the first place and took a step backwards. There has not been a good place to start with the Brian Ferentz-led offense since day one. Rather, this offense hasn’t improved in any major statistical category to create room to regress.

It is a blatant showing of non-improvements and a continued trend of accepting an offense that has been ranked below the 50th-percentile in nearly every major statistical category each year the Hawkeyes have had Brian Ferentz calling plays.

Of course, not everything that happens on the field falls on the offensive coordinator. The players have to perform as well, something they are absolutely not doing right now. That said, it is both of the Ferentz’s jobs to put out the right players for the job on Saturdays, whether that is through personnel decisions or recruiting. Neither have been good enough, and that problem has not been addressed.

It says a lot that Charlie Jones immediately became a top receiving target for Purdue as soon as he left. Iowa has the reputation of being an old school team that runs the ball down your throat and dismantles your offense with a strong defensive unit. The stats show this really isn’t the case anymore, and hasn’t been for a couple of years. The offense serves as a clock killer, hoping to do just enough while Phil Parker’s fantastic defense bails them out week after week."

A little perspective on your stats compared to the Offensive stats:

2017 - 121/131
2018 - 116/131
2019 - 91/131
2020* - NCAA didn't really keep track of stats for that year due to Covid related issues.
2021 - 99/100
2022 - 123/131

If our offense was even remotely competent (averages 70's) we win-more-games. IF BF can score more points and our Def and ST do what they have done, BF will get the credit, most Hawk fans aren't as tunnel visioned as you.

You can cry "complete BS lie" until you turn blue, but what I stated is about as accurate as you are going to get when you see beyond your nose. BF is NOT a good OC, and data shows that.
 
I honestly think we had a better qb in Labas but I'm not the coach. The o line was terrible and missing so many upper classmen we had as freshman that fell by the wayside they didn't have a chance. I would have gone to Labas but I'm an armchair expert. When KF went after the portal he went all in and it strikes me that he makes big changes when things need to be fixed. I reported he was going to the portal and got laughed at and made fun of but had inside info. KF has done this kind of thing before and will make big decisions when it is called for. I trust his ability and willingness to do what is best for the team and get the results we all want.

Yes it is patently untrue that he won’t change. He’s done it many times before many, many times… I will grant there are some things he’s probably never going to do and that is play musical quarterbacks and he is also a little slow but I think that’s because he’s very calculated and he’s not gonna just throw darts!
 
8-5
9-4 top 25
10-3 top 25
6-2 top 25
10-4 BT West Championship top 25
8-5
these are more important to those that write the checks.
one bad year I guess because they failed to win 10 games and the BT West Championship you are fast passing Nebbie fans has they fired a coach for winning only 9 games minimum every he was their coach.
they just fired their 5th or 6th coach for not restoring them back to being the superior self. now all of a sudden 10 win seasons and not winning championships is unacceptable, and not scoring or putting up gaudy stats is now the point to bitch about.

sorry but Lombardi said it best [stats are for losers]
you know what I know why you want them gone. it is because the last season could be nothing more than a blip on the screen of a bad season once every 10 or 11 years.

1999 and 2000 1-10 and 3-8
2006 and 2007 6-7 and 6-6
2012 4-8
2022 8-5

yeah I can see why all the outrage, NOT. ALL I really see is a bunch of self entitled ball babies,

who do nothing to improve. how much have any of you have given to the swarm to help with recruiting, how many of you actually help in recruiting top level recruits that would = what OSU, Michigan and even PSU get. my guess is none.

its time to put your money where your mouth is. otherwise you need to STFU.
 
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Begged him to portal to save his job, yeah, I bet he did beg.

Lol… I don’t disagree and I think you’d agree, you and I don’t have too much issue with each other anymore but I still contend. Prick that the BF is, his dad is his biggest hurdle to running a successful offense!

Remember, something BF has been here seven years. His dad has been here 25 and we love to segment the team and say these guys are doing great and these guys aren’t but nobody appeared interested in attacking the portal defensively or offensively!

Yes, it’s true. We haven’t needed the portal so much defensively, but the slow pay is on KF and clearly his main man Phil didn’t talk him out if it or into! I have in my head BF would be all about attacking the portal to fix holes!!
 
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Lol… I don’t disagree and I think you’d agree, you and I don’t have too much issue with each other anymore but I still contend. Prick that the BF is, his dad is his biggest hurdle to running a successful offense!

Remember, something BF has been here seven years. His dad has been here 25 and we love to segment the team and say these guys are doing great and these guys aren’t but nobody appeared interested in attacking the portal defensively or offensively!

Yes, it’s true. We haven’t needed the portal so much defensively, but the slow pay is on KF and clearly his man man Phil didn’t talk him out if it. I have in my head BF would be all about attacking the portal to fix holes!!
100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...
 
100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...

I get that, in fact, I’ll go further and say that most assuredly is likely true however, I’m not sure wed like what we got any better!

I’m still hopeful KF will relent to save his sons job!
 
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100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...
THIS is the TRUTH!
 
100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...

Agreed. I can not think of any other power five school that would allow an OC to suck for this long. Whats even more outrageous is that the AD and the HC know he and the offense are god awful. Otherwise there never would have been this ridiculous contract clause about averaging 25pts a game. That little gem is truly to most insulting aspect of the nepotism.
 
100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...

PS….I’m also fairly confident BF would have moved more pieces around offensively including QB, although again we didn’t really have a good QB PERIOD!
 
