KF should donate at least $3 million of his salary to a charity this year. That would still leave him with at least $1 million with the rest of his overblown salary and perks and still make him grossly overpaid for his job this season. He took to potentially good teams the previous two years and turned them into 7-5 seasons, and a team that easily could have had seven wins this year into a four win season. Anyone at any corporation who would perform that poorly for three straight years would not keep their job.
High school coaches manage the clock better than KF usually does. And I don’t know who was responsible for the play calling in Iowa’s next to last offensive series, but that was really horrible and predictable. If it was Greg Davis, he should be fired for that reason alone, not even considering how weak his offensive scheme was. When Iowa hired him, I was hopeful, but Texas fans I know, and many who posted on message boards, said it was a horrible hire. I see now why UT fired the guy, and Ferentz owes us something better. Also, a special teams coach, and if he says the budget isn’t there, he could easily donate $200,000 of his own salary to hire a good one. Baseball players like Chipper Jones gave up salary to help sign a good player, and Ferentz should do the same to get a better OC and an actual, dedicated special teams coach. When was the last time Iowa blocked a punt? Penn State game in ’09? Then look at how many punts Iowa has had blocked; how many onside kicks Iowa has lost, costing them 3 games in recent memory; and then there was the gaffe of not being prepared for a fake punt with time running out, costing Iowa the Wisconsin game. Iowa fans and Iowa players deserve much more than Ferentz is doing. Maybe the game has passed him by…I don’t know.

Could’ve won today. Didn’t.

But I gotta say I’m happy to see this season end.
The play calling today on offense was terrible. I don’t see a compelling reason to bring Greg Davis back as OC. I know it wasn’t the most talented team in the world but was it “atrocious” level? No. But this offense was atrocious.
But I have a feeling he will be back unless Kirk wants to give his kid the job. I say go for it. Couldn’t be worse. Maybe he’ll realize that a vertical pass is legal.

Kirk Ferentz: “I’m comfortable with everything right now.” That is enough reason for him to be gone as of right now. He is delusional, as well as unimaginative and hidebound.

Extremely frustrating season capped off with an extremely frustrating game to watch. Will Iowa be better next year? Without a doubt. But that doesn’t mean that the overall health of this program isn’t declining. It is unless Kirk is willing to admit this one year experiment at OC is not going in the right direction. This offense was never clicking at any time this year and really never was close. The players certainly are troopers saying all the right things when questioned whether this offensive scheme can work. What would you expect them to say, “no”? They continue to take the blame for lack of execution. Some bullet points:
1) 2 costly interceptions today, neither of which were necessarily Vandy’s fault. The 1st was on a dropped 4 yard pass when 7 yards were needed. The 2nd was on on a 3 yard pass when Iowa needed many more yards with time running out. As reported it wasn’t because of a bad pass but because even a Nebraska football player can catch onto something if he sees it enough times.
2) Regardless of talent, execution, or even the opponent, 2-4 yard pass plays aren’t going to sustain drives when you need 7 yards for a first down or touchdown. It isn’t really even giving the players a chance to succeed.
3) Even in Kirk’s good seasons I had always said he was the absolute worst clock manager in the game, period! Remember, we lucked out in the Capital One Bowl vs LSU because the clock management was so horrific that it caused confusion. Time management isn’t rocket science. But it is usually a good indicator of a quick witted coach versus a slow witted coach. Or a well coached team versus a poorly coached team.
4) By the way I was watching Iowa State play with their 3rd string QB and still moving the ball like they have all season. I don’t believe for a minute that ISU has more talent than Iowa or that their 3rd string QB is better than Vandy. If they are that’s a whole other deficiency (recruiting) of our coaching staff. It’s all about coaching.
5) By the way I haven’t heard Iowa referred to as a well coached team for 2 seasons by announcers. The fact is Iowa is consistently being out-coached by the likes of Iowa State, Northwestern, Minnesota, and now Indiana. I was really sorry to see Zook go because Kirk could out-coach him.
6) Sorry to interject politics here but there is an analogy between our countries problem with entitlement dependency and Kirk’s contract. It is “politically incorrect” to insinuate that you will not get the same effort level by someone who is guaranteed comfort regardless of performance as you will from someone who’s comfort level is dependent on their performance. Politically incorrect but in reality it is correct! Unfortunately its just human nature. I am making an analogy to Kirk’s guaranteed contract through 2020. To expect the same hungry effort from Kirk and staff with this comfy contract as we have seen in the past just isn’t reality.
7) On a positive note I think Iowa’s offense does have enough talent there to turn this thing around fairly quickly if Kirk is willing to engage and let loose a fresh offensive mind. Heck, I’ll settle for him re-hiring KOK with a raise. I wasn’t one of those that wanted to see KOK leave to begin with.

