Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Kirk Ferentz speaks on offensive coordinator, news and notes

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

Trent Condon is back after the weekend to talk some Iowa Football. Kirk Ferentz speaks on offensive coordinator, news and notes from the press conferences, plus some thoughts on the potential of players coming back for another year and hoops from Des Moines this weekend.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedon and use code lockedon for a first deposit match up to $100! Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kirk Ferentz met with the media today. We break it down, some thoughts and a new OC. How close are we for a new offensive coordinator running the Hawkeyes all today? Locked on Hawkeyes. You are 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. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com slash lockdown and use code LOCKDOWN for a first deposit match up to $100. Daily fantasy sports made easy with PrizePix. Let's get into it as we hear earlier

today from Kirk Ferentz and a few of the members of the Iowa football team as we are counting down to the days until the final opportunity to see this Iowa football team in action as they'll take on Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. So start at the top and obviously the most important part of this conversation is about what's going to happen to the future of Iowa football when we look at the top. And obviously the most important part of this conversation is about what's going to happen to the future of Iowa football. When we look at the offensive coordinator position, what Kirk Ferentz is going to do in this one. And there's been plenty of names that have been bandied about. We've talked about them here from Paul Chris, the former Wisconsin head coach, Joe Philbin, who was, I don't want to say the flavor of the day, but there was a lot of rumblings leading into Friday and over the weekend about the potential of Joe Philbin officially being hired as the offensive coordinator. That does not appear to be the case. We've talked about

some other of the fun candidates, some guys that maybe would draw a little bit more excitement, but a couple of notes here from what Kirk Ferentz had to say today in his meeting with the assembled media. And the first one was this. I found this interesting. So Kirk has mentioned that there is going to be, at this point, he has talked to three candidates and potentially one more this week. For me on the surface, that number struck me as incredibly low. That you have a pool of candidates, and it's already dwindled down to that. Now, we knew coming into this, the likelihood that Kirk Ferentz was just going to throw the baby out with the bathwater, that all of a sudden we were going to see this Iowa offense evolve into something that it's never been before in the quarter century of Kirk

running the program. We knew that was not going to be the case. But as is the factor with people, a lot of time, as you get older, you, you like what you like, right? And it doesn't matter if it's brands, products, those kinds of things, people, and the people that you want to hang around with. That is always a component seemingly year after year, that is a big part of it. So I definitely think that is part of the equation. That is part of the conversation here. When you're talking about Kirk Ferentz and what he does, he's going to work with people that he knows. He's going to work with people that he has some kind of relationship with. It doesn't mean that only it's going to be people

that he has coached with before, like a Joe Philbin. But there has to be some kind of level of familiarity in order for this to happen. We talked about a guy like Ryan Grubb, the Washington offensive coordinator. It was going to take a ton of money for it to happen. Absolutely. Would he be willing to leave a pretty good spot right now in Washington and what they're doing there,

getting ready to play, obviously, in the college football playoff to take the Iowa job? It didn't seem likely. There's going to be some kind of connections. There's going to be some kind of things that overall make a whole lot of sense. And for Kirk Ferentz, that is people that he's familiar with, that he's comfortable with, and people that will understand exactly what he is looking for as well. That's a big component of this, is you're going to have people that know what Kirk wants and go in that direction. So that's at the top. The numbers seem low

with three candidates, Paul Chris, Joe Philbin, one other that's been talked to. You hope it's not John Budmeier. You hope it's not anything like that, but it just struck me as a low number. but it just struck me as a low number. And the other part of this, Kirk said that this hiring is going to go into January. We're not going to find out who the new offensive coordinator is going to be until we get to January, until they get back from the bowl game.

And it's very much the old school line of thinking from Kirk Ferens. One thing that he talked about, and I respect it, is he felt like it would be a disservice to this football team if he was not putting at least as much energy as he can into getting ready for the bowl game. And I understand that. Absolutely makes a whole lot of sense. These are the guys that you won 10 games with. These are the guys that you've been with all season long. And I get it, but I don't like it. I don't like it for this part. Iowa football in the changing landscape of the Big Ten, as the Big Ten West is no more. The Big Ten West, Iowa goes out as

champions, but you're not going to get that ever again, at least in the foreseeable future in the construction of an 18-team Big Ten. We know that you're adding additions in USC and Oregon and Washington and even UCLA that are going to add more difficulty to the schedule, not just good programs. Programs, one of them playing in the college football play in Washington, USC is sleeping giant, Oregon, obviously what they've done and what they invest. And even UCLA, that doesn't invest at the same level, but still a solid program. That's won games.

