Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Paul Chryst vs. Joe Philbin for Offensive Coordinator, Hawkeyes recruiting

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

Trent Condon returns with a look at the new Hawkeye football offensive coordinator. Signs point to it being Paul Chryst and Joe Philbin on the short list.A look at both of their resumes and what could possibly be if they are running the Hawkeye offense.Then some thoughts on recruiting and what the future has for Iowa football.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

Are we down to just two candidates for the Iowa football offensive coordinator job? Joe Philbin versus Paul Chris. We break it down and take a look at the numbers. Plus, we are on the eve of recruiting day. A lot of recruiting 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 find 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. Well, we found yesterday Kirk Ferentz talking to the assembled media in Iowa City that three candidates had been talked to over the phone. Not sure if that means actual interviews or just conversations that were happening. We talked a lot about that in yesterday's episode, but it appears the frontrunners for the job at this point are names that we have certainly bandied about plenty here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. And that is Joe Philbin, former offensive line coach in the early years of Kirk Ferretts,

including the offensive line coach for the best offensive line in Iowa football history, the 2002 offensive line with Bruce Nelson, Eric Steinbach, Robert Gallery. Just an incredible offensive line. Opened up holes for Fred Russell and Jermell Lewis and Brad Banks making plays. It was a great offensive line. And then Joe Philbin departed for the NFL.

And that's where he has been until this year for the past two decades. And on the other side, you have Paul Crist. Paul Crist, the former Wisconsin head coach, Wisconsin offensive coordinator. He was also the head coach at Pittsburgh for three years. There is a third candidate. Most people believe that that third candidate that Kirk talked to was Andy Ludwig, the Utah offensive coordinator. Guy from the upper Midwest has connections here. Speaking of Wisconsin, he was there for a number of years.

That appears the likely candidate that is the third of the list that has been talked to. Now, we will see. I've said it before, and I still maintain that Andy Ludwig would be as good as Iowa can get at this point in time. I don't think there is another offensive coach that would fit scheme style, yet the ability to change some of the things, the stuck in mud ways that Iowa does things offensively that Andy Ludwig. But it doesn't appear to be a whole lot of smoke there. I really believe it's two. Now, Kirk also said that there

was one more candidate he was going to be talking to likely this week, that unknown candidate. Think of it this way. I give you options A or B, which are Paul Chris or Joe Philbin, or option C, the unknown. I know a lot of you out there would take the unknown, not knowing who it is, not knowing their offensive scheme, not knowing anything. I know a lot of you would take that.

We'll see. We'll see who that final candidate is. We'll see if there's any smoke out there. And, and of course we'll pass it along to you if we hear anything more about what that potential could be but what I wanted to do is break these two guys down and how they could fit Joe Philbin and Paul Chris into what Iowa is and just take a deeper look at their resumes you know what they are because you have memories. You remember Paul Crist at the end. Things started to come off the rails and ultimately was fired as a head coach at Wisconsin. So I want to take a bigger overview of him.

Joe Philbin, same thing. And kind of the talking points. We're going to dig a little bit deeper into that. But start with Paul Crist. Let's start right there. So got the numbers for you. Paul Crist started as an offensive coordinator for the first time in 2005 in Barry Alvarez's final season. You remember

Iowa going in there and upsetting the final game for Barry Alvarez and Camp Randall. That was a great scene, 20 to 10 victory in 2005. But looking at the numbers as an offensive coordinator, they're incredible. They really are. So Paul Chris, OC from 2005 through 2011. This is what he did on a year-by-year basis in total points per game. 14th in the country, 28th, 49th, 47th, 25th, 5th, and 6th in the country during that seven-year span. On average, Paul Chris, 24th in average scoring offense as an offensive coordinator. Yards per game, 26 average in those seven years as the OC. Well, that was a long time ago, and you can argue college football certainly has changed a whole lot since that time,

so maybe that doesn't paint the whole picture. Well, let's look at him since he became a head coach. Starting in those three years at Pitt, those years they averaged 26.2 points per game, 26.3. And then in his final season, 31.8. They finished that year 46 in scoring offense and 43rd in total yards. And then as the Wisconsin head coach, you're looking at averaging about 31 points per game during his tenure, taking off 2020, the year that he was fired.

