Kirk Ferentz Trivia
This probably doesn't deserve it's own thread, so I kept it short.
Little-known Kirk Ferentz fact: Coach Ferentz's high school football coach was Joe Moore. Yes, the same man whose name adorns the award given to college football's top OL.
The unimaginative Upper St Clair Panthers offense boasted two formations: Power-I Right and Power-I Left. With two TEs and a full-house backfield, the Panthers play sheet included "Blast right," "Blast left," and little else. Rumors that this is the same offense Iowa currently employs have not yet been confirmed.
FWIW, the Panthers rode their bully-ball scheme to back-to-back WPIAL Co-Championships in 1974 and 1975 (just after Ferentz graduated).
November 30th, 2023 at 6:30 PM ^
I thought this was going to be like Chuck Norris trivia and got really excited.
- Kirk Ferentz has actually been dead for 8 years, his staff Weekend at Bernie’s him every game
- Kirk Ferentz is a world class skiier, but has never made the Olympics because he ignores every red flag
- Kirk Ferentz once forgot to tell his entire QB room about an away game, and ended up playing a cardboard cutout of Joe Montana the entire game. Noone noticed
November 30th, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
I'm pretty sure that cardboard cutout is still behind center.
November 30th, 2023 at 6:30 PM ^
"Blast Left" and "Blast Right" is also known as the Taco Bell offense.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:13 PM ^
for me it's Blast Center Extended
November 30th, 2023 at 7:37 PM ^
I like to draw stick figures. But then, I'm very talented.
November 30th, 2023 at 6:35 PM ^
Isnt everything about Ferentz trivial?
November 30th, 2023 at 7:51 PM ^
You got my vote for best comment.
November 30th, 2023 at 6:38 PM ^
Ferentz is proof that an OL coach can be a great HC.
People might disagree with my assessment of Kirk as a coach, but considering Iowa’s inherent weaknesses as a program(location) sustaining what Fry built was no easy task and he has done that.
Ferentz deserves plenty of criticism for the racial issues he allowed to develop a and the offensive play calling. But I think overall he has justified Hayden Fry’s faith in him.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:02 PM ^
More than that--he's actually done better than Fry. It may be boring to most outsiders (and many insiders) but winning at Iowa is as hard as winning at Indiana or Purdue or Minnesota or Kansas or any P5 school that is inherently devoid of a significant recruiting base. The guys that win at these places are truly excellent coaches.
If Ferentz wasn't an excellent coach--"good" isn't good enough--Iowa would be Indiana without the basketball school cover story. He's had his share of bad moments over the years, as most all coaches do, but he's a good guy who has remained loyal and more than extended the Fry era.
College football is (obviously) a completely different game than it was in '79 when Fry was hired or in '98 when Ferentz was hired. He's adapted and this year he's won 10 games without an offense. Not many coaches out there could do that, even with poor competition in the B1G West.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:29 PM ^
If we hired Ferentz after Carr retired he would have beat OSU regularly and won a NC. No one in FBS does more with less. Imagine that guy with real resources.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:03 PM ^
Meh, the B1G West is and has been a dumpster fire for a decade. Wisconsin and then Iowa managed to put out top 15ish programs and basically ran that division.
Because someone can do more with less, generally excelling on one side of the ball due to scheme, does not mean that they can do more with more. By that, i mean, sure Ferentz could have been a really good head coach that when a few B1G titles with UM, but the idea that he would have won a National Title and taken UM to elite status seems far fetched.
There's a huge gap between the perennial top 2-4 programs in the country and the rest.
November 30th, 2023 at 6:40 PM ^
Kirk Ferentz is a Royal Oak, MI native (born there).
He's also left-handed.
Those are two more factoids.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:08 PM ^
Kirk is the longest serving head coach in the Big Ten, having been hired to that job in 1999. He also coached at Iowa as an assistant from 1981-1989 on a staff headed by Hayden Fry that included a of HOF head coaches, Barry Alvarez, Bill Snyder, Dan McCarney and Don Patterson.
He was also head coach of the Maine Black Bears and was sought after by Bill Belichick as his OL coach during his brief tenure as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Nick Saban was also part of that Browns staff. And Ferentz would go on to become OL and assistant head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
He has been named Big Ten coach of the year four times, 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2015.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:09 PM ^
His wife is also a Michigan native.
Also also, when Mary Sue Coleman left UI to become president at Michigan in 2002 and Michigan subsequently went through the fraught search for Lloyd Carr's replacement, Coleman advocated strongly for Kirk Ferentz to be hired.
Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:38 PM ^
....uh all I have is a corn cob, will that do?
November 30th, 2023 at 7:50 PM ^
Yes, that will do as long as it's corn silk in that pipe.
(or ditch weed I guess seeing as we are talking about Iowa)
November 30th, 2023 at 7:02 PM ^
Ferentz had a winning record against Joe Paterno...
... and has a losing record against James Franklin. (?!)
November 30th, 2023 at 7:04 PM ^
I don't believe there are many coaches out there that can win games with Deacon Hill at qb. He may be the worst D1 qb that I've seen. He can't run, but he makes up for it by not being able to throw.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:19 PM ^
Oh he can throw.... one speed.... 150 mph and over everyone's head....
