Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Brian Ferentz takes his arrogance to a new level as he figuratively spits in the face of Hawkeye fans

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

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condescending, tone deaf, arrogant. Yep, we're talking Brian Ferris press conference today on Locked On Hawkeyes. Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day, available wherever you get podcasts, and you can also watch us on YouTube.

Make sure you hit that subscribe button while you're there helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans well today as we get ready for the start of spring practice or the final spring practice if you will in the open scrimmage that'll be happening in Kinnick Stadium on Saturday there should be excitement we should be excited we should be talking about this team and breaking things down. But once again, they pedal out baby Huey, Brian Ferentz goes to the podium and again, puts his foot in his mouth. We will break that down. We will talk about all the ridiculous things, the absolute short-sightedness of the comments from Iowa's offensive coordinator as the guy that is standing at third base and thinks he's hit a

triple he does it once again let's get into it here and in a day where you wondered how this was going to be today we hear from Brian Ference for the first time since his contract was changed since the stipulation was put in place a minimum of 25 points per game a race to 300 this year in the regular season for him to maintain his status and get the money back that he gave back he's still making $750,000 a year to run the second worst offense in all of college football as he did a season ago didn't give any of that money back though he should have with that awful performance yet here we are and after all that you thought all right this is a guy maybe that's going to swallow his pride a little bit. Maybe perhaps we're going to hear a little bit of reflection, an opening of the mind.

It was none of that. Brian Ferentz takes all the bad qualities of Kirk Ferentz and none of the good qualities. The toughness, the arrogance, the short-sightedness, it's all there. I don't understand how this is how this press conference comes today. Brian Ferentz knew today that there were going to be difficult questions, that there were going to be questions about how inept he has been as an offensive coordinator. There's no way to point to anything in a positive direction. been as an offensive coordinator, there's no way to point to anything in a positive direction. You look at what they are as a team. And Brian Ferentz always goes back to, I'm just trying to help this team win football games. You know how you could help them win? Be better at your job.

Because nothing that he has shown in six years as the offensive coordinator shows you that he is competent at doing it. Yes, the team has won games. Yes, they went to the Big Ten Championship game two years ago. In those games during that season, though, what was the deciding factor in seemingly every one of the losses? The offense. His offense. Time in and time out. And after you finish the season, 130th in the country in total offense a year ago, that is the time that you need change. There's no doubt about it. This is the time that you look under the hood. This isn't about tweaking. This is a complete rebuild. Question was asked, what have you done to go back? What is different this

year when you go back and evaluate and look at things? And for all intents and purposes, he said nothing. He said, no, we just do it like we always do. Some of the quotes are incredibly damning. And they're also an absolute spit in the face of the Iowa fan base. The people that, yes, pay his salary. It's absolutely incredible. And time in and time out, we continue down this path. When you don't have to be accountable, and doesn't this is what you get an arrogant arrogant press conference right away comes out

in the defensive that's not how you do things this could have been very simple and yes we like when we don't hear just a standard coach speak right i, how many times do we roll our eyes over the last 24 years when we've heard the exact same press conference seemingly every time from Kirk Ferentz? I mean, we're talking about what? Over 300 press conferences, Kirk Ferentz, and they're all, for all intents and purposes, the exact same thing. It's cliches.

It's a bunch of stuff from years ago. That's what you get. But that's what you get from most coaches. Yet here's Brian up there being incredibly defensive, not having any kind of reflection, and just once again, having an absolutely bad look. He looked miserable up there. It's not that difficult.

When the question is asked, what are you doing to change? Yes, we understand. Everybody knows there's not going to be wholesale changes. We're not going to see them out there running five receivers and throwing it 60 times a game. We understand that's going to be a run-based offense. That's what they're going to do. They work and they strive to be 50-50.

That's what they want to do. We get that. We understand the philosophy. But the way that you do it has not worked. And instead of saying things very simpler, hey, last year wasn't good enough. We have work to do. Instead of saying those things, he did the exact opposite.

