Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Who could replace QB coach Ken O'Keefe for the Iowa football team? | Iowa Hawkeyes podcast

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

Iowa football quarterback coach Ken O'Keefe shockingly announced his decision to step away yesterday. We break down what this means for the Iowa Hawkeyes and whether or not it impacts their commitment of 4-star quarterback Marco Lainez III. We then look at potential replacement options like former Iowa quarterbacks Drew Tate or David Raih. We wrap up the episode with a preview of tonight's matchup between the Iowa basketball team and the Michigan Wolverines and how Fran McCaffery's squad can leave Carver with a win.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline..net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host. Excited to be back for another episode today. And we have some interesting news in Iowa football world. Ken O'Keefe, longtime staff member and former quarterbacks coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes,

has stepped down. We're going to be talking about that and what the impacts could be. We also have a big men's game coming up tonight between Iowa and Michigan. So we're going to be covering that as well. But first, before we get to that, I want to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at. And also on YouTube Monday through Friday to search Locked On Hawkeyes. So let's get into it.

Ken O'Keefe, a bit of a surprise there. I was drafting up the agenda for this show, and all of a sudden I get the news that Ken O'Keefe is stepping down from the Iowa Hawkeyes. And what a bombshell to drop on a Wednesday afternoon. Am I right? Ken O'Keefe, the longtime staff member of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the guy who preceded over the best offense ever under the Kirk Ferens era, is no longer going to be coaching quarterbacks for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

So we're going to talk a little bit about the thoughts behind that and also who could step in for Ken O'Keefe. First and foremost, Ken O'Keefe was close to retiring, right? He's the oldest staff member on the team. I believe he's 68 right now. When we talked about Drew Tate becoming the UNI quarterback coach a couple weeks ago, one of the things I had mentioned was the fact that Ken O'Keefe only has a few years left at the max, right?

And that would really set up well for a guy like a Drew Tate to come in after spending a few years at UNI, potentially come in, be the quarterbacks coach for the University of Iowa. Now, it's interesting timing to come February 16th. Usually, if you were going to step down at the end of the season, you would have probably made that decision already. Now, Kirk Ferens did say in a press conference at the end of the season that they'd be evaluating everything, especially on the offensive side of the football. He realized the passing attack was not where it needed to be,

and he said they would be evaluating that in February. To me, it seems kind of like a mutual decision, especially when you factor in the fact that Iowa is going to honor the remaining terms of Ken O'Keefe's contract, and he's going to stay on the staff in an off-field role. Not necessarily on the coach's staff, but in the Iowa Hawkeye program, he's going to remain in an off-the-field role. To me, that says a little bit about where Iowa's at.

They are not happy with the quarterback play. They're not happy with the passing attack. And they want a fresh start. They want another opportunity. Now, this is just me speculating, right? So don't go out and say this is exactly what happened. This is me speculating on the situation, given the circumstances. Again, weird timing. They're honoring his contract, still a longtime staff member. It's February 16th. What an interesting time to just step down. Now it sounds like the

quarterbacks were just informed of this yesterday. So I don't know kind of what that whole process looked like. But again, now we're focusing on what can go, what happens next, right? I think first off, let's talk about recruiting. Ken O'Keefe was a very pivotal person in the recruitment of Marco Lannis III, the big-time four-star quarterback we landed in the class of 2023. He was a big-time, pivotal player in that recruitment. I don't think this hurts that recruitment. Mark Olanis has mentioned several times about not just the quarterback coach, but Iowa in general, right? He has a relationship with Nate Stanley. He has a relationship with Spencer Petras. Tony Raciopi has a relationship with the

program. So I don't think this impacts the recruitment of Mark Olanis. I don't think it's the best news in the world for him. He's not excited about it. But I think, nevertheless, it's not going to change him coming to the University of Iowa. I still think he's going to be around. And when you look at the fact that I don't think Ken O'Keefe was going to be around for Marco Lannis' entire tenure, you have to imagine Marco knew that as well. So who could Iowa target next?