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LOL! No, it will not. Should the offense be truly successful and efficient this year, Phil and Woods will not and should not receive the credit, just as Brian doesn't and shouldn't receive credit when the defense and special teams perform at a high level. They have no influence on the offense just as Brian has no influence on defense and special teams.
I'm not sure how you can say the D and ST has no influence on the offense considering how many times the O gets the ball with great field position, quite often near mid field or even in opponents territory. The first TD vs ISU last year is just one of many examples.

If the O was getting the ball inside their own 20 like Iowa's opponents do quite often (punting is winning) it would be a different story but when you give it to the offense the ball inside the opponents' 10 like at Illinois and they still can't punch it in people really take notice. It's a team game and each phase does impact the others, we take for granted how much the D has covered for the O in recent years because they are so good at it
 
100% it's KF's offense (lack there of) that BF et al have had to deal with. KF is too stubborn to listen to nearly anyone, he's a great guy, a heck of a leader, but DAMNED stubborn.

It seems the biggest issue fans (myself included) have is that any-other-program would have fired BF after his 3rd flaccid season, yet here is dad being the hurdle...
explain what flaccid season and why?
 
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I'm not sure how you can say the D and ST has no influence on the offense considering how many times the O gets the ball with great field position, quite often near mid field or even in opponents territory. The first TD vs ISU last year is just one of many examples.

If the O was getting the ball inside their own 20 like Iowa's opponents do quite often (punting is winning) it would be a different story but when you give it to the offense the ball inside the opponents' 10 like at Illinois and they still can't punch it in people really take notice. It's a team game and each phase does impact the others, we take for granted how much the D has covered for the O in recent years because they are so good at it
so according to you Illinois has absolutely no right to play good defense? and yet they ended up one of the best defenses in the country, but IA is supposed to just move the ball at will. funny I remember stopping teams that get inside the 5 close to the goal line and IA's defense stopped them and I bet you cheered about that.

what a hypocrite cheer about IA's defense stopping teams near the goal line but wanting coaches fired because a team stopped IA.
Illinois finished #2 in total defense
#2 in rush defense
#6 in pass defense
#1 in scoring defense
every team as the right to play outstanding defense now show me the law that is being broken by Illinois having one of the best defenses in the FBS. especially when their HC is Bret Beliema a HC that knows how to beat KF.

ISU
#7 in total defense
#11 in pass defense
#`7 in rush defense
#9 in scoring defense

yet they don't according to you and othes have no right to play good defense or to beat IA WHAT A BUNCH of conceited assholes
 
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I'm not sure how you can say the D and ST has no influence on the offense considering how many times the O gets the ball with great field position, quite often near mid field or even in opponents territory. The first TD vs ISU last year is just one of many examples.

If the O was getting the ball inside their own 20 like Iowa's opponents do quite often (punting is winning) it would be a different story but when you give it to the offense the ball inside the opponents' 10 like at Illinois and they still can't punch it in people really take notice. It's a team game and each phase does impact the others, we take for granted how much the D has covered for the O in recent years because they are so good at it
So, what I said was that there is really nothing the D or ST does to make the offense more efficient. Giving an offense good field position makes it more likely that you will score, but the offense still has to be effective. As you said, the offense was gifted terrific field position on many occasions last year, but were often unable to take advantage of it. Offensive efficiency is tied specifically to how successful the offense is operating with the ball, not where they assumed possession. A 60 yard drive for a field goal and a 2 yard 3 and out drive resulting in a field goal both count as 3 points, but all the latter means is that the offense failed to capitalize on good field position. The first drive could be considered a qualified success. The latter a failure.

Now if we are only interested in scoring numbers, which Brian's new contract stipulates, the defense and special teams could score 25% of the points and Brian gets a raise assuming 25 ppg, even though the offense failed to operate any better than it has the last 2 years. I wouldn't call that offensive success, but that's how the contract was written.
 
Labas had a month to prepare for what was a depleted KY team. 139 yards passing was his total. Certainly game pressure wasn't on him with the turnovers we got, but let's not pretend that he showed he was better in the bowl game. KF made a really bad mistake for2022 by not going hard after a transfer QB last year when there was a ton in the portal.

Lest you need to be reminded about KF's perpetual weakness, the union cards. Situation reminded me of Mark Weisman, who was similarly well-liked, a leader, a 3 year starter, but who never, ever should have been a lead back (let alone for that long) in our offense.
most of that 139 yards were done in the 2nd quarter. after halftime Kirk threw the offense in the deep freeze and turned it over to the defense.

I look it like this, had Labas been allowed to throw in the 2nd half he could just as easily ended up with 250+ passing yards and at least 1 more TD.

OOO make excuses for Kentucky now, anything to bash IA on both the offense and defense.
 
So, what I said was that there is really nothing the D or ST does to make the offense more efficient. Giving an offense good field position makes it more likely that you will score, but the offense still has to be effective. As you said, the offense was gifted terrific field position on many occasions last year, but were often unable to take advantage of it. Offensive efficiency is tied specifically to how successful the offense is operating with the ball, not where they assumed possession. A 60 yard drive for a field goal and a 2 yard 3 and out drive resulting in a field goal both count as 3 points, but all the latter means is that the offense failed to capitalize on good field position. The first drive could be considered a qualified success. The latter a failure.

Now if we are only interested in scoring numbers, which Brian's new contract stipulates, the defense and special teams could score 25% of the points and Brian gets a raise assuming 25 ppg, even though the offense failed to operate any better than it has the last 2 years. I wouldn't call that offensive success, but that's how the contract was written.
My bad. Gotya
 
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