OT: Ferentz to dissolve committee on diversity
Interesting story coming out of Iowa. The committee that was formed in the face of findings that the football program and specifically the strength coach Chris Doyle used racial slurs and discriminated against Black players is being dissolved by Kirk Ferentz under some questionable circumstances. At least that's the way it appears. This is just days after he signed a new contract.
https://www.thegazette.com/hawkeye-football/kirk-ferentz-abruptly-dissolves-iowa-football-diversity-advisory-committee/
January 16th, 2022 at 11:42 PM ^
Obviously it’s because it worked so fast and everything is totally fine now.
bad look. The former player who led it said Ferenz should have been let go for his treatment of Black players and expressed disappointment at the dissolution because it was supposed to be a long-term Avenue for making those players welcome, safe, and respected.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
Ferenz said, according to the article, that he wants to restructure the committee. That likely includes getting rid of the volunteers that want him fired.
January 17th, 2022 at 5:16 PM ^
I was reading on some Iowa fan boards (so likely biased) is that the committee instituted some positive changes backed by Ferentz.
The committee then requested/demanded more changes during the season that Kirk Ferentz believed could wait until after the season was completed. Supposedly things like coaches undergoing questionnaires and screenings.
Unhappy with Ferentz postponing things until the season was finished, they recommended his removal was head coach… Ferentz instead was extended and then he dissolves the committee.
January 16th, 2022 at 11:52 PM ^
Total dictatorial move. He signed his contract and now he's going after everyone that opposed him. Next up, the labor unions, communists, and offensive coordinators that believe in scoring points.
After that, he'll declare himself Head Coach for Life. Everyone must then refer to him by the monicker "Lord of all Beasts of the Earth and Ears of Corn in the Field, and Conquerer of the Buckeye Empire in America in General and Iowa in Particular".
Seriously though, total dick move.
January 17th, 2022 at 1:48 AM ^
That timeline is off:
"three days after the committee was disbanded, UI Athletics announced Ferentz signed a contract extension through the 2029 season."
January 17th, 2022 at 3:10 AM ^
The question isn't whether their PR department announced this chronologically, rather if the entire committee was just an empty PR announcement from the beginning.
January 17th, 2022 at 8:50 AM ^
Sure you're not describing Fauci?....."science" version, of course. After this past year under the new "ruling class", we've become quite familiar with "total dictatorial moves". Apparently, they just don't bother you as much.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:00 AM ^
go away
January 17th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Tell me you're a crybaby about wearing a mask without telling me you're a crybaby about wearing a mask
January 17th, 2022 at 9:19 AM ^
Sorry, couldn't hear you from underneath those 5 useless masks and your NASA approved space helmet.....give your balls a tug and start living your life....pussy.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Didn't know the stereotypical right-wing alpha fantasizes of their opponents tugging on their own balls. Fascinating and probably a lot sociologists could unpack there
January 17th, 2022 at 5:17 PM ^
I have a lot of favorite parts about Child Beater* up there, but definitely the way he ended his reply with a pejorative is proof positive that he was definitely totally and completely unbothered by what I said. Definitely disproved my point that he's a big weepy baby
*"Child Beater" of course referring to his username, which I assume is a reference to kid puncher Woody Hayes.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:03 AM ^
Sounds like you're a little unsure of your woody, blue.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
This guy Rand Pauls.
January 17th, 2022 at 11:18 AM ^
So sad that your think your masculinity is tied to not wearing a mask. What's an old-fashioned word for that: oh yeah, you're a pussy. And a shitty neighbor. But if you post your scientific credentials, perhaps I can be persuaded.
January 17th, 2022 at 8:33 PM ^
Yo, friends--this is a troubled person. Let's ignore his posts and hope that he finds help.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
Quite the posting history there Woody. Think you may be more qualified to talk about dicktatorial behavior than dictatorial behavior. And your past posting history certainly doesn’t seem to suggest you have much of a grip on science either.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
Just need to check-in with my favorite A2 site to get a well rounded "education". Right from A2 to DC, you never really had a chance, did you? You've heard one voice your whole life, but that won't keep you from posing as the most "worldly" and "well-versed" douche the elitist world has ever known!