Sorry again to sound negative. But without people showing displeasure Iowa will settle for the status quo.

The Iowa football team has hit rock bottom this year.
I feel very bad for the players who have invested a tremendous number of hours building up their bodies, practicing to develop their skills, etc. with little or nothing to show for it. I am a long time (40 plus years) Iowa supporter attending almost every game, contributing money to the University and athletic department, etc. I have witness the ups and downs in terms of wins and losses over the years. But this year has to be one of the most disappointing of them all. Extremely poor coaching [predictable play calling, poor clock management, consistently no pressure on the quarter backs (throughout the year), not adapting the system/schemes on offense and defense to maximize the limited talent on the team, etc.]
Next year will be a repeat of this year (4 wins and 8 losses, if we are lucky), especially with the addition of Wisconsin and Ohio State to the schedule.
Kirk Ferentz has gone on record as being 100% supportive of his coaches.
Gary Barta has gone on record as 100% supportive of Kirk Ferentz. Thus, don’t expect there to be any coaching changes between now and next year. If Greg Davis continues as offensive coordinator in 2013, the pressure from alumni, season ticket holders and financial contributors can and will express their dissatisfaction in multiple ways. This will influence the U of I President to get rid of the athletic director AND the new athletic director will need to make some assistant coaching changes with or without Kirk Ferentz blessing. Hopefully, coach Ferentz will change his coaching philosophy and system as well.

bottom line is nothing is going to change next year. KF thinks everything is fine, the players work hard, the coaches are fine and I’m the President of the United States. If you believe all that I’ve got a state I will sell you real cheap. Wake up Kirk you are in a world of S(crap) your team is horrible, your coaches are horrible, horrible play calling, horrible QB (best chance to win with JVB) your line is horrible oh yea you have injuries quess what so does everybody else. Until there are some major changes at Iowa we are in for at least 1 if not 2 more years of the same thing we had this year.

I would like to agree that Iowa has hit bottom this year, but I don’t think that is remotely true. This is a terrible football team, with very limited talent, being directed by a very incompetent coaching staff. Go look at the 2013 schedule, and identify for me the games we will win, particularly in the Big Ten, with a QB that has never played a single down. I am on record saying that 2-10 is my prediction with 0-8 in the Big Ten. I “hope” that is note true, but this Iowa program has shown me nothing over the last 3 months to make me think anything different.

Kirk say’s he going to evaluate all the performances of his coaching staff as well as his own. Hmm.. will he fire himself? Will he keep the coach of the Big Ten’s worst offense? Will he do something about the lack of execution he’s always talking about? If Ruddick or another player puts up big numbers next year what are we to think? He should of played this year or he developed during the off season? I don’t want to think what would of happened if he started him today. We probable would of lost and scored less than 7 points, maybe. Lots of questions during the off-season. One thing that could happen that would make me happy. Make your decisions early this year Kirk. If you are going after a new offensive coordinator do it during or immediately after bowl season. Follow the Fry rule on hiring coaches. Hire someone who wants to be a head coach someday. That worked out well for Fry. His track record for hiring coaches speaks for itself. No more yes men!