Well, there's three guys. I think when you look at how Iowa has traditionally gone after key people in the program, you have guys who have been there since the very beginning. Look at the Phil Parkers, LeVar Woods. You look at these guys, Kendall Keefe even, right? Kirk formed his staff. VAR Woods. You look at these guys, Kendall Keefe even, right? Kirk formed his staff, but since then, he's been willing to bring in guys who are former players in the program.

I think the most obvious person here is Liddell Betts. Now, I've heard a lot of people talk about, well, you can't bring in a guy with limited experience, so they're not going to target a Drew Tate, But look at Liddell Betts. Liddell Betts, his experience was limited at the high school level for several years. And now he's the running backs coach at the University of Iowa, and it's paying dividends right now. The University of Iowa, the recruiting process is going really well with Liddell Betts at the helm. He has that track record in the state of Florida. He has the ability to recruit running backs. We've seen him get two high profile running backs, Caleb Johnson, Jasmine Patterson towards the end of the recruitment cycle. And I can only imagine his pedigree has something to do

with that. So when you look about it, you look at experience, don't just write a guy off because he doesn't have collegiate experience. Don't write a guy off because he has not been a quarterback coach at this level. I think it's also worth noting that Iowa does like to find guys who fit the program. Right? They understand the culture of the program. So when you're looking at a guy, you want a guy who's going to come in, who's going to be a good recruiter. He's going to be energetic.

Bring a little bit of a spice to this Iowa passing attack to the quarterback's room. Because you look at Ken O'Keefe, you know, he did not do the best job in developing these quarterbacks. Now I understand he has not given a lot of time to develop the quarterbacks. The offense is very, very complex and nuanced, which requires quarterbacks to spend a lot of time just learning the offense and not necessarily focusing on mechanics. But you want a guy who can come in,

work on some of those mechanical things, help develop these quarterbacks to become better quarterbacks and lead this program to newer and greater heights. Now, there are probably other candidates out there that Kirk Ferentz is looking at, but if I were Kirk Ferentz, here are the three guys I would target. First and foremost, Drew Tate, without a doubt. Drew Tate has been successful. He's been successful at the Canadian football level. He was successful at UT Martin. I think it was UT Martin last year, the Skyhawks, leading them to a 10-3 record as the quarterback coach. He is now the quarterback coach of the Northern Iowa Panthers. He bleeds black and gold.

He loves the Hawkeye program. He was a dual threat quarterback, a guy who can come in and immediately bring something to this quarterback room that we haven't seen. Right. And I think when you look at his development, his trajectory, he wanted to get back to Iowa. He wants to be in the state of Iowa.

Now, yes, he just recently joined the Northern Iowa staff. That wouldn't look the best to leave that staff, but by no means is he tied to that and cannot leave that staff. Now, I don't know the contract terms. Maybe there's some stipulations there, but Drew Tate, I think, would be a home run higher for that quarterback room. Bring a little edge. Bring a little spice, right? He has familiarity with his offense. He is familiar with Brian Ferentz. Times, I believe, overlap. Let me check that. It could have been pretty close there. In fact, he might have actually been, I think Brian Ferentz is actually Drew Tate's center now that I'm thinking about it

off the top of my head. Drew Tate would be my guy to go for. I think you could also look at David Ray, a former walk-on quarterback. Previously the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt. Spent time in the NFL. Loves the Iowa program. The Iowa program loves him. He's currently without a job right now. And I think if you're looking at David Ray, maybe you look at it as a co-coordinator position, right?

