Kirk Ferentz: Good But Never Great

It's been another very good year for Iowa. Not a great year, as those are few and far between, but a really good year. They lost two close games to start the season before winning six straight and becoming so intimidating that Michigan has faked a Covid outbreak to avoid playing them (that last part is not true in the slightest, but if Ohio State fans can claim it, Iowa fans should be able to be at least as stupid). I'm not going to get into whether this season should have happened, but it did, and it was a nice distraction. There are sports that suffer without fans, but football is not one of them.

But it was still just a good year. It's both comforting and frustrating having Kirk Ferentz as your coach. You always know you're going to get competence, and everything falls into place, something special might happen, but Kirk is set in his ways, and that is why he may have been a very good coach, but he never became a great coach.

The last few years may be the greatest example of this. The biggest issue at Iowa is that you aren't going to have the greatest skill position players so you trudge along with a safe offense that chews up clock and keeps a dominant defense as fresh as possible. It's usually that Iowa doesn't have the weapons, but that hasn't been the case lately.

In 2018, they had two first round tight ends in TJ Hockenson and Noah Fant along with two talented young receivers, and three viable running backs that they could sub in and out for whoever best fit their situation.

In 2019, those talented young receivers grew up as Ihmir-Smith Marsette, Brandon Smith, Tyrone Tracy, and Nico Ragaini were all viable weapons on the outside, and late in the season Sam LaPorta emerged as a dangerous tight end target. This was also the year that Tyler Goodson came in as a true freshman and proved he might be Tyler GoodDAD, because he made opposing defenders look like children (Tyler Greatson is too easy).

Now in 2020, ALL of those guys were still there, and they added Charlie Jones, who never got to play wide receiver but was absolutely dynamite as a punt returner and gave Hawkeye fans plenty to dream on. They literally had too many weapons.

Did Iowa update their offense to take advantage of this incredible glut of talent? Folks, they did not, and that is why they went 6-2 this past year instead of 8-0 with a date against Ohio State where the Buckeyes wouldn't be the overwhelming favorite (OSU would definitely still be favored). 

I know their accomplishments are quite different, but when it comes down to it, Nick Saban and Kirk Ferentz are pretty damn similar as coaches. They love defense, with a defensive line pressuring enough for their secondary to make big plays while the linebackers roam around to clean up any messes. They want to run the ball as much as possible, because it's a point of pride for their lines to beat the hell out of the opposing lines. 

But the difference between the two happened two years apart. In 2011, Iowa had a disappointing season, finishing just 7-6 and ending the season with a bad loss to Oklahoma. Their offensive coordinator left, and they chose to go with Greg Davis, the most uninspired pick possible, but one that Ferentz could control to keep the offense in his image without any flash getting in the way.

Two years later, Alabama had a disappointing 11-2 season (turns out that Alabama and Iowa have slightly different definitions of disappointing), ending the season with a bad loss to Oklahoma. Nick Saban got rid of Doug Nussmeier and brought in Lane Kiffin, and letting Kiffin run the offense that he wanted to run. Saban still had some say, but it was clear that this was Kiffin's offense. One year later they were in the College Football Playoff, the year after they won the National Title. He's ran through some offensive coordinators since then, but has kept the attacking wide open style to outgun his opponents. The dominant defense might give up some more points since they are on the field more, but he sacrificed in order to better his team as a whole.

Greg Davis left after 2016, giving Kirk another opportunity to pick a forward-thinking offensive coordinator. He instead gave his son, Brian Ferentz, the job, and a defense that is, without a doubt, worthy of being in the College Football Playoff, gets to play in another middling bowl game. 

Iowa isn't special. There's nothing about its history or infrastructure that guarantees it will be a good program. What Kirk Ferentz has done has been so impressive, but with the defense that Phil Parker has guided these past few years, and the numerous offensive weapons that they have developed, these teams could have been special.

Kirk Ferentz is a very good football coach, but refusing to leave his comfort zone on offense is what will ultimately prevent him from ever being great.