It was just one of those years. It happens. It’s hurts, it’s very frustrating. And we shouldn’t have lost 4-5 of those games, and wouldn’t have if our 6 yr old kids had had the chance to call a few key 3rd ‘n short plays over the course of the season. No argument there.
For all the greatness of Kirk, I will never understand how he lets some of those play calls happen, game after game, all season long. It really doesn’t make sense. Not playing Jake or another QB makes sense, or at least there’s an argument for that that is logical. But play calling this year was a mystery that is hard to even hypothesize about.
However, we could have easily been 2-10 or even 1-11, for what that’s worth. We could have almost as easily been 9-3. Nothing went our way. Nothing. And we created a lot of our own misery, for certain. But even with the bad play calling, if we catch just half of the dropped passes we had this year, we win 2 or 3 more games, no doubt.
For some perspective…..go deep into the ’09 season, and do the same honest assessment of that year, game-by-game. We could have just as easily been 6-6 or 5-7. We were lucky or very lucky to win UNI (you don’t block two FGs in a row in practice in 7th grade – ever!), PSU, Arkansas St, Mich, MSU and Indiana that year. And Minnesota wasn’t a walkover. A play or two here and there, and the AZ and WI games were a loss. Now we’re at 3-9 with bad breaks, dropped or tipped passes, blah blah. I don’t find it hard to see how 3-9 could have been reality in ’09. But we were 11-2. Amazing.
Now to 2002….The ’02 season would have been a totally different 8-4 had we not pulled out Miami(Ohio), PSU and Purdue. And had we lost those 3, who knows how the rest of the year would have played out, even with the talent we had on that team. How quickly we forget what led to those so-called glory seasons.
And when we talk about how next year will be a disaster because we won’t have a QB who’s played a down, we forget that Brad Banks hadn’t played a down of DI ball until that Akron game in August of ’02 (ok, he might have played a few downs in ’01, but not many. And we have a JC guy ready to go, so I’m not comparing Banks to Jake never having played a down of college ball)
I wrote in a reply to another comment here the other day that I’d bet we go 7-5 or 9-3 next year. No one agreed, of course, and they’re probably right. Or not.
But I never know how the Hawks are going to do. That’s part of what makes it so exciting to be a long-time, true Hawk fan. In two very well-thought-out scenarios of my own back in August, I had us down this year going easily 3-9, or fairly easily 8-4, maybe 9-3. With a break or two, 11-1 wasn’t out of the question (we always lose one we shouldn’t lose), IMO.
Obviously I was wrong on both assessments, but the point is obvious. We will always be a fragile team, like 110-115 of the 124 FBS/D1 teams in the country.
Enjoy the winter. Enjoy not having to make the decision about “do I drive to Phoenix, or fly? Do I stay with Aunt Vivian & Uncle Frank in Scottsdale and save $500, or do I take the Hawk-fan hotel and party all night?” Take December off, and relax.
Fran’s BB boys are back and they’re fun to watch. And we’ll all be eagerly awaiting next August once this pain wears off, which it will by mid-next-week.

To all who posted above me;

Dan Gleason-nice point about Ferentz giving 75% of his salary to charity (who gives a large percentage yearly to the UIHC children’s hospital and other charities). Put your money were your mouth is and give 75% of your wages to charity.

Mike Miller-Have you ever competed in sports? I have and continue to do so and there are days/weeks/months/years where things go well and you are lucky; other times it is the opposite. Playing well is easy…no thinking, just doing. Playing poorly is tough…second guess oneself all the time. I look forward to your next press conference.

Mile Williams-I agree…Coach Davis does not appear to be the answer. It is that plain and simple.

Paul Davis-I heard (thru ciber space) that Coach Ferentz is going to hire psychiatrist because of your diagnosis.

Chuck F.-I generally agree with you. Point 1 is by far your strongest; as you work from 2-6 (same as the Hawks Big Ten record) they went downhill, with 6 hitting rock bottom. A truly great comeback on Point 7, I couldn’t agree more.

Delbert Long-I think you are spot on when you make the point about the players and the time and effort they give to the University of Iowa and all fans of the University of Iowa. I like you have missed less than 5 home games since 1966. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nagel-great offence, Laterbeur-will let’s move on, Cummings-a lot of smoke, no fire, Fry-nothing needs to be said, had many great years and a few down yours, and Ferentz-very similar to Fry’s record and only time will tell. You are correct the fans/givers will determine what history is in store for us.

