OT: Ferentz Won't Coach Forever, any thoughts on who might coach next?
Since Iowa is still in strong contention to be the 9th game crossover, this may not be as off-topic as some other items, you be the judge.
I'll preface this with acknowledging two things:
1. Kirk Ferentz isn't getting fired
2. Brian Ferentz is the de facto coach in waiting
The big caveat is and why I am posting the question on a fairly slow day is that I have a friend that was particularly dismayed with the Hawkeye loss at Purdue this past weekend. So much so, that he said something I've not heard him say before: "It may be time for Ferentz to go."
The big, crazy, not gonna happen hypothetical: Ferentz does decide to hang it up after a disappointing season, and/or the backlash from the former players alleging racial bias is enough to make Iowa clean house, who does Iowa go after for their next head coach? I have three names that spring to mind, though I don't think any are particularly likely or good options.
1. Bob Stoops ~ proven, successful commodity, has Iowa connections (coached under Hayden Fry with Ferentz), but why would he come out of retirement to take on the job of the 2nd best team in the B1G West?
2. Bret Bielema ~ former Iowa player with plenty of experience coaching and winning in the B1G at Wisconsin. Not sure his tenure at Arkansas did anything to make him an attractive candidate at this point though.
3. Marvin Lewis ~ this one is a bit out of left field, but I think he's available. Ferentz was an NFL line coach before heading to Fry's staff, so that may be the well the program goes back to if needed.
Are there any up and comers that anyone else knows about? Any NFL coaches (position or otherwise) that may be attractive for one reason or another?
October 28th, 2020 at 3:32 PM ^
Adam Gase will probably be available.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:52 PM ^
Top 5
Lane Kiffin
Chuck Long
Les Miles
More Miles
my favorite- Akrum Wadley
October 28th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
Bielema is interesting...he's only 50, and a position coach with the Giants. I suspect Iowa might be hesitant with him because he left a good thing at Wisconsin for greener pastures and I'm suspecting Iowa would want someone who'll stay for another 20 years.
Also if the racial allegations keep popping up, I wouldn't be surprised for them to find an AA head coach, and they have the money to hire nearly anyone away from non-SEC schools. You'd have to consider Charlie Strong....any up and coming MAC coach or an NFL retread.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:39 PM ^
You'd have to consider Charlie Strong
Would they? Outside of his time at Louisville he's been terrible. Took over one of the best USF teams in history led by an upperclassman Flowers after an 11-2 season and rode them to a 10-2 season before going backwards every season after that.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
Nightmare scenario...Josh Gattis.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:49 PM ^
Should I downvote you because this is the current nightmare scenario or should I upvote you because this is the current nightmare scenario?
October 28th, 2020 at 3:50 PM ^
You shut your mouth.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:03 PM ^
Moorehead would have to be ahead of Gattis.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
Dream scenario: Tom Arnold
October 28th, 2020 at 4:34 PM ^
Shut your whore mouth.
October 28th, 2020 at 5:13 PM ^
Hush your mouth Sir
October 28th, 2020 at 3:54 PM ^
I think this is a smart post except for the Charlie Strong part. I don't think Strong (or someone else in a similar spot, like Willie Taggart) are the best options in that scenario. They'd probably go with a hot coordinator in that scenario.
October 28th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
What are Strong and Taggart always grouped together as if they’re the same?
October 28th, 2020 at 7:54 PM ^
They are both relatively young African American head coaches who could be considered viable candidates for the position, despite recent struggles?
Edit: I also don't think anybody spoke as if they're the same. Just in similar positions in their respective careers.
October 29th, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
But maybe Bielema would want to stay for 20 years. It's his alma mater for one. There are examples of guys ending up at lower levels after getting fired and staying there.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
He will try to pull a Dantonio and retire in February so the AD is pressured to hire his son.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:16 PM ^
Mel Tucker is Mark Dantonio’s son?
