IOWA CITY, Iowa — For those who don’t know him, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz has the coaching reputation of a vanilla ice cream cone. But when Ferentz wants to make a point, he’s got more flavor than his preferred quart of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.
For instance, Ferentz’s 15-minute update on Monday included straightforward thoughts on several topics, then he veered to his next offensive coordinator hire. That’s where Ferentz streamlined his requirements for who replaces his son, Brian, and tossed shade toward a couple of Big Ten competitors.
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“Anybody that comes in here has to have an appreciation,” Ferentz said. “We have won a few games. I know sometimes we all forget about that. We’ve won a few games here. I probably wouldn’t be standing here after 25 years if that weren’t the case. And complimentary football is the best way to win here, in my opinion.”
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With the Big Ten’s worst offensive statistics for at least 25 years, Iowa’s eyesore on that side of the ball belies the Hawkeyes’ level of success. Since 2018, the Hawkeyes have the 10th-most wins among Power 5 programs (53) and third most among Big Ten schools. While the Hawkeyes have benefitted from playing in the Big Ten West, they also were the only West team to beat every team in the East during the Big Ten’s 10-year geographic divisional era. Iowa sported the best cross-divisional record (17-10) of West Division squads.
After averaging 31.2 points per game in 2020, the Hawkeyes have fallen the last three years, including this year’s 16.6 points per game. Season-ending injuries to starting quarterback Cade McNamara, tight ends Luke Lachey and Erick All and all-everything cornerback Cooper DeJean hampered the Hawkeyes’ ability to move the ball. But it never stopped Iowa from playing elite-level defense.
Iowa’s defense allowed 3.99 yards per play, which ranked second among FBS schools. That’s despite facing 896 snaps — 210 more than top-ranked Penn State (3.91 YPP). Ferentz remains committed to a complementary style of football where ball security is paramount and the offense doesn’t negatively impact the defense.
To illustrate his point, Ferentz lobbed a couple of shots unprompted toward one conference rival (indirectly former Nebraska coach Scott Frost) and another toward a Big Ten newcomer (USC).
“I can think of a guy that entered the conference recently that came with widely acclaimed offensive stats and all that,” Ferentz said. “That shows you how those guys get to become well known because of whatever they’re doing throwing, running it. But then you look a little deeper, so what’s this guy’s wins per game? And there’s usually a correlation. People who just throw the ball around, it makes it tougher to win. It makes it tougher to be good on defense.
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“There’s a school (USC) on the West Coast right now that’s going to recommit to defense. You gave up 42 (actually 46) to Tulane last year in a bowl game. So, in a place where Ronnie Lott played, I just find it … now they’re gonna think about defense? Like to me that was the first thing we thought about 25 years ago. That ain’t gonna change.
“The coordinator coming in has got to understand, ‘This is who we are. It’s worked pretty well. We’re looking to improve; we’re always looking to improve. But we’re not going to become a run-and-shoot.’”
In two weeks, No. 17 Iowa (10-3, 7-2 Big Ten) faces No. 21 Tennessee (8-4, 4-4 SEC) in the Citrus Bowl. It’s not finalized if current offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will call plays, but the elder Ferentz said, “he’s intending on it.” As for the current search, Ferentz said he has spoken to three prospective candidates with a fourth scheduled later this week. Although Ferentz could reach an agreement with a candidate at any time, the job is posted through Dec. 28 and cannot officially hire anyone until it is closed.
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Following the Jan. 1 bowl game, Ferentz plans to have face-to-face meetings before deciding. To those who think Ferentz should concentrate first on his coaching hire, he retorts that Iowa has won 11 or more games just three times historically and that matters to him and his players.
“That’s pretty significant,” Ferentz said. “For me not to be focused on that, first and foremost, I’d really be negligent of my duties. And then, we’ve had a couple of balls in the air recruiting our own guys, actually recruiting and being out of the office.”
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No healthy Iowa players are planning to opt out of the Citrus Bowl, which speaks to the program’s investment in winning. Linebacker Jay Higgins and defensive back Sebastian Castro could return for an extra year but remain undecided. Higgins said he plans to decide before leaving for Orlando, while Castro was unsure of his timeline. Unanimous first-team All-American Cooper DeJean, who is a third-year junior but a likely first-round prospect, also remains undecided. Offensive lineman Nick DeJong announced on Saturday he will return for a sixth season. A few others remain open, too.
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OC candidates include Paul Chryst, Joe Philbin
Among the potential offensive coordinator candidates, two names have risen to the top of public speculation: former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst and longtime NFL head coach/offensive coordinator Joe Philbin (now an analyst at Ohio State). Chryst, 58, led eight teams (including Pittsburgh once) against the Hawkeyes and was 5-3. He also served as Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator in several battles against Iowa. Chryst was 67-26 in seven-plus seasons with the Badgers before he was fired after a 2-3 start in 2022. He is now an offensive analyst at Texas.
“I’ve always had tremendous respect for Paul — it’s publicly stated — and he did an outstanding job in Wisconsin,” Ferentz said. “Since we got here 25 years ago, that’s the team we’ve been chasing. At that time they were the champs, and we weren’t. We were obviously not. So that’s the program that we’ve really aspired to try to compete with. And the good news is over the last five years, we’ve got more wins than they do and I’m happy about that. Not that we can’t do better, but I’ve always had great respect for Paul. He’s a really good person.”
Philbin, 62, was Iowa’s offensive line coach from 1999-2002 and twice was the offensive coordinator in Green Bay (2007-2011, 2018). He was the Miami Dolphins’ head coach from 2012-2015, when he went 24-28. He also was interim head coach in Green Bay in 2018, going 2-2. In addition, he coached several positions in the NFL and this year was an analyst at Ohio State.
“I got great respect for Joe,” Ferentz said. “We caught a lot of crap for hiring him out of Harvard; I guess it would have been good if it’s a junior high quiz but not for football. But he did an excellent job here. He was an excellent coach with Green Bay; they set records when he was a coordinator there. Had a cup of coffee as an NFL head coach, which is how that works typically. A great person, great football coach, no question about that.”
Despite a groundswell of frustration from fans wanting the position filled, Ferentz remains confident he will find a quality coach to lead his offense on his timetable.
“Based on what I know as I stand here right now, I feel total confidence that we’ll have a really good person here,” Ferentz said. “I think there’s some strong interest from people that would make a lot of sense that I think will fit what we need. So it’s going to work out just fine — unless the bottom falls out.”
(Photo: Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)
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