January 17th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Why come here if it is such a miserable place for you? When your best arguments seem to involve words like “douche” it doesn’t seem like it is to try to argue any of your viewpoints on their actual merits.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:52 AM ^
Sorry, just being "dicktatorial", I guess.
January 17th, 2022 at 11:09 AM ^
The first thing we agree on.
January 17th, 2022 at 11:22 AM ^
Mods - can we get rid of this asshole? (referring to WoodyBlue if that wasn't abundantly clear).
I'm all for opposing viewpoints when presented maturely/respectfully. Clearly not the case here.
January 17th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
'WoodyBlue' is gone, a note was posted earlier today in the mod sticky referring to his posts. Unfortunately, nobody posted there about him weeks ago---he's been sporadically posting bannable nonsense for awhile now.
January 17th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
WolvinLA beat me to it. Thanks to both of you.
January 17th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
How worldly are you? Sounds like you’re the one who’s been brainwashed by “one voice”
January 17th, 2022 at 10:05 AM ^
Yeesh
January 17th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
I hope they're describing future Seth for banning you for this shitpost.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
I'm assuming you're okay with "dictatorial" rules regarding women's rights.
January 17th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
I was making a joke about a football coach (I even ended my comment with "seriously though..."). How the hell do you turn this into a political argument about Fauci and the new "ruling class"?
January 17th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
Sir, this is a Wendys
January 17th, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
Fuck you and your political BS! Logged in to neg bomb you.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:30 AM ^
Nice! Well played. Thanks for the laugh. Now imma need you to step away from Animal Farm and the Manifesto for a bit Buddy. LOL
January 17th, 2022 at 11:25 AM ^
Animal Farm was good, but Darkness at Noon was much better.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:57 AM ^
I’m pretty sure the title he wants is “He Who Walks Behind the Rows”.
January 16th, 2022 at 11:58 PM ^
Pretty perplexing move here from Kirk Ferentz. At best, a pretty tone deaf PR gaffe; sloppily disbanding a University backed committee dedicated to making sure his players and staff members do not feel discriminated against because their agenda had been accomplished, but all the anecdotes suggest Ferentz just doesn't seem to care whether or not players and staff are subjected to racism from within the program. A leader that actually cares about his people and his players would absolutely take that initiative seriously.
A very poor reflection, made very public, about the type of character and integrity Kirk Ferentz has. If I had a son that was considering a commitment to the Iowa football program I would have some pretty pointed questions for the Iowa staff about those circumstances before I would be comfortable sending my kid there. I would imagine there are a lot of parents out there that feel the same way.
January 17th, 2022 at 2:03 AM ^
Gee, I thought nearly killing a couple kids in the rhabdo incident was enough to keep a kid away from Ferentz.
January 17th, 2022 at 8:34 AM ^
Kirk is king of Iowa football - negative incidents are just things to work through until he can hand the job off to his son one day.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
Here’s the meat and potatoes of the article:
Ferentz’s decision to dissolve the group came after a contentious meeting Oct. 18 and after committee chair David Porter, former Hawkeye offensive lineman, suggested to the group in a chain of text message Jan. 2 that it’s time to “bring in a new head football coach, football staff, and athletic director.”
In the chain of messages, Porter said Ferentz is “loyal to a fault” and will “fall on the sword for his son and his staff because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. I disagree.”
“The only way I see to save his legacy, protect the program, help those kids, and continue to move forward at the same time is for Kirk to retire,” he wrote.
****
Putting aside the optics of the situation, if the committee chair has concluded the only way to move forward is without Ferentz and that’s not going to happen, as a total outsider I don’t see what’s going to be productive about any future meetings. This probably isn’t overly popular to say but I don’t really see what’s “perplexing” about it.