Now, it did crater his final two seasons before the ultimate firing coming a year ago in 2022. 89th in scoring offense, 103rd in the weird 2020 season, and then 2021, his last final season, 85th in points per game at 25.4, still average over 25 points per game. How about that? And 84th in yards per game during that one. Still, even as a head coach, his offenses, 63rd in scoring offense, 67th in yards per game as a head coach during, what is it, that 10-year run as a head coach. We'd sign up for that right now, right? If you just take those final numbers, not what he was as an OC at Wisconsin, when he could dedicate himself completely to that, but also as a head coach. Those numbers, you put Iowa and you have

them averaging right in the middle of the pack in the country. 63rd in scoring offense, 67 in yards per game. This Iowa football program with the defense continuing in the country. 63rd in scoring offense, 67 yards per game. This Iowa football program with the defense continuing in the path that we anticipate they will with Paul Parker, along with good special teams, what LaVar Woods is doing there, we're really cooking. Joe Philbin, taking a look at the numbers for him as an offensive coordinator. And with the caveat that I think is important with the conversation about Joe Philbin, he just hasn't called plays a whole lot in his career. Now, he was scheming. He was game playing. He was doing all of those things. But nut cutting time when the game's on the line, play clocks

winded down. You got to get something in there. He just does not have the same kind of experience that certainly Paul Chris does. As an offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers, the numbers are amazing. 2007, fourth, fifth, third, tenth, and first in scoring offense in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers with Hall of Fame quarterbacks. That helps. When he became the Miami head coach, he went to the Dolphins for three seasons. He had a rookie quarterback, and Ryan Tannehill did not go very well early on. 27th and 26th in scoring offense. By year three, though, Tannehill in his third season, they were up to 11th in scoring offense in the NFL at 24.3 points per game. He went back to the Packers in 2018 as the OC, finished 14th that

year in scoring offense in the NFL with the Packers, became the interim head coach that season. And that's when he called plays when McCarthy, who called plays, he was the one that was fired during the course of that season. Again, the play calling experience that remains, I think, a red demerit against Joe Philbin. When you look at him and look at his resume, I think it's something that needs to be brought up because there's a science to it. Look, all these guys know football. Brian Ferentz knew football. But there is something different about being a play caller and setting things up and understanding

nuances, doing things early in the game to set things up later on. Those are things that the more reps you get at it, hopefully the better you can get. Now, there's other people like Brian Ferentz and went the other way for, but that's what you hope you're going to see, and Philbin just doesn't have it. And the other component that I look at is brain drain. I think many of you have heard that term. We're going to continue with that conversation. Brain drain in Iowa football. Now, it's a little bit different than the definition of brain drain, people leaving and going on and leaving your community, but some new ideas. And I think that could be a benefit, certainly to Iowa football.

We'll talk about that. A roster crunching. What's going on in the portal? We'll do 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. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance.

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That's ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. Trent Conant back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network, your team every day. And it doesn't matter your team, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL. We got you covered.

We got you covered on the Hawkeyes side of things. Lockdown Big Ten, Lockdown College college football. Locked on college basketball. Locked on NFL national shows as well. We have it here for you across the Locked On Network. So we're talking about brain drain. And brain drain is a component where people leave an area, you're highly educated people, leaving a community in the past. And though this isn't a perfect definition of it,

it's about the new ideas, right? Bringing in something different. Because Joe Philbin definitely feels like a guy that will come in and will do things very much like what Kirk wants. There's a longtime connection. These guys have been together for a very long time. Him, Ken O'Keefe, you go back in that group that has been together for a long time, coaching connections before they got to Iowa City, and it's continued on. Remember Ken O'Keefe, you go back in that group that has been together for a long time, coaching connections before they got to Iowa City, and it's continued on. I remember Ken O'Keefe, when he left the University of Iowa to go, where did he go? Miami Dolphins, and to coach with Joe Philbin. So there's a lot of camaraderie.