We're not going to change things. What? What could this guy possibly be thinking? And it gets worse. It gets so much worse. At this point, my optimism throughout the spring continue to rise I don't think there's any doubt that this Iowa football team is the most talented in the Big Ten West this year I think that there is no doubt with the defense that they're going to have in the

special teams that they are not just the favorite the prohibitive favorite to win a division title and get an opportunity you couple that with the schedule that is in front of them this year. It is all set up for Iowa to make another run and get back to the Big Ten championship game and have an ability to make a run. This team is put together in that fashion. I believe the talent is there offensively, but that optimism that was rising for me, something that is difficult for me to do as a fan. I am not the most optimistic fan out there. I get that. But as it's rising, here comes Baby Huey out there with the same garbage. And instead of just very simply saying, hey, we're doing a little of this,

we're doing a little of that, we know it has to be better, no, he goes a completely opposite direction. Absolutely incredible. Now, there are a couple of good things, I guess, that came out of this. And one thing that I completely agreed with Brian on. This is the one thing that he had exactly right. If this thing comes to an end, if we're talking about the end of days for him, well, this is pretty good.

This is my last year being the offensive. I'll be at peace with that too if this is your last year. Brian, right there with you. If this is it for you, I am right there. I'm going to be at peace with that. And this fan base is going to be at peace with that. It's not just the ineptitude. It's the arrogance. It's the condescending nature

that he continues to throw out there. The holier-than-thou look down upon Mount Pius, the peons that buy the tickets and sit in the stands because we don't know and you know. Come on. You're coaching football. You're not working in biomedical. It's amazing. The people across the street, the doctors and the nurses and the people working in the hospital, they're doing work. And the way that he, the arrogance, I just can't get over it. There's a whole lot more. And a shot at the fans. And this one, this is the most damning quote. We'll do that as we continue here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Something exciting is coming to Built.com on Saturday,

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well. Hey, when you go there, make sure to use promo code LOCKEDON15 and you'll get 15% off your order. That's Bilt.com. New flavor. It's coming your way. Trent Conant back with you on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

As we continue here, mention what we heard from brian ferentz and the quote there were a lot of them but the impossible nature of wrapping your mind around how this can be said if you missed it the question was asked to brian ferentz very simply brian do you have a message for the fans that are running out of patience? Very fair question. The offense the last two years has been unconsciously bad for anybody at a Power 5 level, and certainly one as successful as Iowa is. Here's a response for Brian Ferentz. Frustration is built up among the fan base.

A lot of people have running out of patience after the last two years. What's your message to them? I don't have a message to them.

I don't have a message to them. Brian Ferentz doesn't have a message to him because he is arrogant, because he is short-sighted, because he is condescending,

because he doesn't get it this guy absolutely doesn't get it and if that doesn't make your blood boil as a fan to hear a coach in any capacity say something like that to have it teed up i mean that thing is right there that is a meatball down the middle and you can knock that one out of the park and very simply say we have to be better. We understand that, and that's what we're going through. These 15 practices are about getting better. Us as coaches have to evaluate what we're doing.

We have to be better. 130th in the country total offense, that's not good enough. We understand that, and we are striving to be better. Instead, we get that. That is where we are right now. Unbelievable. That from the University of Iowa in the press conference earlier today as Brian Ferentz went to the podium and once again stuck his foot in his mouth. And if there were any people left short of the Ferentz family that were in the Brian Ferentz camp, I don't understand how he can be there after that. The definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and expecting different results. And here we are. The players will be

better. This offense will be better. It can't be worse. Well, it could be. It's very unlikely to be worse. We're talking about one of the worst offenses at a Power 5 level in the last 40 years of college football. That's what he tried it out there a year ago. And though the offensive line went out, got a couple of transfers that are going to be coming in from the portal. Rusty Feth will come in. De'Jon Parker, you're hopeful there.

Of course, the quarterback position, a huge upgrade going from one of the worst quarterbacks in the Big Ten in the last decade in Spencer Petras into what we have now in Cade McNamara. That's a huge upgrade. The wide receivers can't be worse than what we saw a year ago. And the running backs, hey, the running back's good. Jazz Patterson, of course, Caleb Johnson.

Hey, you feel like you're in good shape at that position. Ted Enns will be elite. LeJay, all really good. The offense is going to be better. But how you can come in. Andy Garman, I've known Andy for a long time. Former sports director here in Des Moines on the CBS affiliate KCCI. Well, now he has a job with the PR firm that works with the University of Iowa, Wickstead.