And maybe could win even more games going forward if they find the right coach. So you have that component of it. And the way that I look at it is I understand exactly what Kirk's thinking. And inside those football offices, it's a whole lot different. But I was in a spot, as good as it's been, and as good of a run as it's been lately, in terms of wins, in terms of victories, in terms of what they are year in and year out.

Take a look over the last three, five, ten years in terms of victories. I was up there with most everybody in college football. But there's an opportunity here to advance the program. 10 years in terms of victories. I was up there with most everybody in college football. But there's an opportunity here to advance the program. There's an opportunity here to take what has been a terrific defense, good special teams, and awful offense, and change the narrative and get it back to what it was. What we talked about some of the past great Kirk's teams. 2002 is about a great offensive line, a dynamic quarterback in Brad Banks.

2004, another Big Ten championship year. How they evolved on the fly and won football games and ripped off seven consecutive victories to end the regular season and doing it without any semblance of a running game and being able to adjust on the fly. 2009, 2015, these teams were not talked about. Though, yes, the defenses were good. 2002, maybe not quite the same level, but you get what I'm saying. You understand where I'm coming from here.

The narrative was not what has developed over the last couple of seasons. It's just this putrid offense. Awful. No two ways about it. No redeeming qualities to this thing. And you need to change that narrative. You need to flip that because recruiting is already going to be difficult enough with a 68-year-old head coach. Finding the right guys, find guys willing to come play for you already difficult. And you have this narrative and a chance to change it and a chance to go to another level

and even become adequate and kill that narrative that is out there. It's a big opportunity and unfortunately doesn't look like it's something that's going to change at the top. January, we will find out. Is that too long? Look at any other program in the country it is. Any other program in the country would is any other program in the country would have an offensive coordinator already in place look this is so weird for so many different

levels first any other offensive coordinator that is fired in season as brian ference was they're not going to be allowed to coach the rest of the season but because it's curse boy they got that we get to the end of the regular season, probably wouldn't be coaching in a bowl game. Now, Kirk talked about that a little bit more, and we'll get to that here in just a moment, but we're dealing with circumstances that are so different than anybody else,

and you just can't equate Iowa to everybody else. It's a different world, and a different world because of what Gary Barta created, what Gary Barta and the bed that he made a starting with allowing Brian Ferris to become the offensive coordinator and then putting in that yes Gary Barta will be his direct supervisor we know that was a joke and then putting the parameters at 25 points per game coming into the season instead of just being a man doing what everybody from the outside could see, and firing the offensive coordinator. He's a direct command. You can do that.

Would have ruffled some feathers? Absolutely. But guess what? Gary Barta, he's out on his ass anyway. He was let go because he didn't have the cojones to do what everybody from the outside can see. Brian Ferentz was not the adequate play caller that Iowa football needed. He was not good enough at his job.

And alas, here we are with what we're doing. More on the press conference, including hearing from a few of the players. Jay Higgins, Sebastian Castro, Cooper DeJean. Are they going to come back next season? We'll talk about that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience.

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Trey Conner back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Mentioned Kirk Ferentz, a few other things that he talked about. He was throwing a little shade at USC. That was fun to see. Kirk, he had some swears out there. He was fired up at moments. He was casual in others, but got to see a little bit of everything from Kirk Ferentz earlier today.

Also got to hear from some of the players. And one of my favorite moments was Jay Higgins, the All-American linebacker for the Hawkeyes, the potential of him coming back for another season. And one of the things that he said is he's got to talk to Hawk, Hawk, Hawk before he makes that decision. If you don't know for the unencumbered, that is Jay Higgins' dad. And if you follow him on social media, on Twitter, he's incredible. He really is. He is one of a kind. He is as good of an ambassador to Iowa football as you're going to find out there. He is just, he's easy to like. He's fun. Talk to people that have seen him on the road, seen him at games, seen him at

Rum Kinnick Stadium or road venues and say, well, what you see is what you get. That guy in social media, he's the exact same thing out there. And after Jay's days as an Iowa football player over, let's make sure Pops stays around, right? There's got to be some kind of role that they can find for him to be some kind of brand ambassador for Iowa football, because he's fun loving. He has an extra Hawk in there. What's he up to five Hawks now, six Hawks, whatever it is, maybe there'll be six Hawks next year if Jay decides to come back to another season. And that leads us to where this conversation goes. And that is obviously a look at the decisions that still await these guys.

