Iowa football: Why Brian Ferentz should be Kirk Ferentz’s successor
By Andrew Wade
The similarities and differences to Kirk are great
Iowa football fans have been off and on frustrated with Kirk Ferentz since he took over. He’s too conservative, too predictable, and more often than not his Hawkeye squads finish right at the back-end of the top-25 with an above-average (but not great) 8-4 or 8-5 record.
When you bring up the argument that the Hawks do more with less when it comes to recruitment and player development, those same naysayers will just throw it out that we should recruit better.
Not to get into a big ordeal about recruiting on a segment arguing for Brian Ferentz as head coach, but the Hawks haven’t had the greatest deal of success when recruiting high-profile guys, and it can’t rely on a tradition-rich, blue-blood program type-of-history like Michigan or Notre Dame.
That’s beside the point though. My point is that Kirk Ferentz brings a lot of great things to the program. His teams are always tough, their smart, and they produce a significant amount of NFL talent. These kids leave the program as adults who are ready to succeed in whatever challenge they face, and most importantly, Kirk does it with integrity. And about every four or five years, the Hawkeyes have an unbelievable season.
Those same principles translate between a father and son that also happen to be the head coach and offensive coordinator.
But don’t be alarmed. Brian isn’t a clone of his father, and that’s a good thing.
He’s aggressive and passionate (not that Kirk isn’t, but Brian shows it), and he is innovative. In the midst of the offensive disaster that evolved over the two-game stretch against Michigan or Penn State, people tend to forget that the Hawks lost not one but two tight ends to the first round of the NFL Draft. Brian has switched his offense on the fly and incorporated ideologies we haven’t seen from the Hawks before like RPOs, spread attacks, and significantly more shotgun plays.
After the Hawks offensive line got rattled two weeks in a row, you could even see a change in the playcalling and the offensive alignment (like putting a tight end in the backfield to assist with blocking). Yes, I would like to see him adjust quicker and manage the clock better, but those things will come in time as he is literally just a third-year offensive coordinator.
With Brian, the Iowa football program would get a high-integrity guy who will show more fire, grit, and aggressiveness throughout the course of a football game. I like the sound of that.