Andy, you got to prepare the guys better if this is what Brian's going to come up with. I mean, that guy's got to go back to PR 101. He's not in advanced class, that's for sure. We got to break this thing down to the studs. That is your response. Set up on a tee. We're going to work to be better. Simple. Keep it easy. Instead, here we are. Well, very frustrating. Good news is there are two other coordinators that we got to hear from. Phil Parker. I thought some really good comments about him. 14 practices now complete. One more will be happening on Saturday. The open practice at Kinnick Stadium. practice is now complete. One more will be happening on Saturday, the open practice at Kinnick Stadium. And he said for 10 of those practices, he wasn't real happy with kind of the

pace that they were playing at. He expects greatness out of his team. And it's not just about, well, do it enough to help the team win games. He expects greatness out of his guys. And that's why you see the development. That's why you see the growth and why you see guys that a lot of times can struggle very early in their career and ultimately become all Big Ten, all American, NFL draft picks. That's what Phil Parker does because he's competent. He's more than competent. He's great. And that's why this team has a chance this year to be great because of Phil Parker and because of LeVar Woods and what he's going to do with the special teams. You have two guys that are great at their job and one that's an absolute idiot as an offensive coordinator

nothing's going to change it's going to be the same garbage and to not evaluate yourself to not have the mental fortitude to look at what you were and what you have been the last couple of seasons and really overall it is six years as an coordinator, and not to understand that you have to reevaluate, well, that's where we are. We've got a lot of great comments out there, and thanks to everybody that makes their comments. You can follow us on Twitter at LockdownIowa. You can follow me at Trent Condon. That's where you can find it.

A couple of quotes that I thought were really good. Hit up the comments section as well on YouTube. Love to hear all your comments, and I read through all of those over there. as well on YouTube. Love to hear all your comments, and I read through all of those over there. This comes from S. Lind on Twitter, slind44. Look at the body language. Maybe some apathy, a lack of being held accountable with very low hurdles to me. That's what it is. You set the bar low, well, you don't have to jump all the way over it, right? Going out there and doing the high jump, and you got to set it two feet, well, you can get over two feet.

And you're not going to jump six. You can get over the bar. They set the bar incredibly low this year, and yes, he will get there. What else we got here? A couple others. I really like this one. This is from GP in Tennessee. Only the son of the head coach can afford to speak and think that way when your offense is basically the worst in all of football.

Just a little self-awareness, great term, and humility wouldn't hurt. Teases was saying you have some innovative new concepts, anything for hope, but nope. And I don't even have to hear about new concepts because we know that's not going to happen. We talked about this yesterday with LaShawn. Now, Army's going to get away from the triple option, or at least running it in the traditional sense. It's still going to be an option-based offense. They're just going to do it out of shotgun, and they have to do it because college football, the blocking rules have changed so much.

We've heard Kirk complain about this starting in 2017 when the rules were first put in place. They've adapted even more now over the last two seasons. And Iowa can't run the football anymore because the zone blocking scheme of what they're trying to do, it doesn't work in today's college football with the way the blocking rules are set up. Now, are you going to change it? Well, not here.

Apparently not. With all this happening and everything evolving in football, the offense, you have to try to be bad anymore offensively, right? Or you have to be going through a huge amount of turnover unless you're Iowa. And the big picture where my frustration goes to is he can point to success. And I know there's plenty of people out there. Hey, look at what it is. And you know what? When Kirk retires, there is no guarantee that this thing is going to be better than what we've seen, not just over the last 24 years, but over the last five years. I completely get that.

And I'm right there with you. I have the Dr. Tom syndrome, right? We let the contract go out for Dr. Tom because we were expecting to go to the next level. We did. It was the next level down under Steve Alford. And then it absolutely cratered under Lickletter. And that still sits there. And that's why I am not an advocate of getting rid of Kirk until Kirk is ready to walk away from this job. But as he continues to put his son in a position where he can't succeed, he's just not good enough. We have six years of data now that shows us he is not good enough

as a play caller and an offensive coordinator to maintain this job, but it's a son. So he's going to continue to go out there. You don't have to talk about new concepts because that's not going to be out there, but just something, and they couldn't do it. Let's get into the good things. Let's get into Phil Parker. Let's talk about that defense. Let's talk about some of the exciting things about Iowa football. And on a positive, what we're going to be watching for on Saturday at the Open Practice. That's as we continue on Locked On Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by lockdowns NFL mock.