November 30th, 2023 at 8:19 PM ^
This is the day of the collapsing man
There was a pocket
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed from the bench
McNamara, no Hill era,
But fate threw a wrench.
You color me cyan,
You say there's no offense scheme
West crown is real,
I already bought the bling
So useless to ask me why
Throw a duck and say goodbye
I'll make it this time,
I'm ready to cross that goal line,
Learn to read the cover-2
(I) I call just what I see
Run off-tackle all night long
And punt on fourth and three
They've got a name for the winners in the world
(I) I want a name even still
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide,
Call me Deacon Hill!
(Deacon Hill)
My back to the goal
A victim of our morass
This is for me
Time to eschew the pass
Running the ball will never cause Kirk to yell
Run inside, run outside
Run it to hell
I crawl like a freshman
Over Coralville way
Study my playbook
Though I don't think I'll play
I'll rise if'n Cade goes down
As the only game in town
A world of my own
Defense won't leave me alone?!
Learn to read the cover-4
(I) I call just what I see
Run off-tackle all night long
And punt on fourth and three
They've got a name for the winners in the world
(I) I want a name even still
Gus calls Ohio State World Famous,
Call me Deacon Hill!
(Deacon Hill)
This is the night of the collapsing man,
I take one last snap as we approach the end
I cried when I threw it strong
Sue me if it sails too long
This brother is free
I'm not a QB 3!
Learn to read the cover-3
(I) I call just what I see
Run off-tackle all night long
And punt on fourth and three
They've got a name for the winners in the world
(I) I want a name even still
Michigan's home to the Wolverines,
Call me Deacon Hill!
(Deacon Hill)
November 30th, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
Ok, I forgot what comment I was going to make, and I cantaloupe figure out how to embed (because Apple), but here is Steely Dan. Play it and sing along. Iowa style.
November 30th, 2023 at 7:24 PM ^
I could have stolen their signs easy
November 30th, 2023 at 7:26 PM ^
Wow, That is the high school I went to. A number of years later. Of all the things I expected to see on mgoblog, my little suburban high school was not on the list.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:12 PM ^
Go Panthers
November 30th, 2023 at 8:04 PM ^
All I know is that it's been more than a year and I'm STILL giggling about those Cameo videos they got Fran McCaffrey and Bob Stoops to do about Brian Ferentz.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
Thanks for the reminder, those were great!
November 30th, 2023 at 8:36 PM ^
Kirk Ferentz is the only coach to coach a team to more than 4 victories in a season when his team averages less than 250 yards of offense in a game.
As we know, his team did that this year and has 10 wins so far.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^
Think, if it wasn’t for an official’s decision to call a punt returner directing his blocking as a fair catch signal, Iowa would be 11-1.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:46 PM ^
Here's my trivial contribution to this "trivia". In the mid-90s, Kirk Ferentz coached the o-line on the Cleveland Browns. The head coach was Bill Belichick and the defensive coordinator was Nick Saban - an arguable Mount Rushmore of coaches, at least if you're an Iowa fan.
In 1998, Ferentz was the assistant head coach and again the o-line coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Who started in most of the games at quarterback for that team? Our very own favored son, Jim Harbaugh.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:50 PM ^
I believe Ferentz is now third on the list of winningest Big 10 football coaches - in terms of total / career victories.
Amos Alonzo Stagg is first - Wayne Woodrow Hayes is second - Ferentz is third. Glenn E “Bo” Schembechler is fourth. Kirk surpassed Bo earlier this season.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:06 PM ^
Looking a little lower on that list:
- 18) James Franklin: 88 wins
- 19-t) Joe Tiller - 87
- 19-t) Murray Warmath - 87
- 21-t) Bert Beilema: 86
- 21-t) James Joseph Harbaugh: 86 wins
Now that the count to 1,000 is done, we can look forward to Jim catching two current coaches who have an extra season on him (and in Bert's case, 1.5, since his 10 B1G seasons didn't include 2020).
November 30th, 2023 at 9:06 PM ^
Ferentz led his team to 80 punts this year. (Michigan has 36)
November 30th, 2023 at 9:08 PM ^
Great stat
November 30th, 2023 at 9:24 PM ^
I realize this is about Kirk, but - the stat that drew my eye / ear earlier this week was.. In the last three Michigan v OSU games, Michigan has only punted once in the second half. Yes, one second half punt in three games against the Bucks….
Maybe that team should work on stopping Michigan’s offense in the second half.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
I was hoping there would be a Ferentz question here, because I have my answer ready.
That answer is "punt".
November 30th, 2023 at 9:41 PM ^
Iowa City:
kirk Ferentz introduced his new offensive coordinator at today's press conference, and it's none other than his wife, Mary. As Ferentz put it, "Choosing Mary was a no-brainer. She hosts the Ladie's Football Camp every year, and soaks up knowledge about the game from listening to me and Brian. She understands the importance of punting and time of possession. Who better to continue the success that Brian had in that position than the woman who birthed him."
Team captains and leaders were so excited by the news that they were left speechless and so had no comment.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:46 PM ^
Fundamentally, Kirk is an elite coach-in many ways. His players understand the game and their jobs/roles extremely well. His Iowa teams win because his players execute the schemes at a very high level. That's all.