What keeps Beth Goetz up at night? The thought of Kirk Ferentz not leading the Iowa football program

[ChicagoHawk2020]

It wasn't as OC that we saw any glaring weakness. It was as QB Coach, and QB recruiting, that we saw his biggest fail.

The score-points-or-get-fired didn't come until 2022. Yes, 2021 was also a low-scoring season, but 2017-2020 seasons saw adequate scoring offense.

Citing a coach from ND and a coach from Texas vs coaches from Iowa, WVU and Wazzu. By God, I'm shocked ND and TX came out on top. Utterly shocked.

The score points or get fired contract was in 2023

 

[Hendy Hawk]

The only way Beth fires KF is if he goes 1-11 or worse.

She would give him 1-2 more years to turn the program around.

 

[Kceasthawk@77]

Hopefully, this years recruiting (dead last in the Big Ten) is only because of numbers, but I suspect it has to do with Kirk's age. Getting ahead of that with an extension (hopefully with no buyout) will calm those worries.

MSU was dead last I believe......

 

[Kceasthawk@77]

I decided to look up winning percentages of successful coaches. The criterion I used is ten years at a single power conference or equivalent school. I found 40 that matched.
4 had winning percentages>85%. Frank Leahy is the highest at .888
16 had percentages of at least .800
32 are at or above .750
The lowest four on the list are:
Ferentz .620
Don Nehlen .616
Hayden .616
Mike Price Washington St .513
The most interesting is Dana Bible. He was .791 at Texas A&M and .670 at Texas

Interesting, but I assume some of those guys coached along time ago in a different era. Its something I even bring up with Fry because most the teams in the B1G in the70-80's were just plain bad.

 

[Grayhair1981]

Interesting, but I assume some of those guys coached along time ago in a different era. Its something I even bring up with Fry because most the teams in the B1G in the70-80's were just plain bad.

The topic was whether a coach at a major program would survive 27 years at .620. Impossible to say definitively but it is definitely an anomaly.

 

[HawksRule73]

The topic was whether a coach at a major program would survive 27 years at .620. Impossible to say definitively but it is definitely an anomaly.

I'm guessing if KF coached at a "major" program (i.e. ND, OSU, Mich, Texas, etc), his win % would be vastly higher than .620. The fact that he's won at a higher than 60% clip at Iowa for 27 years and counting is pretty amazing, honestly. Especially given the overall strength of the conference during his time.

 

[silasstarr]

MSU was dead last I believe......

247 has Iowa last, but let's just say neither class is being talked about.

 

[Grayhair1981]

I'm guessing if KF coached at a "major" program (i.e. ND, OSU, Mich, Texas, etc), his win % would be vastly higher than .620. The fact that he's won at a higher than 60% clip at Iowa for 27 years and counting is pretty amazing, honestly. Especially given the overall strength of the conference during his time.

True but very few coaches last much more than 10-15 years at those schools. Lloyd Carr got fired after 13 years at Michigan. .753 and won 10 or more game 6 of those seasons and shared the Natty in 1997. Lost to App State and that was it. A coach in his 14th year at one of those schools wouldn't survive a 4-8 season.
I am not saying KF should ever have been fired. The real metric is butts in seats and Kinnick is full nearly every game. The issue again is how long he would have lasted at a school with loftier expectations. Campbell is going to find that out at PSU

 

[rchawk]

True but very few coaches last much more than 10-15 years at those schools. Lloyd Carr got fired after 13 years at Michigan. .753 and won 10 or more game 6 of those seasons and shared the Natty in 1997. Lost to App State and that was it. A coach in his 14th year at one of those schools wouldn't survive a 4-8 season.

I thought Lloyd Carr retired, wasn't fired. I could be wrong though.

 

[Grayhair1981]

I thought Lloyd Carr retired, wasn't fired. I could be wrong though.

I believe it was a retire or we will retire you situation

 

[Hawkangler]

There has been rumors of Kirk Ferentz potentially wanting one more contract before he calls it a career.

Beth Goetz, today, regarding that potential extension:

"All these crazy things going on in college athletics, and people ask about what keeps you up at night, and you think it might be the next Senate bill or the next version of a jersey patch, but I’ll tell you what, it’s him not leading our program. We’re just really grateful that he’s excited to continue doing what he’s doing and having a lot of fun doing it at a really high level."

I get it, replacing a head football coach is tough. Football is the revenue cow.

If I was in her shoes my list other than Kirk retiring:

- Completing funding for carver upgrades

- Locking up several major corporate donors

- Lobby to get Kirk's wins back, that was total BS

- Iowa softball use to be really good, a change is needed. We have never had a decent volleyball program, I don't follow but why?

- Be thinking about Tom Brands replacement, will happen sooner than later

 

[Roncuba65]

I believe it was a retire or we will retire you situation

It was.

 

[hawkeyebob1962]

The score points or get fired contract was in 2023

It was for the 2023 season, but was because of what happened in 2022. Had the 2022 team made the B1GCG, as the 2021 team did, there would have been no clause. Remember, the 2022 team blew the Nebraska game, otherwise, they are also in the B1GCG.

 

[Franisdaman]

It wasn't as OC that we saw any glaring weakness. It was as QB Coach, and QB recruiting, that we saw his biggest fail.

BF had no business being an offensive coordinator. IOWA's offense was a national joke during his time as OC.

During the 2023 season, we all knew AT THE TIME that we had no chance at beating a team with a pulse. In our 4 losses in 2023, we were outscored 104-10. And we SHOULD HAVE NEVER lost to Minnesota at home that season but our offense (with a lot of help from the defense) could only put up 10 points in that game.