Steve Davis-you receive a 15 yard penalty for excessive use of “horrible”. If this was hockey, a game misconduct would be in order
.
Bob Cronin-I think you missed your calling; you should be a scout, a Vegas point spread predictor, or a TV sports talking head.

Lonhawk-I know your upset…but know your facts, KOK resigned in late January/early February, right after signing day.

Brad Bungum-Ah…the voice of reason and thought. Yes, there is reason for much disappointment of this year’s team (by the way, year history lesson is exact proof of what happens in competitive sports…the luck/skill can go your way and it can easily go against you) but as you state so well, there is reason for optimism for the future.

Last thought; I was wondering how many of you made it to Kinnick yesterday. I’m a season ticket holder and I was there…and as I heard/understand, tickets were very reasonably priced. I would like to hear if you made it or not.

Tom C:

Thanks for the comment. I have and do compete athletically and am fully aware of the ups and downs. No, I didn’t attend yesterday’s game – good for you if you did. While there’s nothing like attending a Hawkeye game at Kinnick, it’s not quite what it used to be either; you also don’t need to attend all games in order to qualify as a fan.

Now, all that pertains to the current state of the Iowa football program how? Answer: it doesn’t directly, but when you don’t have much actual relevant information in to rebut with, you need to sprinkle in some irrelevant with healthy sides of judgmental. Throw in some flowery Ferentzian version of “oh well, that’s just sports” and waa-laa = you have just accepted the continued mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

Now that the omnipotent one has spoken please close these comments! You have been told now obey!!!

Tom C and other apologists:

We’re 3 years removed from a BCS game – and yet so many seem quite satisfied with a “moral victory” over a ranked team, fans and on the surface the team itself too. How sad. How sad that people are willing to explain away the “ok-ness” of just being competitive; it sounds like the same types of things that losing programs say and do when they lose game after game by making the same mistakes (from coaching errors down to player miscues and “lack of execution”). Just sad.

(Go ahead, throw “flag” on me Tom – that’s all you can do to rebut since facts aren’t on your side.)

Lots of comments on this sad season; most are insightful, appropriate, and factual. Trying to take a ‘big picture’view, this program is adrift in heavy seas, and there is no real reason to expect any improvement. From coaching personnel, to coaching effectiveness, there was no improvement from start to finish… none. That can only come from a poor staff poorly coordinated and motivated. There isn’t a Hawk fan on the planet right now who is “comfortabel with everything” and it takes a profoundly stubborn hide bound person to make that statement… how many consective sell outs did we have? Untill yesterday??

Mr. Miller;
No flags for you. You show/display to much passion for our team. I choose to have a much different passion for our team and sports in general than you and it is ok that we are different. I believe it makes for healthly discussion that there are differences in the world.

By the way, I was at the game and have cold fingers and toes still today. Had fun seeing my children and friends, and even the game at some level.

Tom C,
Keep your snark to yourself, unless you can show me some wins… which you can’t. If you think anything here is in any way acceptable, you need the couch right after Kirk Ferentz gets off.

Tom C, Thanks for your expert advice. I competed through my Soph year in College, I’m over 60 now and still work out when the RH doesn’t kick in. As for your remarks other than the thanks I already gave you I just want to know Are you satisfied with the 4-8 season that our 14 year, 5th highest paid coach in America gave us? Well I am not.

I think we could of won that game yesterday. But the play calling was horrible….I point the finger at the OC. But I was very proud at the way team played!! Defense played there hearts out and the offense did better than they have all year. I think it was the play calling that cost us that game. When it is 3rd and 4 and you ran the previous 2 plays you DON’T call a running play when they have been shutting you down. It was horrible play calling! I think we will be better next year (will Davis be here….not sure) am I for firing him…not yet. I think we give him one more year (I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt). But I think the play calling needs a BIG change.

WOW what a newspaper they only allow comments to an article when they know everyone will bash the coach.

Mike
Im not new I think it is great that Mike,Marc and Scott allow coments. What I dont understand is why the Gazette no longer allows them on other articles, I think it is very important to hear what the public thinks as long as it is kept clean.