Quarterbacks coach slash passing game coordinator of the offense. Now that's a pretty new age principle for the Iowa Hawkeyes. But if you're Kirk Ferentz, you have to look at this and say, what can we do to develop this passing game even more? We have the wide receivers coach in Kelton Copeland. We have a guy who understands what our running principles are in Brian Ferentz. Now you can say what you want about the running game. A lot of that came down to the fact the running attack was hindered by the offensive line play

and the inexperience on that line. But maybe you bring in a David Ray who can help out with the passing attack and being a quarterback's coach, work hand in hand with Brian Ferenc to really bolster this offense going forward. Another guy who I guarantee is not on the radar of the Iowa Hawkeyes, but I would like to see as a candidate is Ben Arbuckle. Now you're probably wondering who in the heck is Ben Arbuckle? Well, Ben Arbuckle is currently in the same position, quarterback coach, co-offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky. Ben Arbuckle was instrumental in the passing attack with Bailey Zappi, who put together one of the most prestigious passing seasons

in the history of college football. It was a very high powered passing attack. He followed his previous offensive coordinator from Houston Baptist to Western Kentucky, He followed his previous offensive coordinator from Houston Baptist to Western Kentucky, former college quarterback himself. He's a guy who I think would bring a very interesting ideology in terms of passing attacks to the Iowa offense. It could definitely spice things up a little bit. He's a young, youthful guy. The difference is he hasn't been in the program yet.

Another guy people have talked about as well is current director of player development, Jason Manton. I don't see that being a candidate at this point, but it could also be as well. So as we get more information on this, we'll make sure to bring all that information to you right here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. This is a big, big hire for the Hawks. With the struggles they have had, they need to have a home run on this hire. So we're going to be covering all that right here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Coming up, we're going to talk about men's basketball taking on Michigan. Before we do that, though, I want to remind you that football season might be over, but basketball season is in full swing with both pro and college hoops going on right now.

We are in February, which means we are one month away from March Madness. It is February 17th as you are listening to this. March Madness, a month away, and you want to make sure you have all of your betting needs taken care of which is why I recommend BetOnline.net From all the latest odds, totals, player performance props to where the next fired coach is going to land, BetOnline.net is the number one spot for all of your sports

betting needs. BetOnline remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season. And it's not just basketball. BetOnline.net is your source for hockey, boxing, and UFC odds, right down to the Olympic coverage that is going on right now. So head over to their website or use your mobile device and learn more about the trends and action you can bet on

at BetOnline.net. BetOnline.net, where the game starts. And again, thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. And we're going to cover the men's basketball game,

but I quickly want to make a note. If you did not get a chance to listen to our episode yesterday, I highly recommend it. Coach David Diani did a phenomenal job breaking down the success of the women's soccer team, and I really enjoyed the interview. I think you are too, regardless of whether or not you are a soccer fan. So definitely check out that conversation.

So looking ahead to tonight, Iowa takes on a Michigan Wolverines team that has struggled mightily this season. And that is an understatement, right? Michigan was projected to be a top 10 team. They returned a top player in Hunter Dickinson, who was a big player last year as a true freshman, going into a sophomore year after flirting with the NBA draft. They have not been that good.

They currently sit at 13 and 10. They are behind Iowa in the Big Ten standings. This is a huge game for the Hawks. As we talked about on Tuesday's show, we kind of broke down what Iowa needed to do to make a run at possibly having a fourth seed in the Big Ten tournament. But regardless, you want to have the highest seed you possibly can so you face the lowest seeded top team, which would be the number four seed if they were able to get up to the five

seed or the three seed if they were able to get up to the sixth seed, right? So you want to continue to bolster that resume. You can't afford to lose this game, though. That's what it really all boils down to. Michigan coming on the road is a quad two game for the Hawks at this point. Currently, Michigan is the number 36 team in net ranking for a home team or home game. You need a 30th ranking or higher for that to be a quad one win. So this is a quad two game, but nevertheless, Iowa cannot afford to get off to a bad start

in this three game stretch that includes Michigan, followed by Ohio State and then Michigan State all in the next four to five days. Right now, Ken Palm predicts this as an 80 to 74 win for Iowa, giving Michigan a 30% chance of winning this game. Now, when you look at the way games for Michigan, they have struggled on the road. They lost to Purdue, 82-76. They lost to Michigan State, 83-67. They lost to Illinois, 68-53. Rutgers, 75-67. UCF, which is the 96th ranked team, according to Kempom, 85-71. And they lost to North Carolina, the 39th-ranked team, 72-51 on the road.