There's a whole lot of understanding the way that it is. And Kirk, as he becomes more conservative in his older years, bringing in somebody that will do things in a different way Paul Chris is not going to run the air raid Paul Chris is not going to run and shoot he knows how to win football games at this level he knows what Kirk Ferentz likely wants and wants to see so those are things that I like and another reason if it is down to these two

if it's Joe Philbin versus Paul Christ, and that is kind of the final component here that we're looking at, it's the quarterback coach side of it too. Paul Christ has been a quarterback coach throughout his tenure. Paul Christ has had that kind of connection with quarterbacks, and Joe Philbin is not. He's an offensive line guru. Now, we can argue that the offensive line needs to get better to get there, but with Iowa football, and look back,

you look at what Iowa has done in terms of recruiting. You look at the guys that they have brought in. From Spencer Petras, he was down to a couple of options. He could have either been Zach Wilson, who you see played poorly, but still was a top five pick in the NFL, who ended up being BYU, or Spencer Petras. They went with Petras and likely could have had either of those guys. That's a miss. Another guy that they were looking at very heavily that season was Trey Lance, another top five pick in the NFL. Now, it didn't work out for either Zach Wilson or them, but would you take either of those guys

over Spencer Petras? What we saw, yeah, I think we all know the answer to that one. Here recently, Joe Lavis, they brought him in. Couldn't unseat Deacon Hill as we watched that decrepit passing game throughout the course of the season. Couldn't do it.

These are recruiting misses. Deuce Hogan, he was the apple of a lot of your eye. You guys love Deuce Hogan. You loved what he said. You loved what he meant. One problem. He wasn't very good. And there's been a whole lot of that recently. It's gone from Iowa having, for a college program, an embarrassment of riches. Having C.J. Beathard unseating Jake Ruddock. Jake Ruddock then went on to Michigan, had a very good career, hung around the NFL for a couple of seasons. He had that component and he also had Tyler Regers around who went on, had a good run, went at Eastern Michigan. Cody Sokol, another guy that was in the mix during that time period.

Cody Sokol went down to Louisiana Tech, put up some monster seasons, and on and on. There was talent that was being brought in at that time. Have we heard anything about Carson May? Joe Labus is not exactly getting the most glowing offers out there. These are recruiting misses at the quarterback level. Iowa needs to reevaluate how they're going after quarterbacks. Even look at a guy like James Rezar who comes in this season. There's many people believe that he cannot be a high-level quarterback at the collegiate level, yet this was a guy that Iowa identified very early on. And because of that, Paul Chris is definitely the guy that is evaluated,

that has done a good job with quarterbacks, and a reason that I would definitely jump on board with him as it comes down to those two. Speaking of recruiting, we got a signing day coming up, and we're going to talk a whole lot more here on Locked On Hawkeyes about signing day and get into a little bit more. I hope to track down one of the guys from the recruiting sites, Tom Kakert of Hawkeye Report. They do a great job over there with On3 Media. David Eichold with 2447 Sports and Hawkeye Insider. A couple of guys I really respect in the recruiting world. It can be a dirty world, and those guys definitely do it right.

And I hope to get at least one of those guys, maybe both of them on sometime this week. And we'll talk a little bit more recruiting. And one thing with the recruiting going on, I was talking to a national scout earlier this week, and he said, you know, what are you talking about right now? I haven't seen a whole lot of movement from Iowa. And I said, well, I was done. And I was basically been done since July. It's the way that Kirk Ferentz, as he is molded and morphed

and evolved the program, it's something that here recently they've done a whole lot of, where they're happy being done with recruiting in the summertime and not having to take it into guys' senior year. Now, are there going to be misses? Probably. Are there guys that step up in their senior season, put together some tape, and all of a sudden you say, hey, we need that guy in our program, a guy like Brandon Myers. Remember him back in the day? He was targeted to go to UNI. And on signing day, they got a flip from him. Those kind of stories are more and more rare. And they're more and more rare also because of the recruiting calendar. The recruiting calendar,

as we sit here in December. So we got the goofy season that is coaches changing jobs and not just head coaches, but assistant coaches moving on, departing, being fired, all those things. But you have that component. And then you throw transfer portal season, coaches moving on. And now we have the signing day here in December. So they moved it up from the February signing day. The reasoning, I don't get. It is too much for coaches to try to be able to do all these things at a high level. I don't think there's any doubt that these guys are spread incredibly thin. And because, I mean, we just saw LeVar Woods. He's in Australia getting the new punter for the Hawkeyes, right? He's over there talking to Reese Dakin. And there's a lot still to be done

here. But it's different for Iowa football and different for the way that Iowa is and the way that they're built. I have been a long component when they moved this. It didn't make a lick of sense to me. It still doesn't. Maintain the February signing day as they still do. That has lost so much luster though.

