So Kirk Ferentz decided to hold a press conference to announce…nothing. Nothing at all. Oh wait…two guys are transferring and one guy is unable to continue his career due to injury. Isn’t that what press releases are for? According to Kirk “we needed to talk”, those words usually come when a relationship is about to end, no one wants to hear their boyfriend or girlfriend say “we need to talk”… unless you want out of the relationship too. That hope is now gone. The rumors leading up to “the most important press conference in Kirk’s tenure”, sorry that’s a message board moniker, was that Kirk was going to retire or he’s going to announce staff changes or he’s only coming back for one more year and then he’s handing the reigns to his son Brian (that was my favorite rumor only because of the absurdness of it). You can call Kirk Ferentz a lot of things (overpaid, out-of-touch, stubborn) but he’s a professional and knows how the coaching world works and he wasn’t going to wait until the middle of January to announce his retirement, no matter what you think of Coach Ferentz he wasn’t going to put the University in that position. The idea that Kirk is going to get to just hand the program to his son is laughable in today’s college football world (he may hand him the offensive coordinator’s job but the head job is not his to give). I was hoping beyond hope that he was going to announce that Greg Davis had decided to ride off into the sunset and he was going to begin a national search for a new offensive coordinator/QB coach, no such luck. Then Kirk Ferentz took questions and proceeded to flip the bird, metaphorically, to anyone who believes the program needs change.
When asked about any possible coaching moves Ferentz used his usual “we’ll look at some things” and “it takes time” fallback answers, he did eventually say that some adjustments might be made. Well unless the adjustment is Davis being put in charge of sharpening pencils I’m not feeling optimistic about the Hawkeye’s offense next season. If there isn’t going to be any wholesale changes to the offensive staff than I am all for making Brian Ferentz the offensive coordinator for two reasons. 1. He may be the only coach on the offensive staff with some new ideas and a good enough grasp of our players to actually use the players we have. Iowa isn’t about to get a bunch of new freshmen next year that are going to change the dynamics of the offense so somebody better figure out a way to better utilize the talent we have on hand. 2. Handing the offensive over to Brian Ferentz puts Kirk’s neck on the line. If Brian succeeds and turns things around that’s fantastic because the Hawkeyes would be good again. If it goes the other way and the Hawkeyes fall farther then the choice to get rid of Kirk is made for you. Sometimes you have to push all your chips to the center of the table and hope you’ve got the best hand, if you don’t you walk away. I’m a born and bred Hawkeye fan and I want the program to succeed but I also understand that sometimes the only way you succeed in the long run is to take your lumps now.
There were so many disturbing things said by Ferentz in his press conference that I’m not sure I can cover them all but I’ll give it a try. He tried to assure everyone that he’s not tone deaf, all evidence to the contrary, and that he wants to make changes, not just change for change sake but the right changes. Unfortunately 16 years’ worth of evidence makes this hard to believe. His comment about not being tone deaf was followed up just a few minutes later by a question about changing schemes and Ferentz answered by talking about how well the team was doing academically and how no one ever talks about that. That’s great Kirk except that wasn’t the question that was asked, maybe when he said he wasn’t tone deaf he was trying to tell us he’s actually deaf and can’t hear what questions that are being asked.
When asked about the change at QB and listing CJ Beathard as the starter on his never-before-released January two-deeps and if he regretted not playing Beathard more during the season Ferentz said “I’m not a big one looking backwards”. Except if you read the entire transcript of the press conference (and I have several times) he has no problem going back and referencing the 1999 and 2000 seasons and how they had to push through those tough years (he referenced 1999 six times in case you’re wondering). It was starting to feel like talking to someone with Alzheimer’s, he can recall 16 years ago without a problem but the issues of today don’t seem to concern him.
Ferentz started to talk about how he was spending too much time “outside of the building” meaning he has been spending too much time with donors, giving speeches and doing appearances. That’s all part of the job and I’m glad he knows he need to change it but it’s a little disconcerting because exactly how long has this been a problem. Obviously that is a part of the job of a major Division 1 coach and he was needed to help raise funds for the new football complex but coaching has to come first and if you aren’t making that priority #1 that is a huge problem.