The only teams they've beaten on the road, Penn State, the 86-ranked team. Indiana was a solid win, 80-62. Indiana's been all sorts of ups and downs. And Nebraska, 102-67 on the road. So not a very impressive road record to this point. And in their last six games, they're 3-3. So they've struggled a little bit even in the last couple of games. After having a big win over Purdue two games ago, 82-58 on their home court,

they come to turn around and lose to Ohio State at home, 68-57. And that game gave me some indication about how Iowa could attack this Michigan team. We're going to talk about that here in a second. But first, let's talk about Michigan. What do they bring to the table here? The 22nd-ranked adjusted offense, the 80th adjusted defense. They're a very slow pace of play, though. 292nd in adjusted tempo.

Now, what Michigan does well, they hammer down low. They have a big team, a very tall team, which could be an interesting matchup for the Hawks. Their small forward is 6'8". At 6'11", they have a top 20 ranked player in the entire nation, Musa Diabati, the 11th overall recruit in the 2021 class, 6'11 forward. And at center, they have Hunter Johnson, that 7'1 sophomore, who eventually will be an NBA player.

So it is a very tall team, but a very inexperienced team, which could also attribute to some of the struggles they've had on the road. 293rd inexperienced. They're starting two true freshmen and one true sophomore. Now, they do have two seniors at guards, at the guard spots, which will be interesting for Iowa to see how they match up there with obviously more than likely Jordan Bohannon and a Tony Perkins. But the height is going to be interesting to see how Iowa can handle that.

I think it's not going to be a problem. Michigan's also a team that does not shoot the three ball a lot. They do shoot it decently, 35%, but they are one of the lowest rated teams in terms of points gathered by three-point shooting. They like to get it down low to their big men, to their 6'8", to their 6'11", their 7'1 guy. But offensively, they struggle sometimes with turnovers. We've seen Iowa do a really good job of making teams play late into the shot clock, forcing turnovers for shot clock violations.

That could be something we see a lot of in this game, Iowa versus Michigan. But as far as what to watch out for, right? Again, Michigan is a team that's going to go down low. They're going to start, and it starts and stops with Hunter Dickinson, who is a phenomenal player. Currently shooting 60% from the floor, 39% from three, averaging 18.1 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. The other guy to watch out for is senior guard Eli Brooks,

who is shooting 40% from three, 12.3 points per game, 3.6 rebounds per game, and threeounds per game. The other guy to watch out for is senior guard Eli Brooks, who is shooting 40% from three, 12.3 points per game, 3.6 rebounds per game, and three assists per game. Those two guys are really the guys to stop for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Jordan Bohannon and Tony Perkins need to do a good job of limiting Eli Brooks. You do not want to let him get hot. Hunter Dickinson, I think he's going to get his to a degree. You focus on stopping the other guys. Make another guy beat you.

Kind of play the old Luka Garza effect. Phillip Abracha is going to be undersized in this game versus Hunter Dickinson. It is what it is. He's 6'9". Hunter Dickinson is 7'1". There's a significant size disadvantage for the Hawks there. But there's an advantage in quickness. And what we saw in that Ohio State game

bodes well for the Iowa Hawkeyes. In that game, EJ Liddell went 7 of 12 for 28 points. He also got Michigan into foul trouble. Both big men had four fouls. Now, Michigan does not like to play guys in foul trouble. They are 329th in two-foul participation. They're just above Fran McCaffrey, who doesn't believe in that at all. EJ also had three blocks.

To me, this goes to show you that we can take advantage of their size with some of our athleticism and speed, which I'm going to talk about here in a few short moments. But first, we've got to take a quick break, do announcements from our sponsors, and we'll get back to you in just a few moments. All right, y'all. So we were talking about what Michigan brings to the table.

