OT: Kirk Ferentz

It's sad, really.  They are good fans.

While former middle of the pack teams in remote locations like Kansas State, WVU, Arizona have adapted with good coaching and innovative schemes to be competitive, Iowa plods along, forever trapped in 1985.

It's a self-inflicted problem, but a real one.  If other teams in their situation can break out of it, so can they.  If Ferentz had any soul, he would willingly step aside and let it happen.  But he and his AD are too complacent.  Iowa football is the only gig around and the fans will show up no matter what.

We were on this path with Hoke, but we managed to pull out of the dive . . . in no small part due to fan and alumni outrage.  But it also helped that we had the cash to make it happen.  I don't know what Iowa is doing with all that BTN money. 

They fucked up big time with their buyout for a decent to good coach. It's like Brandon giving Hoke a massive contract extension with one good season and nobody going after him.

They need to call the cheapest NFL franchise up. say they'll pay that franchise $2-3 million a year for 3 years to hire Ferentz as whatever--coordinator, head coach, whatever it takes to pique Ferentz's interest. He may very well be free or they may make a profit off of him at that price. A cheap franchise may want the cash more than hiring the best option, or they may even believe in him.

Then they sign a risky, high upside, low price tag coach (like Stitt) for the next three years and if it doesn't work, in 3 years you get a clean slate and in the present at least they're interesting again, and they're not spending any more money. Of course, he would have to agree to tear up the Iowa contract.

Why would Ferentz take it? Because it's his only chance at an NFL audition and he probably thinks he'd be a good NFL coach.

I've seen plenty of idiotic contracts in sports over the last few decades, but his contract with Iowa is right up at the top. How he and his agent managed to persuade the Iowa administration that it was a sensible contract for them to sign makes me wonder if he has photos of all of them having sex with barnyard animals.

Ferentz must have some Fred Jackson level dirt on somebody in the Iowa athletic department. 

Iowa has gone downhill since their S&C coach got busted over working the team.
Ferentz for years has put OL/DL and the occasional RB into the league.

Leads NCAA in most punts from opponents 35-40 yard line.

I was a student during Lloyds final years and I remember when the rumors were swirling about him stepping down and ferentz name popping up, I was in an English class and on the first day of class kelly ferentz (daughter) was sitting next to me. I thought it was happening.

Forbes.com says they can:

 

Ferentz’s base salary has climbed each year since 2010, hitting $2.07 million for the current season. It stays at that level for the next five years. Ferentz also receives supplemental income in the amount of $1.48 million per year, bringing his total salary up to $3.55 million per season. That means if Ferentz were fired at the end of this year, Iowa would owe him $13.3 million, to be paid in monthly installments between now and 2020. That amounts to roughly $2.7 million per year. 

But one thing that’s sometimes overlooked is the cost savings that would be accrued by terminating Ferentz’s contract. The unpaid salary amounts to some $17.8 million, and if Ferentz is fired before the end of next January, Iowa would also save on $3.15 million in unpaid longevity incentives. That brings the total savings up to $21 million. In other words, even after considering the buyout cost, Iowa would net some $7.7 million in savings, or about $1.5 million per year through 2019.

...Iowa ranks No. 11 in athletic revenue among all college programs.

Eh, I think Ferentz is doing okay at Iowa. I mean, let's be honest - Iowa is rarely/never going to be a powerhouse school. They don't have the tradition (like, say, Nebraska) and they don't have the athletes or draw that other schools do. They have to get by with lesser athletes, and personally, I think Ferentz and his staff do a great job of coaching them up. Ferentz takes unranked tight end recruits and turns them into very good Big Ten linemen, gets them drafted in the first round, etc. 

You might have a hard time naming many schools that have produced linemen more consistently over the last 10 years or so - Robert Gallery, Julian Vandervelde, Marshal Yanda, Eric Steinbach, Bryan Bulaga, Riley Reiff, Brandon Scherff. Throw some other guys into the mix (Bob Sanders, Chad Greenway, Micah Hyde, Adrian Clayborn, Dallas Clark, Tony Moeaki,  Nate Keading, etc.) and you've got quite an impressive resume of getting guys to the next level.

Kirk Ferentz's teams are pretty consistently solid to good. When you fire a guy like that, you run the risk of having the team drop off completely.

It sucks for them because:

1. Bob Stoops seems to be trending down at Oklahoma and maybe he could have a nice fresh start at his alma mater.

2. Bert played for Iowa too and they could always ask him to come home. 

I don't see why Iowa can't be at least Wisconsin lite. The difference between the two is coaching.

He had a couple of really good years. Think it 2-3 years straight being ranked number 8 in the year-end poll. There were a lot of rumoring flying around about leaving for a bigger program or more likely a pro job. He was a very hot coach at the time. Iowa went big and locked him down. Unfortunately for Iowa, they started going downhill after that. Iowa fans that I know are really upset about him and want him gone, but due to his contract he is almost unfirable. A couple years ago they did have a bad run of off the fields issues - I was surprised, even with the contract that he survived, but if another string of off field issues arises, then I think he is gone. If not, I think he has about 2-3 years to right the ship or he is gone.

chip Kelly replaces him?

Will be Mark Stoops. It will be about the time that he should be ready to jump ship at UK and about time that Iowa would hopefully be fed up with Ferentz. Stoops played there in the 80s.