I agree this will probably be a tone deaf move, but I would be willing to bet a good amount of us have been involved in a similar situation like this at work one time or another. For example, my former company setup a group of 15ish people to consult with an outside vendor about what was good and bad with the company. This meeting quickly turned into a bitch fest by the three loud mouths of the group about things that had a 0.0% chance of getting changed. Do you think we ever met again?
I guess my point is when a committee or group is formed for a narrow scoped, specific idea, and concludes the best path forward is the nuclear option and that won’t happen, I’m not entirely sure what purpose it serves anymore. Still tone deaf? Yes. Just my two cents.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
I don't think it's tone deaf at all. This is really an issue about how the committee was formed and how it functions and who should be in power. You basically have two guys, one implicating the other, and the one implicated is in the position of disbanding the group. It's a faulty structure. We don't know if other members of the group agree with David Porter; he may have an axe to grind with Ferentz. But by the same token, who's to say he's wrong about Ferentz, and should Ferentz be the one deciding that?
January 17th, 2022 at 9:58 AM ^
That I agree with 100%. It seems like cooler heads in the AD’s or president’s office should have prevailed and sat Ferentz and Porter down and explained to them both neither were going to get what they wanted (Ferentz fired versus no committee) but that they still needed each other so they would be obligated to find a way to work together and move the issues at hand forward. That would make a good follow-up article as to why that didn’t happen.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
Your experience adds context (unlike the spewings of the Fauci hater above), and contributes to the conversation.
However, I'd add two qualifications:
1. That you had a bad experience with a committee aimed at assessing the workplace dynamic doesn't mean that such committees are bad. Instead it sounds as if yours wasn't set up or run well.
2. Your situation seems to be private enterprise, which has a totally different mandate and mission than a public institution. Ferentz is dictating a major arm of the University of Iowa.
January 17th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
You raise some good points, but I think that the governance of this committee is clearly screwed up when the head coach can just decide unilaterally that he can disband the committee. The irony here is deep in that this was a committee focused on diversity and inclusion.
The other context is that the committee had a mandate, the committee head tried to push forward with the agenda, but apparently met with resistance. Case in point was the "contentious" October meeting. Apparently, Ferentz wanted to "punt" (literally his words) on the meeting until December b/c it was scheduled during the October bye week, but Porter didn't want to push it back. He asked them to prepare responses to one question and half of them, including Ferentz, didn't bother.
I think the stark contrast to this leadership style is with Harbaugh, who goes out of his way to support his players and player-led initiatives, taking time out of his busy schedule to do so. To Ferentz, this comes off as a hassle that is not worth spending a lot of time on, so he's throwing in his token participation. Now that it's far enough away from the original events which precipitated the formation of the committee, he can safely get rid of it and state that he'll think about something to take its place without actually making any promises or substantive statements about why.
tl;dr
Ferentz doesn't like Porter, he doesn't think there is a problem, nothing substantive will probably come of this.
January 17th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
I completely agree with this take. I used to think Ferentz was a good dude. Overly conservative from an offensive standpoint, but a good dude who got the most out of his talent. This is just the latest example of why I think I was wrong about the good dude part.
January 17th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Well put. The race issues were definitely a problem and in any other program's culture/scenario, Kirk would be on thin ice rather than signing a bonkers new contract. But, Barta and the rest of the state for the most part, have an abiding fondness for him and the Hawks made the championship game, so everything's OK now.
The chief culprit in the racism scandal was Doyle but he's gone now (and for the low, low price of only $1.1M!). Brian was also featured in the scandal but that won't get him fired. Kirk doesn't strike me as being outwardly racist, but I think that he, like a lot of people, just doesn't really understand it. And because it doesn't affect him directly, he's just sort of indifferent to it. And to some extent, his program can get away with not heavily recruiting black players and creating a positive atmosphere for them. It's all pretty depressing and backwards. I'm surprised the university let this happen.
January 17th, 2022 at 2:04 AM ^
I'll pay $10 to anyone who can find a clip of Arte Johnson crashing his tricycle.
January 17th, 2022 at 5:52 AM ^
i like crisp new $1 bills. makes me feel like a millionaire when i flash all that cash, don't you know?
January 17th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
Clip. With audio.