It was a great day in February where college football got back on the map. You know, a month after you finish up the national championship, bowl games in the rear view mirror, you on the map. You know, a month after you finish up the national championship, bowl games in the rear view mirror, you're looking forward to spring practice, but you're still a month, maybe two months away. You had college football be back on the national landscape. And I thought it was a great time to have that.

Well, that's not the case anymore because most of these guys are signing in December. So you have that. And with so much other things going on, NFL coming down to the end of the season, and there's just so much happening at this point in time, it gets lost in the shuffle, at least on a national scale. I have maintained that having an August signing period would make a whole lot of sense. And certainly for a program like Iowa, that hay's in the barn, you know what you are, you kind of know what your numbers are going to be.

At least have a good feel. And the guys that absolutely no doubt about it, 100% want to be Iowa Hawkeyes. Those are the guys are going to sign on the dotted line come August. And then you're good. And then you're signed, sealed, and delivered. You know the scholarship is there.

You are good to go. And you don't have to worry about it anymore. I think that's something that would make a whole lot more sense. Do August for the guys that absolutely know and if you don't that's fine because you still have the February signing date. You still want to take visits during your senior year. You can still do that. Push it back to February. Make that important again but for the guys that know make it easy. Before their senior year even starts sign your national letter of intent,

and you are good to go. We're going to talk about this Iowa football class, what it is, what it looks like, and some excitement that is going to be there. Some of the guys that I target, some of the guys that I like, definitely going to get into that as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. A lot of news and also some potential news. An Iowa defensive coach being plucked by Phil Fleck. That's right.

We'll talk about that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Trent Conner back with you one final time. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So finally, Iowa and signing day. I want to start when I talk about this class with one guy. And I talk about one guy because he's my guy.

It's Brevin Dahl. I can't look at Brevin probably with the eyes that I should as a quote-unquote professional. I mean, that in its own right is kind of laughable, right? I mean, professional. I'm talking into a microphone here. I'm not splitting an atom, okay? We're talking Hawkeyes. But I grew up with Brevin's mom, Shanlyn, and his dad, Adam. Great people, a great family. I've known Brevin since he was a little kid. And him running around at our tailgates in Iowa City, tossing the football around. I've known Brevin forever.

And it's hard to look at a guy, a kid, and now a young man that you've known for this long without a tainted view. I can't root harder for an Iowa football player than I ever have, and that I will for Brevin Dowell. If you don't know much about Brevin, he was a young man that played the last three seasons, four seasons overall, played a little bit, I believe, as a freshman over at ADM. Highly successful during his junior campaign.

They made it to the Dome for the first time, playing at the second level of high school football. Not in the big school class, but 3A football. And Brevin's a dynamic athlete. He won the 400 as a freshman. He is super fast, super athletic, and he puts the work in. And that's another thing.

Just knowing what he does, the kind of motor that he has, he's got everything that you want. I mean, he is the embodiment of an Iowa football player. The kid that built himself up, that built himself into an incredible athlete and continues to put the work in. His senior year was cut short. In fact, I was over in Adele calling his game on radio. And first play in the second quarter, goes, gets tackled after a 12-yard gain, puts his hand down to brace himself as he's being tackled, and breaks his arm in a couple places.

And his senior season was over. And talking to him that night after the game, you could see the disappointment, yet you could also see the maturity of him. And he's had a lot of very mature moments that I have seen throughout this time. It says a lot. It really does. So no doubt about it, he is number one. So that aside, the rest of the class.