October 28th, 2020 at 5:15 PM ^
Shhh...it's a secret.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
Not to mention the racial tension that has forced many alumni of the program to call for his firing, which, if it does take place under that pretext, would lead me to believe the younger Ferentz would probably not come next.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:40 PM ^
Lance Leipold. Absolute legend at Wisconsin Whitewater. Recruited similar area. Now has proven himself a formidable head coach in the MAC at Buffalo.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:50 PM ^
I hung out with Leipold's OC at a Buffalo Bison's game two summers ago in a box with an extended group of friends. Really cool guy. Leipold's group seems to know their stuff.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:42 PM ^
I would say proabably his son or Bert will get the job.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
Iowa will hire Mark Diantonio because reasons.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:47 PM ^
Bielama's a pretty good guess honestly and would really cement his unpopularity in Madison. He also is familiar with the type of team you need to build to succeed in that part of the country. Find a bunch of farm boys, beef em up, run the ball and play defense. Unless Urban Meyer or Nick Saban end up in Iowa City, your recruiting is always going to be capped and Bielema has a good track record of working with that
October 28th, 2020 at 3:49 PM ^
Mike Leach
October 28th, 2020 at 3:49 PM ^
Chris Klieman at KSU. He won a bunch of national titles at NDSU and now has KSU playing well. He can obviously find and develop quality players in the upper midwest, an important factor for coaching at Iowa. They play a modern style but dont rely on athleticism. Feels like that would be a great fit at Iowa.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:55 PM ^
Good thinking. Iowa is still a good step up from KSU, too.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:02 PM ^
It's a better school in a better (academic) conference, sure, but from a football standpoint (especially when the Bill Snyder years are considered) I don't see a big difference.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:06 PM ^
Klieman would be a good fit but he has a nice, very long contract with a $5M buyout. The days of schools throwing around the kind of money it would take to sign him are on pause for awhile.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them go after Jim Leonhard.
October 28th, 2020 at 5:10 PM ^
Looking at KSU, they better hurry! I don't think Klieman is long for KSU with what he's been doing at that football backwater...
October 28th, 2020 at 6:33 PM ^
Iowa is a better job but KSU is no football backwater. Bill Snyder won a lot of games there.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:52 PM ^
I got my fingers crossed its Matt Patricia.
However, almost a sure bet it's going to be his kid. Brian has modernized that offense that sorely was behind a couple decades before he took over.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
I'm still not sure how modern it is, though. They still try to get by by scoring as few points as necessary to win and taking 3 downs to get exactly 10 yards, no more. And then if they're outside the opponent's 36 yard line, they punt. It's a little better than it was, but man, it's still not great.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:53 PM ^
Bob Stoops ~ proven, successful commodity, has Iowa connections (coached under Hayden Fry with Ferentz), but why would he come out of retirement to take on the job of the 2nd best team in the B1G West?
I mean, he did come out of retirement to coach an XFL team briefly before the league went bankrupt. So, Iowa isn't that crazy.
October 28th, 2020 at 7:04 PM ^
Bob Stoops isn't coaching college football again, period.
The XFL is a bit different in that it happens in an untraditional time of the year, you don't have to worry about donors/boosters, recruiting, BS NCAA rules, and making sure your players are going to class. In addition, the XFL job that he did was only 2.5 hours from his home in Norman.
Plus his son still plays on OU. He isn't coaching college ball again.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:55 PM ^
I wonder if Rich Rodriguez would be a candidate?
He's a big name and is only 57 years old.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:04 PM ^
Respectfully, I think Iowa would be completely nuts to hire someone with a CV that looks like his since 2007. As well, he'd be a lousy cultural fit.
(If you had a NOTSERIOUS flag in your post I missed it.)
October 28th, 2020 at 5:19 PM ^
RR destroyed Michigan’s reputation for hard nosed defense he could easily do the same at Iowa.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:55 PM ^
Rich Rod will be one of those interesting entries in the history of college football that hard core college FB history fans will know - like Clark Shaughnessy (T formation), Don Faurot (split T) and Emory Bellard (wishbone) he won't have a gaudy coaching record but his influence on the game can't be dismissed.