In conjunction with his take on needing to spend more time coaching he talked about how he and his staff needed to study other teams and what they are doing and make adjustments but as I said before 16 years’ worth of evidence says he won’t really change. His own words say the same thing and this is where Ferentz really gets into an area that he loses my support. When asked about studying other programs and being open to changing schemes Ferentz said “Yeah, a lot of people are hung up on offense, at least that’s been my take for 16 years. We’re probably not going to be a spread team or a run shoot team. I don’t see that happening. We just don’t have the access to some of the personnel that some of those folks do that are running the points up”. I’m sorry Kirk but that is a cop out and it is only true if you let it be true. Ferentz also mentions that Iowa still likes to play defense as if having a good offense and a good defense are mutually exclusive ideas. There are a couple of things wrong with the idea that Iowa can’t run an up tempo offense or that somehow the Hawkeyes have to be a three yards and a cloud of dust offense. The idea that you have to have athletes like Oregon, Auburn or Ohio St to run a high octane offense is ludicrous. I’ve watched schools like Indiana and Northwestern have highly productive offenses with players much like the ones Iowa recruits. What kind of success could Iowa have if they put an offense like Indiana’s alongside a typical (not the 2014 version) Iowa defense. My other issue with this thinking is the apparent blind spot Ferentz has for his own personnel. I would like to see Ferentz go up to Tevaun Smith and tell him “Sorry, we can’t run a high flying offense because you’re not good enough”. Does he really believe that the talent he has on the offensive side of the ball isn’t good enough? If Tevaun Smith played at Indiana for an offensive coach like Kevin Wilson he would have caught 100 balls last season. I’ve made my case before about how Iowa’s offense doesn’t use the talent it has and now I understand why, Ferentz just doesn’t have the confidence in his players that I do. Teams like Indiana and Northwestern have struggled overall and I’m not saying I want a program like that but one thing they have been pretty good at over the past five years or so is offense and Iowa has not.
Ferentz seems to have this defeatist attitude towards his offense but it doesn’t start there. It starts on the recruiting trail where Iowa sometimes doesn’t even get into the recruiting game with top notch skill position players. I understand that impulse when you know they are going to look at your offensive philosophy and laugh you out of the room. But it doesn’t take a bunch of 4 and 5 star recruits to have a potent offense. Take a look at schools like TCU and Baylor two of the higher scoring offenses in the country. QB Bryce Petty of Baylor and QB Trevone Boykin of TCU were both 3 star recruits and Ferentz’s belief that it’s going to take a few years to turn around his offense is also an antiquated notion. TCU is the perfect example for Ferentz to follow. Gary Patterson has been a highly successful coach in his time with the Horned Frogs and his teams have been known for their stellar defenses his entire tenure. TCU’s offenses have been good at times but in 2013 it wasn’t great and it resulted in a 4-8 record and Patterson’s second bowl-less season of his tenure. He didn’t stand pat, he didn’t bury his head in the sand and say “we’ve won my way in the past so it’s fine”, he recognized his team’s offense wasn’t good enough and he committed to changing with the times and updating his scheme. He hired Doug Meacham and Sonnie Cumbie as co-coordinators, two guys with experience in high octane offenses and he let them go to work. They had an open QB competition during fall camp and it was Trevone Boykin, a converted WR, that won the job and all he did was lead them to a 12-1 record, the cusp of the College Football Playoff and set himself up as a top Heisman contender next season. Yep, the next year.
I’m not here to advocate that Iowa implement the Baylor/TCU offensive style because it isn’t necessary to compete in the Big Ten but watching teams like Ohio St (hey, all they did this year was win a National Title), Minnesota, Indiana and Northwestern and looking at the good things they do isn’t asking too much. Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio St all ran the ball while also finding a way to effectively pass the ball, okay maybe not Wisconsin so much but the others did. Iowa could use better talent, besides Ohio St who couldn’t, but that doesn’t mean Iowa doesn’t have some talent. Since it looks like Ferentz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon it’s time to not only re-evaluate the offensive philosophy but also the use of the personnel. The graduation of middling talents like Mark Weisman, Kevonte Martin-Manley and Damon Bullock should force Ferentz and the coaching staff to use some other players. Hopefully they will give a fair chance to young guys like LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley at RB and Andre Harris, Derrick Mitchell and Jay Scheel at WR. If next year’s offense is a steady diet of Jordan Canzeri running the football and passes thrown to Jacob Hillyer and Matt Vandeberg then all Hawkeye fans are in for more of the same.
