Comments on: Bowl picture will remain unclear

By: DancingBull

DancingBull — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:32:34 +0000

You really need to consider the environment of Iowa football. You certainly can’t win with the talent the state produces, and unlike Minnesota, Nebraska, and Missouri, you have to compete with another BCS program in the state.

Iowa and Ferentz produce winning seasons (usually)while competing for players in far away areas. If Ferentz coached at Michigan or OSU he certainly would not be paid $3 million plus; those schools don’t need to pay that. aaa has it right,the football tradition here is still shaky, it could easily revert to clone quality football. If you fired Ferentz what do you do; pay a big name the $3 million and expect national championships? Or pay half of that and see what you get?

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By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:19:40 +0000

P.S.

In the 60s & 70s, those coaches that were going 0-11 were not amongst the highest paid in their field.

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By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:17:57 +0000

You’re being a bit presumptuous. Not all of us have always been KF’s number one fan. When looking beyond the glitter of an 11-2 record we see that in each of those seasons the team could have easily been 7-5. KF himself admits as much. That’s where the fustration lies, in the question, Why does every season have to rely on luck?

It’s important to also note that KF would not be under this much scrutiny if the team didn’t consistantly lay an egg against the conference bottom feeders. Close losses to Wisconsin and OSU wouldn’t sting as bad if we weren’t losing or nearly losing to Mich, Indiana and NU. Especially after having them down by two or three scores (referring to UM & NU) then letting them back in the game.

There has to be a reason why this team underperforms against lesser opponents. Since the talent changes almost on a yearly basis but the results are the same then we’re forced to look at the one common denominator.

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By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:02:55 +0000

Exactly.

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By: aaahawki

aaahawki — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:42:22 +0000

First, I am a Hawkeye through and through. If my grandfather could intently listen to every game in the sixties and seventies when the Hawks were 0-11 or 10-1 then I believe I can handle 7-5 and enjoy the excitment.

Second, When thing are good, and I refer to the 2009 season, then KF is worth every penny. When disappointment sets in then the anti salary sentiment sets in.

I won’t be critical of the sentiment, but rather say if your not old enough to remember when then look over the past records, because some of us do remember when.

Now to side with most of your sentiment I will say this to KF. There once was a great coach who had a saying about playing football. As a coach you might want to think about this. “If it itches we are are going to scratch!”

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By: cmac04o

cmac04o — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:24:31 +0000

all of those coaches have to perform with expectations that are always as high as ours were this year. i don’t really enjoy talking like this, but this team is making a habit of folding completely under expectations and it kinda ruins our “we get no respect” fun loving mantra. in fact, it makes us look like fools. so i take it a little bit personally because i don’t make 3 million dollars a year. if they can fix it, they need to. i’m not saying that a 4-3 defense is all wrong, we need to blitz on every play or that we need a spread with a qb who can run or anything like that. but we need to do what needs to be done to win. not execute a game plan just like they do in practice with complete indifference to weather it scores points or not.

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By: mthawkeye

mthawkeye — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:09:44 +0000

1. Ferentz and O’Keefe don’t know how to manage the clock. They don’t know when to spike the ball and when to call time outs. They also don’t know when to run the ball to take time off the clock.
2. The overall play calling is inconsistent and too conservative. They used up all their time outs in the first half of the M.State game and ran up the score like they should. But they ran of the field with 20sec and two time outs left in the first half against O.State. They did the same thing against O.State last year with 40+sec left on the clock. What kind of message are you sending to your offense? You have to show that you have confidence in your players or they are not going to have confidence in you! Oh BTW would it hurt call a blitz every once in a while?
3. I think people are tired of the same old, same old. The year is not 1920. Football has changed. People coach and play to win. If you don’t like the “gimmick plays” then do something about it. “Gimmick plays” are the reason why Wiscy, M. and O. State are champs and you are not! Quit claiming that every game in the big ten is always going to be a close one. Wisconsin has proved it to be otherwise and that’s why they are the best team in the big ten and one of the best in the nation. You have to score big to win big! And you have to take risks.

4. If you don’t fix 1.2. and 3. and change your mentality your are never going to be able to motivate your players to stay focused on winning every game. No wonder Bulaga and Spievey didn’t want to stay for another year last year. They knew that they got lucky last year and that the success wasn’t going to repeat again this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if McNutt and Sash leave for the NFL.

5. Stanzi’s agenda this season was to impress the NFL scouts and to improve his numbers. I don’t blame him.

6. As far as recruiting goes, Iowa has 4 ROOKIES STARTING in the NFL, Bulaga, Meoaki, Angerer, and Spievey!

This is my constructive criticism. We all love our Hawkeyes and We want them to do good. We pay our coach $3.7 mil a year. We have the right as fans to criticize. I think the “country club” mentality of our coaches needs to change. The Iowa Hawkeyes football team was always known for its tough defense not their polo skills. MT

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By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:51:00 +0000

12 seasons
5 seasons with four losses or less
7 seasons with five losses or more

Even if you discount the first two as “rebuilding,” KF is just as bad as he is good. The real question is; Is this performance worthy of the $3 million club? The other five coaches in that salary range are Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Bob Stoops and Les Miles. All of whom have won at least one national title.

Some will say yes and I admire your optimism; or lack of reason, whatever it may be but the answer is no, KF does not belong in the club. At least not yet. He is averaging one amazing season every three years which is skewed because he had three of them in a row with a hot mess in between.

Stop blaming the recruiting. We may not get USC talent but do you honestly believe that Boise State and TCU are getting better talent than Iowa? No, you don’t because that’s just ridiculous yet those guys play every game like their head is on fire and their butt is catching.

Every year we put guys in the NFL but we can’t get them to the Rose Bowl? C’mon man. We have the talent, it’s the motivation that’s missing and that’s what coaching is, motivating your players.

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By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:34:32 +0000

Stoops interviewed at the same time as KF. He admitted that the only reason he interviewed with UI is that he “felt obligated” because he’s an alum but had no intention of taking the job if offered. Bob has cut the ties so you might want to scratch him off your wish list.

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By: benhawk

benhawk — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 04:35:41 +0000

I would replace KF with Carl Sagan, but I think he died… I wonder if he laughed at Garrison Keillor…

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