Nobody came out and said that they are coming back or will not be coming back for another season of eligibility. You look at a guy like Jay Higgins and a guy that we talked about coming into the season. We saw him a little bit last season after the injury to Justin Jacobs. He came in there, played 4-3. They still were playing a ton of the cash, and he wasn't out there a lot, but looked to be a little bit more than he initially anticipated. This is a guy that was a special teamer, and he was fine on special teams.

You just weren't sure if he was going to have the juice to be a linebacker every day in the Big Ten. And taking over a spot that's inevitable, right? Inevitable that you have to take over for Jack Campbell, not only an All-American linebacker, but a great leader. One of the great leaders that Kirk Ferentz has talked about, his leadership qualities, and you have that component to it. And he hit the ground running. And what we saw out of Jay Higgins, time in and time out,

just in on the play and knows for the football and ability to get there, always to be around the football, super smart player and took, he does not have the same kind of starter set, if you will, of a Jack Campbell. Like there there's not many middle linebackers, 6'5", 250 pounds, that run like Jack Campbell. But Higgins went in there and really didn't miss a beat. Played at a high level. You wonder with him. Middle linebacker, you're in there a lot.

And you're getting rolled up on, and you're in on a bunch of tackles. And injuries, they can happen. Look, they can happen. Look, they can happen at any time in football, as we know. Cooper Dijon, who we'll get to, another component of that. Another season, like he had this year, is it going to improve the 40 time that he has? Likely not. Is it going to improve the way that people look at him in NFL circles?

I don't think another season for him is going to help at that level. He is what he is. Middle linebacker is a spot that is not coveted like it once was in the NFL. Look, you go back to the 70s and 80s and 90s. I mean, middle linebacker, that was the baseline of your defense, right? You want a guy off the edge, you want a guy in the middle that was going to clean everything up. Now the Mike Singletary's of the world. That's what you wanted out there.

They're just going to be making plays all over the field and with the running offenses that we saw back then, you're going to be tackling, you know, 10, 15 tackles a game. That's what you had for your middle linebackers. Not the case anymore. We'll spread offices of what they are. So that's the question that Jay Higgins needs to get. I don't believe another season, even another All-American season, would suddenly thrust him into even being a day two pick,

being a second or third rounder, anything like that. And it's another reason the position that he plays is a big component to that. Sebastian Castro, I see a little bit differently. Castro comes in this season, obviously playing cash. We saw him there a year ago back in 2022, also playing that position as they shuffled some things around. But I think there's still more that can be seen from Castro. We saw the physicality that he plays with that as violent of a guy playing a glorified inside corner slash safety route that he does in

the cash position. You saw the physicality that he plays with, the playmaking ability, the pick six that he had against Iowa State. Yet he does not have, I don't believe, the same kind of tape that Jay Higgins. And what is he at the next level? You know, that's something that Geno Stone ran into when he came out. He bet on himself. He left early, could have come back for another season. People believe that another good year would have improved his draft stock. Instead of doing that, though, he bet on himself. And he's put together an incredible season this year for the Baltimore Ravens. Now Geno Stone is looking at coming up into free agency, a really big payday.

I think Sebastian Castro, with the way that he plays, another season could help him as it pertains to the NFL draft boards. And finally, Cooper DeGene. Now, this one seems so simple, right? You're going to be a first rounder. You go. It has a lot of those feelings of TJ Hawkinson. When we heard TJ Hawkinson, he ended up being a top 10 pick. And at minimum, we knew he was going to be a top 20 pick. And for him, hearing him talk about it, hearing people close to the program, it was an incredibly difficult choice. He wanted to come back to Iowa for another year. And I don't want to say it was kicking and screaming that he wanted to go off to the NFL,

because that would not be a fair characterization of what it actually was. But people had to explain to him. And you have to also explain what that next step is. It's not just the rookie scale. And for somebody like Cooper Dejean, you know, if you're a top 20 pick, you're talking about a guaranteed seven, eight million dollars a year. It's not just that part of it. It's the next contract, as we talked about with Geno Stone. That second contract, that's when you really cash in. I mean, the money goes to funny money when you get into that second contract. And if you play at the level that I think most all of us anticipate we're going to see from Cooper to Gene, that second payday is going to be a monster one.