Almost all college teams use a variation of the "spread" offense and it is a part of most pro offenses. He just can't and won't coach defense. After his time here and in Arizona, no one can miss that point. For someone who probably had to look at a miles of tap on a lot of defenses he didn't seem to have any interest.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:56 PM ^
Ol Bert Bielema will be heading that way
October 28th, 2020 at 4:02 PM ^
The allegations make things tough, because it's hard to say that things have really changed if you don't clean house, and the obvious succession plan would be to have Kirk retire and everything else stay the same. Competitively speaking that's kind of the best option, because a loss to Purdue aside Iowa has gotten everything it has wanted competitively from the Ferentz era. Big wins, major bowl wins, even conference titles. You can't ask for better in their spot.
So elevating Brian wouldn't be a bad idea... if it weren't just retaining the same regime that has caused so much trouble (and that must be held partly responsible if there is a problem).
I think competitively they'd be better served with a partial cleanout, perhaps keeping DC Phil Parker, who I assume can run the cover-2 defense reasonably well even without Kirk there, while bringing in a head coach whose offensive philosophy isn't 20 years out of date. But that might not be enough.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:03 PM ^
Yeah I have a hard time believing the original succession plan will go forward in light of all the racial turmoil Ferentz has presided over. Everything you hear out of Iowa nowadays makes you feel like the situation is inching closer and closer to untenable. It's extremely obvious he has mismanaged a very big part of being a leader of men, and that's a box once opened becomes very difficult to close. Moving to his son as HC was always going to be fraught considering Brian has no real resume, this whole business just makes that seem like a complete nonstarter.
Honestly, I'd hire Bielema. He did well at Wisconsin, he went there, he's got the fuckin giant calf tattoo, and his failures at Arkansas seem to be more due to him underestimating how hard it would be to replicate Big 10 football without Big 10 country HS OL recruits.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:45 PM ^
Ferentz’ reaction to the rhabdo incident was enough to prove he was deficient as a leader of men.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:57 PM ^
Can you imagine Michigan having a coach with an OSU or MSU tattoo? That's basically what Bielema was at UW.
I mean sure, Bo and Mo had OSU ties, but they didn't have Brutus Buckeye on their calf.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:04 PM ^
Chuck Long.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Brian sucks. I really hope it's not him. As an Iowa fan by proxy, I really don't want him and a lot of the other Hawks fans I know also do not like him. The racism scandal was a great opportunity to get rid of him but they didn't. And now they may be stuck with him for 20+ years. The athletic department is also troublingly cozy with the Ferentzes.
Stoops would be nice, he was supposed to be the pick back in the day. If they could avoid Brian and get ten years out of Stoops that would be a success.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:52 PM ^
Is Brian looking to get out of the blogging business?
October 28th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
if they can't get Stoops, maybe their best bet is to promote an FCS coach like Brock Spack or Jeff Choate.
October 28th, 2020 at 4:11 PM ^
off topic--curious where Bo Pellini and Tim Beck end up in a few years. If they are still coordinators at P5 program, really proves that it is "who you know"...
October 28th, 2020 at 4:24 PM ^
I'd be surprised if Brian Ferentz wound up taking over, unless Kirk leaves on a super-high note and Iowa wants to reward him a bit. The problem Iowa has is sometimes your coach covers up some deficiencies; Iowa's recruiting has been *fine* but Kirk's coaching style and consistency probably makes them play a bit above their talent. If you bring in a new guy (I'm think what Minnesota did with Mason) who shakes the system up too much you might see the floor drop out and then it's a decade before you get back to where you were before. Ferentz has had one losing season this millennium, and that's incredibly impressive and (probably) hard to duplicate for anyone else. So if Iowa wants to make a move on, they'll just have to readjusted their expectations for at least the short term.