I’ve been harping on the offense and Greg Davis specifically and for good reason but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to let the defense off the hook. The good news is 2014 was the exception and not the rule when talking about Iowa’s defense. They were not good for most of the year and downright terrible too many times (Minnesota and Tennessee games the most glaring examples). As good as Christian Kirksey, James Morris and Anthony Hitchens were blaming the loss of those three completely for Iowa’s pathetic 2014 is far too simplistic. As with many problems the Hawkeyes face it begins with recruiting and not only missing out on players but miss evaluating the guys they do get. The defensive line is stacked pretty well up the middle at defensive tackle and even with the graduation of stalwarts Carl Davis and Louis Trinca-Pasat the interior of the line is still in good hands. Drew Ott is a solid DE that will hopefully have a big senior year next year but he is still not a dominant rush end. Nate Meier is a try hard DE with some speed but not a lot of bulk and he certainly hasn’t been lighting it up as pass rusher. After those two the only hope comes in the form of three redshirt freshman next season; Matt Nelson, Terrance Harris and Parker Hesse. Having two or three classes’ worth of nothing at DE isn’t helping the defense. I assume Phil Parker’s reluctance to use the Raider package this last season as he did in 2013 stems from not having the players to make it work but that is on the staff for having so little quality at LB in the upper classes. When Travis Perry and Cole Fisher are the only two upper classmen that could possibly see time at the position next year and they don’t because redshirt freshmen are better than they are that should make the coaching staff re-evaluate what they have been doing recruiting wise. The two best linebackers in 2014 (they were far from stellar and I hope that’s because they are young) were Josey Jewell and Bo Bower. Jewell was late offer during the recruiting period and Bower originally came to Iowa as a walk-on so that doesn’t make me feel great about the staff’s evaluation skills. My last issue on defense is the safety position, against all odds the staff has actually done a pretty good job at cornerback and has both talent and depth at the position; the same cannot be said at safety. FS Jordan Lomax is solid going into his senior season but the coaching staff lucked into him ending up there after the emergence of Desmond King two years ago and the development of several other players allowing Lomax to slide inside. The continued use of John Lowdermilk over the past two seasons has shown just how poorly Iowa has recruited at safety. Ferentz’s propensity to play the guy that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes but also doesn’t make many plays is extremely frustrating. Lowdermilk had his moments but far too often was overmatched in coverage or out of position in run support or as was the case against Tennessee just simply out of his league. The fact that the only real backup to him was true freshman Miles Taylor shows you that the dearth of talent in the redshirt freshmen, sophomore and junior classes is consistent throughout the defense. Phil Parker can coach this defense and they can be good but he has to have more talent and that is on him, coach Ferentz and the rest of the staff to do a better job recruiting talent.
In the NFL there is a belief that it takes three good draft classes in a row to build a franchise and that has proven to be true more often than not and in college football I can tell you without question that 3 recruiting classes giving you very little help will kill your program every time. Recruiting is the lifeblood of every college program and when you consistently miss on players over several classes it makes a coach’s job that much harder. I’m not one to get caught up in the star rating system used by Rivals, 24/7 Sports or ESPN because they make mistakes. There are loads of examples of 4 and 5 star recruiting busts and just as many 3 star guys that become great players but it isn’t a coincidence that teams like Oregon, Alabama, Florida St. and Ohio St have rosters full of 4 and 5 star players. You can still be a good team with 3 star level prospects but it would be a lot easier if you tried to give your 3 star talent a schematic advantage. There’s an old saying that Hayden Fry was fond of that says, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”. Well guess what, better talent kicks lesser talent’s ass when they know exactly what the lesser talent is going to do and it’s been a long time since anyone was surprised by Iowa.
If Kirk Ferentz isn’t going anywhere and he’s not going to make any coaching changes then for the sake of the Hawkeye program I hope he does what he said he would do during his press conference. I hope he spends more time coaching and less time smoozing. I hope he spends time looking at offenses from this decade, that would help. I hope he re-evaluates the way they are recruiting (I am actually more excited by some of this upcoming recruiting class than most). I hope he spends time evaluating the players he has and decides to use the talent available to him. I hope he puts Greg Davis in charge of sharpening pencils and then buys all his coaches new pens. I hope he realizes that this is the last stand and that being his usual conservative self is detrimental to his team. I have very little confidence that any of this is going to happen because after 16 years I know better. Finally I hope that if none of my hopes come true and Iowa is as bad as they were this last year that a year from now I’m writing about Iowa’s new head coach. I hope I’m writing about some breath of fresh air that is coming to Iowa and I hope I’m excited about Hawkeye football again because it’s going to be really hard to be excited about next year.
Press Conference Transcript Link
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011415aaf.html
Article about TCU’s new coordinators from last August Link
The Hott Read 