And that's what you're going for. Look, Cooper to Gene and all these guys likely only have at best eight, 10, maybe 12 years left of playing football. And though now at the college level, you can be paid with NIL, it's not at the same level. And I've seen people say,

well, just go to one of the big donors and have them put, give them $5 million. Oh, okay. Let's say that's likely. I mean, easier said than done, right? It's just a podcast here and we're throwing those out there. And I know people are throwing out those same kinds of things. Look, if that money is out there, if you have a donor that's willing to put up that kind of money, don't put it to Cooper to Jean, put it to fix in the offense,

right? Don't get one guy for one year, put that money and rebuild the offensive line and get another big receiver and maybe see what's out there at the quarterback if that kind of money is really truly out there don't just leave yourself and say we're gonna go this direction no no no that's not the way spend the money correctly spend the money on fixing offense as opposed to one guy i don't believe that cooper dejeon is going to be back for another season. I think that he wants to come back. He would love to play another season. He hates, I'm sure, that his career came to an end on the practice field and not even in a game. I mean, that has to be incredibly frustrating for a guy that has put so much into the program. But

I think that is a big case here, and we'll see the latest on that front. Couple of other things. Speaking of the OC, Brian Ferris will coach the game unless he gets another job. Do not anticipate that happening. Don't think there are a whole lot of people beating down the door right now to have the guy that was in charge of the worst offense in college football the last two years. Could he be back in the NFL, offensive line coach, something like that? I think that's a more realistic landing spot. And as we know, still three more weeks to go in the NFL. Yeah, he is not going to be hired. I do. I would be fall off my chair, shocked that Brian Ferentz suddenly is not coaching the bowl game. What's he going to come up with in a month?

Wait and see. Don't expect it to be good. And finally, one more note on football. The Hawkeyes have their punters. We talked about a few weeks back. They thought they had their punter, though nothing officially was out there. Another Australian punter. They go back to the Aussie pro kick over there and they bring in Reese Dakin. Know nothing about him outside of a practice clip where he had hang time on a punt of like like five and a half seconds special teams people will tell you that's ridiculous okay see if you can do it in the game and away we go new punter that's important for Iowa football hopefully not as important with a new offensive coordinator wrapping things up hoops the Des Moines Des Moines here our hometown that was the stopping grounds for what we saw here in Des Moines

with the Iowa men and women playing at Wells Fargo Arena. A recap of basketball and a look forward as we finish up non-conference basketball. We'll do that as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day so over to some

basketball the double header at Wells Fargo Arena and game one it was the men as you saw. Plenty of people maybe enjoying a few extra beverages before they made their way into Wells Fargo Arena because the attendance early on, not great for the men's side of things. It's an unthinkable world.

I have followed Iowa women's basketball for a very long time. I had a close connection to Iowa women's basketball for a very long time. I had a close connection to the women's basketball program, so always kept a really close eye on it over the last couple of decades. And to see what it once was, and though good teams, successful teams, and what this has turned into, it's still one of the craziest things. When they went up to Madison a couple weeks ago to take on the Badgers and to see the Kohl Center sold out for women's basketball, that program has been brutal for decades. Iowa's got a super, super long winning streak against

Wisconsin. And to sell that thing out. And Maryland's going to be sold out. And Nebraska's going to be sold out. And on and on and on. And seeing Wells Fargo Arena sold out. A place that they couldn't sell out for the Big Four Classic with four teams in state. But they sell it out for this. The Caitlin Clark effect, it is unlike anything that we've ever seen before. Yes, there has been successful players and teams. Hell, the men's basketball team has had All-Americans, has had National Players of the Year and Luka Garza, but nothing like this. Nothing close to this. This is a once-in-a-generation player. We will never see anything like this again because not only is she an incredible talent, not only is she fun to watch,