In our 2 post covid B1G Championship game appearances with BF as our OC, we were outscored 68-3.

Here are the BAD LOSSES (when we couldn’t put up more than 20 points) over the final 3 years of the Brian Ferentz era and the 1st year of the Tim Lester "had to clean up a huge mess" era:

2021 Season (BF as OC):
.7-24 vs Purdue (Oct 16)
.7-27 at Wisconsin (Oct 30)
.3-42 vs Michigan (B1G Championship, Dec 4)
17-20 vs Kentucky (Citrus Bowl, Jan 1)

2022 Season (BF as OC):
......7-10 vs Clown U (Sep 10)
14-27 vs Michigan (Oct 1)
...... 6-9 at Illinois (Oct 8)
10-54 at Ohio St (Oct 22)
17-24 vs Nebraska (Nov 25)

2023 Season (BF as OC):
......0-31 at Penn St (Sep 23)
10-12 vs Minnesota (Oct 21)
......0-26 vs Michigan (B1G Championship, Dec 2)
......0-35 vs Tennessee (Citrus Bowl, Jan 1)
................................
10-104
==========

2024 Season (Lester’s 1st Year as OC):
19-20 vs Clown U (Sep 7)
......7-35 at Ohio State (Oct 5)
20-32 at Mich State (Oct 19)
17-20 at UCLA (Nov 23)

 

[Franisdaman]

The issue again is how long he would have lasted at a school with loftier expectations. Campbell is going to find that out at PSU

Penn State better go at least 10-2 with this upcoming cupcake schedule.

Road games against Michigan & Washington are their toughest games, imo. Their 3rd toughest game, imo, is USC at home.

They should start the season 6-0 before they head to Ann Arbor.

Penn State's 2026 Schedule

Nonconference games: vs Marshall; at Temple; vs Buffalo.

Conference games:
vs Wisconsin
at Northwestern
vs USC
at Michigan
vs Purdue
at Washington
vs Minnesota
vs Rutgers
at Maryland

 

[Franisdaman]

I get it, replacing a head football coach is tough. Football is the revenue cow.

If I was in her shoes my list other than Kirk retiring:

- Completing funding for carver upgrades

- Locking up several major corporate donors

- Lobby to get Kirk's wins back, that was total BS

- Iowa softball use to be really good, a change is needed. We have never had a decent volleyball program, I don't follow but why?

- Be thinking about Tom Brands replacement, will happen sooner than later

The UI should sue to get Kirk's 4 wins back, imo. The NCAA seems to always lose in court.

 

[hawkeyebob1962]

BF had no business being an offensive coordinator. IOWA's offense was a national joke during his time as OC.

During the 2023 season, we all knew AT THE TIME that we had no chance at beating a team with a pulse. In our 4 losses in 2023, we were outscored 104-10. And we SHOULD HAVE NEVER lost to Minnesota at home that season but our offense (with a lot of help from the defense) could only put up 10 points in that game.

In our 2 post covid B1G Championship game appearances with BF as our OC, we were outscored 68-3.

Here are the BAD LOSSES (when we couldn’t put up more than 20 points) over the final 3 years of the Brian Ferentz era and the 1st year of the Tim Lester "had to clean up a huge mess" era:

2021 Season (BF as OC):
.7-24 vs Purdue (Oct 16)
.7-27 at Wisconsin (Oct 30)
.3-42 vs Michigan (B1G Championship, Dec 4)
17-20 vs Kentucky (Citrus Bowl, Jan 1)

2022 Season (BF as OC):
......7-10 vs Clown U (Sep 10)
14-27 vs Michigan (Oct 1)
...... 6-9 at Illinois (Oct 8)
10-54 at Ohio St (Oct 22)
17-24 vs Nebraska (Nov 25)

2023 Season (BF as OC):
......0-31 at Penn St (Sep 23)
10-12 vs Minnesota (Oct 21)
......0-26 vs Michigan (B1G Championship, Dec 2)
......0-35 vs Tennessee (Citrus Bowl, Jan 1)
................................
10-104
==========

2024 Season (Lester’s 1st Year as OC):
19-20 vs Clown U (Sep 7)
......7-35 at Ohio State (Oct 5)
20-32 at Mich State (Oct 19)
17-20 at UCLA (Nov 23)

You completely omit 2017-2020...

 

[rchawk]

Penn State better go at least 10-2 with this upcoming cupcake schedule.

Road games against Michigan & Washington are their toughest games, imo. Their 3rd toughest game, imo, is USC at home.

They should start the season 6-0 before they head to Ann Arbor.

Penn State's 2026 Schedule

Nonconference games: vs Marshall; at Temple; vs Buffalo.

Conference games:
vs Wisconsin
at Northwestern
vs USC
at Michigan
vs Purdue
at Washington
vs Minnesota
vs Rutgers
at Maryland

It would be tough for them to finish the regular season worse than 9-3.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

Beth stays up at night waiting for Catherbert Humperdunk to get fired so she can rule the WNBA. just waiting and waiting.

 

[Grayhair1981]

You completely omit 2017-2020...

Excluding the asterisk season of 2020
2017-2019
Averaged 66th in scoring 28.4 ppg
Averaged 104th in yardage 359 yds per game
Not great but much better than 21-23

 

[ottumwan in tx]

Excluding the asterisk season of 2020
2017-2019
Averaged 66th in scoring 28.4 ppg
Averaged 104th in yardage 359 yds per game
Not great but much better than 21-23

was this with stanley as QB?

 

[Grayhair1981]

was this with stanley as QB?

Yes. Petras took over in 20