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So you can look for the Hawkeye side, whoever your favorite NFL team. I'm a Bears fan, Vikings, Packers, Chiefs, just here in the regional area or whoever it may be. We got you covered here on the Lockdown Network. As we roll through here, on a positive note, hearing the conversation from Phil Parker today about Cooper DeGene, it still baffles me that this guy had never played cornerback until there were a couple of games left in his true freshman campaign. And he went out there and played well and acquitted himself incredibly well.

And then what we saw out of him a year ago. And now he's talking about what he is doing in defensive drills and the way that he carries himself and just how good he can be and the flexibility that they can have with a guy that can play inside. He can cover slot. He can cover out Xs.

He can cover Ys. He can do everything you want. If you get in a pinch, you can move into safety. You know what? You need him to play cash. He can do that. And he can be an offensive player. And he can do punt returns. And he can do kick returns. And just on and on and on, you have this incredibly special talent. It is so cool just to hear that. And that's what gets you revved up.

Also gets you revved up when Phil Parker starts talking about that defensive line. We talked about it earlier this spring. by far the deepest position group that I can remember in my 43 years here watching Iowa football. Well, I guess my memory bank doesn't go quite back all the way to the beginning, but certainly you look at what they have up front, the depth that they have built both inside and outside. It's incredibly exciting. That got me fired fired up the question about Nick Jackson the Virginia transfer not on campus yet yet Phil Parker is not somebody that just throws out you know just false hope on a player it takes a little bit to get him going and yet when he talked about Nick Jackson he talked about him as a playmaker talking about a guy that's going to understand what they're looking to do and playing in the middle of the defense as we saw Jack Campbell depart now and get ready for the NFL

draft. We know it is huge, huge shoes for him to fill, and he's believed that Nick Jackson's going to be able to fill those shoes. Maybe not at an all-American level, but he's going to be right there. Remember, Jackson was a three-time all-ACC defender for the Cavaliers. You get excited about that. Xavier Wampa, we get to see this elite athlete out there playing in the back end of the defense. Depth up front, a linebacker crew that's going to be solid and a defensive backfield, though not as deep as maybe you want at this point in time, certainly has the pieces in the starting lineup. Getting Jamari Harris back there after a lost season because of injury a year ago. You go back to the way that he played in the Citrus Bowl against Kentucky

a couple of years back now, and he saw his ascension of what he can be. DeGene on one side, him on the other, the physicality that we saw last year from Quinn Schulte, the playmaking ability of Xavier Wampa, just on and on and on. They are going to be at a high level. The special teams and LeVar Woods are going to be at a high level. It's just, that's what gets you revved up about this team. So what are we looking for on Saturday? Well, we are going to see if we do see anything from the offense. Is there going to be a real stride forward from a guy like Deontay Vines? Look, Deontay Vines has an opportunity here.

He's going to get as many snaps as he can be out there for health-wise at the wide receiver position. We saw a glimpse. We heard a ton about him when we talked about it last August during camp. He was a guy that was ascending. He breaks his wrist, sits out for basically the first half of the year, and never was completely able to get going at the level. That's a guy that can definitely make plays, and they're going to need him in a big-time

way. I know there's going to be guys injured. I also do want to see what they're doing up front. We go back to the run game. We talk about the zone blocking. I understand. Yes, I bring it up a lot, but I think it's incredibly important how much more we see that evolution away from the zone blocking scheme and going into a different type of system, what they're trying to do in the run game. You can't cut at the level that you could in college football anymore with your blocking scheme. And because of that,

it makes it difficult. What other area? I brought this up with Sean. After the injury, Eli Miller. Only two fullbacks listed on the roster. Eli Miller is out for the year, torn ACL. He was going to be the starter.

Didn't even list a backup when they came out with the depth chart. Because of that, how much fullback are we going to see? Yeah, goal line, third one, fourth one, sure chart. Because of that, how much fullback are we going to see? Yeah, goal line, third one, fourth one, sure. But short of that, is that being phased out or is that just more circumstantial because of what the roster construction is right now? Construction is at this point in time. That's another thing that I'll be keeping my eye on. Hey, it's Iowa football.

We'll get to see the black and gold out there on the field at Kinnick Stadium. That is always a good thing and looking forward to Saturday. We got right away for you every dayers. We will be with you right away in your feed on Monday morning with the latest Lockdown Hawkeyes and what we see over the weekend at Kinnick Stadium. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. I'm Trent Condon. Thanks for joining me. A little cathartic getting all that out, but here we are. Let's have a good weekend. We'll talk to you again on Monday.

Go Hawks.