but she also transcends the game. It takes people that have said they would never watch women's sports or women's basketball and suddenly has taken that to a completely different level. We'll see the sustainability and the staying power, but what we saw,

just the environment and what it was like for the women's game compared to what we saw on the men's side of things, unthinkable. Absolutely unthinkable. Yet here we are. Didn't see what I wanted to see in the men's game on Saturday. Wanted to see a true point guard out there in DeSante Bowen. I think that is the only way that Iowa is going to get to the level to even get back on the bubble, and that is a long, long ways away. It was the same starting five that we saw at the game before. Tony Perkins at the point, Peyton Sanford at the two, Patrick McCaffrey at the three, and Owen Freeman and Ben Crickey

then manning the four and five positions. Crickey, not a great game for him, just five points. In fact, his lowest total in a Hawkeye uniform. I saw some good things, but you can't tell anything here either. Florida A&M, they're bad. Just a bad basketball team. They went up to Hilton then on Sunday, collected another check. I I got Pullman in that one. I guess the one redeeming quality that I saw is Iowa was engaged on the defensive end. They looked more locked in than they've been this season. The team's not going to be a good defensive team all season long.

It's just not going to happen. I mean, that's the reality of where we are. This team's going to struggle. Really going to struggle this year on the defensive end. And though it was better, it was better against a bad team. I didn't see anything that said to me

that this team's got to figure it out, that this is the turnaround that they need. You got two more easy games in front of you. You'll take on, coming up this week on Wednesday, UMBC.

Yeah, the same UMBC program, the B Virginia at Carver, and then Northern Illinois next week, Wednesday, UMBC. Yeah, the same UMBC program to beat Virginia at Carver and then Northern Illinois next week, a week from Friday on the 29th. And then it's back to conference play. At Wisconsin, tough. Home for Rutgers in Nebraska. Well, as we saw against Michigan. I'd throw Nebraska and Rutgers in the same boat as Michigan.

Not very good. They're at home. Didn't matter against the Wolverines. You go to Minnesota, maybe the most winnable road game that they have this season before you come home again for Purdue and Maryland. It's, I don't see a path. I don't see a path. On the women's side, that Cleveland State team won 30 games a year ago, but they were playing without one of their best players, and that showed up in a big way. It was just about Kaitlyn Clark being back in Des Moines, put over 100 up there. Clark goes off for 38, 5-5, hitting deep shot, hitting the logo threes, maybe forcing a couple, including one where she was kind of chuckling as she missed badly on a transition three, but the good feelings all around, you know, those times that it's just,

it's fun to be a Hawkeye and it's certainly fun being able to watch Caitlin Clark. Now the big 10 this year, it's not a behemoth. There's still, when you look across the big 10 landscape, some good teams, obviously throw Minnesota in the boat there. Ohio State, Indiana, good again this season. Penn State was ranked for a little while this year. Illinois, though, has taken a step back. Northwestern's not very good. Rutgers is not very good this season.

The top of the league, maybe you throw Minnesota in there. They haven't taken on the most difficult schedule, though they played well earlier this season against Utah. UConn, excuse me, in their only loss of the season. Beat Drake, we know how good Drake is. So a real opportunity again for a regular season championship

for this Iowa women's team. That is a realistic possibility and a team still ranked in the top five as they should be, avenging their loss to Kansas State. These non-conference games are tough, though, right? It's just tough. You get to this point, getting through finals,

I will wrap things up on Thursday night against Loyola, and then we finally get back into big play starting next week, a week from Saturday, as they will get Minnesota coming to town there and Michigan State then coming up on January 2nd. Good start and a chance for a really good start before Indiana comes in for the Iowa women's basketball team

and hopefully put another piece of hardware into that trophy case with another regular season crown. Hey, I want to tell you something really cool we got going on right now on Locked On, the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's Locked On Sports Today, and it's here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories

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Signing period is here for us in football. We are going to talk a lot of signing day football. Take a look at the future, Hawkeyes. We will break down things with Brian Smith, our Locked On recruiting expert. He's going to be stopping by here later in the week. We'll also be hearing from hopefully David Eicholt. We'll be able to stop by once again, get his perspective on things. So a whole lot of recruiting, a whole lot of football, basketball, you name it. We got you covered here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Your team every day on lockdown. That's what we do. Thanks for being with us.

We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.