So Iowa right now over at On3, they are 29th in the country for the signing class. A class that, you look at it it makes a whole lot of sense. These are Kirk Ferentz guys, right? These are football guys. Check that, 40th in the country for the 2023 class. Overall, no, I had it right, 29th. Okay, got it right here. All right, 29th in the country.

The top rated guy from there, and this is a big part of this recruiting class, is the offensive line. We know the development of the offensive line has not gone very well recently with attrition, injuries, guys just not panning out. The offensive line has been a struggle and it's baffling how it's got to this point. What we know is Kirk Ferentz is an offensive line guru. What we know Brian Ferentz was as an offensive line coach. What they did bringing in Coach Barnett, you wouldn't think it would crater to the level that we've seen the last two seasons.

And though this past year it was better, it certainly wasn't great. It's baffling. So they went out there and they brought in a bunch of offensive line, a bunch of kids from Illinois. Will Nolan is the headliner of the recruiting class. Cody Fox, another kid from in-state, also very highly regarded. ESPN has him as a top 200 player in Cody Fox. When he took it, Nolan, he's rated 128th at on three, 238th over at 247. I mean,

these are big numbers. Remember, we're talking football. Top 100, top 150 for college basketball. That's one thing. There's only five guys on the floor. You got 11 on both sides of the football here. So it goes a whole lot deeper. You're making the top 250 list. You're in good shape.

Offensive line, Bodie McCaslin is another one. A lot of people really like him. Kind of a starter set type of kid from down in St. Charles. And he's a player that I'm excited about. His future feels like he's one of those guys. He's more of the developmental prospect, but a real chance that he's going to take a big step forward. And guys that have a chance to play early on. One of the first places I look is Jalen Watson. Jalen Watson's been a playmaker. Fred Russell's nephew. He's a guy that I think is going to be really fun to watch. Quick twitch kind of athlete. And Iowa, they need to build some depth at cornerback. And I think there's a real chance that that could happen at that position

if he ultimately goes there, which it sounds like he is going to. That's going to be there. Another guy maybe with the chance to play early on. We know wide receiver has been bad. And I'm very excited still about Caleb Brown and what he can be. I still think with the new OC and somebody competent calling plays, Seth Anderson can be somebody that you can count on. But we're not talking about the biggest wide receiver.

Iowa is missing an X receiver. That is a spot that I want to see Iowa hit very hard when they get into the portal a little bit deeper. I think they need that big receiver. But what about Reese Van Der Zee? I saw he had a big game in basketball over the weekend. But Reese is a guy, 6'5", 210. He can move. He's got size. He's got speed. You're looking for that big receiver. It hasn't worked for Jacob Bostic. They just have not been able to find that big receiver. It hasn't worked for Jacob Bostic. They just have not been able to find that other piece. When I was been at their best and had two really good receivers,

one was that big receiver, Marvin McNutt's of the world. You look recently, Brandon Smith, guys like that, that big physical guy. And then a second compliment to go along with it. You had Mo Brown and CJ Jones, right? You put those two together. I was still searching for that kind of number two because Caleb Brown, you get him out there, you get the ball to him in space, do quick things. We know that he can be a playmaker. You're looking for that big guy on the outside, somebody that could hit on the big plays. Maybe Reese Vandersee is exactly that guy. And

then finally, what other in James Reaser, the quarterback from Florida? I just wonder, because we talked about earlier quarterback development and what it is, what it's going to look like and exactly how it's going to be. You look at the numbers, they're not wowing. Completion percentage, not real high. That's a concern. I've heard this just the other day from an NFL scout. He said the one thing that is so rare to see an improvement at the next level is just accuracy. Accuracy. And they were talking about both Lamar Jackson. We've seen this also with Josh Allen.

It can happen, but it doesn't happen very often. And that's going from the college game to the NFL. Living at the high school, going to the collegiate level. You don't see it happen very often. And that would be my concern with Reaser. Can he be a guy that can get to that spot and be that kind of guy? Hey, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Also going on right now across the Locked On feed,

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Will there be any more to the offensive coordinator job? We will continue to break it down as we do each and every day. Your team every day here on the Lockdown Network. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.