Now let's talk about how Iowa can attack them. And I talked about EJ Liddell and the success he had for Ohio State against Michigan in that win this past week. I think Keegan Murray can replicate that success. Keegan Murray is more athletic, a better driver, in my opinion, than EJ Liddell. Now, how to attack a big man lineup? Trey Demp said, when we talked to him last week, the former Northwestern guard, said these kind of matchups are actually really great for Iowa.

Maybe put Keegan at the five and Chris at the four, Patrick at the three. You attack them with your size and speed relative to that size. They're not going to win the big man game, right? We're not going to see Joshua Gundele come into this game and hammer down low against a hundred Dickinson, but maybe we see a Chris and a Keegan go against their six 11 forward and a hundred Dickinson at seven one, use that speed to get them out, beat them, drive past them, and use that speed to take advantage of that on the defensive end of the basketball court as well. You can still get some blocks.

You can still be quick. You can get some turnovers there. So that is something I'm really interested to see. When we talked to Ray Demps, he had mentioned he feels like those tall, kind of lumbering teams like a Michigan could be a great advantage for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now, going on to Chris Murray, he's also mentioned the fact that he really likes the lineup with Keegan and Chris.

Well, Chris hasn't been playing a lot as of late. Heard some rumblings that he might be sick, dealing with some illness, but it would be great to see Chris get in this game and play several more minutes in this game, again, utilizing that size and that speed to take advantage of a slower and taller Michigan squad. Against Nebraska, he did get 20 minutes, but prior to that, Maryland 13 minutes, Minnesota 15 minutes. Against Penn State and Purdue, 25 and 24, Rutgers 11, Minnesota 11.

So I would like to see Chris probably get 20 minutes in this game and really take advantage of that versatility that he has to guard two through five as does Keegan guarding two through five so that'll be interesting to me as well something to watch out for in this game versus Michigan slow starts has been a problem for Iowa okay so we need to get off to a quicker start at home get that arena going we have seen slow starts plague this Hawkeye team it hasn't been an issue the last three games as Iowa has been able to figure things out, turn it around against poorer teams, but we need to do a better job of starting quick

and keeping it going, and it starts with Michigan. Now, we talked a little bit about Iowa. Is this team legit? Is this team trending up after a dominant performance versus Nebraska? Rubber meets the road against Michigan. This is a Michigan team that has struggled throughout the year, but has a lot of talent.

Iowa needs to take care of business at home against Michigan. We talked about the fact that they are a 36 team in net ranking, so it's not going to be a quad one win, but nevertheless, this is still a good basketball team, and Iowa has not consistently beaten good basketball teams yet.

They need to get this win versus Michigan. So what to expect here? Again, Kempom is projecting a six-point win for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I think the way Iowa is playing offensively since, they made that change to put Jordan Bohannon at that one. We've seen him play really well. We've seen him get hot at times. I could see a good game put Jordan Bohannon at that one. We've seen him play really well. We've seen him get hot at times. I could see a good game from Jordan Bohannon.

I like the opportunities we see with Keegan and Chris attacking this defense, having their quickness. I think Patrick McCaffrey coming off a little bit of a bad game could pull it together. And bad game is relative, right? It wasn't a great game versus Nebraska. Patrick McCaffrey has been coming on as of late as well. So I think this team can show up, and they're going to say,

we need to get this win, right? We absolutely need to start off quickly against the Michigan Wolverines because we have a very tough matchup ahead of us versus Ohio State on the road, followed by a Michigan State team. Regardless of the results of what happened last night, Michigan State is still a solid quality opponent. I think Iowa is going to win. So if you can find minus five or minus six,

I would hop on that at betonline.net to take the Iowa Hawkeyes to beat the Michigan Wolverines. That does do it for our show today, though. If you want more betting advice, check out the Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports. They do a great job of breaking down three to four games every single day, giving you who you should bet on at betonline.net. That does do it for our show today, though.

On tomorrow's episode, we're going to be breaking down the game, Iowa versus Michigan, and also giving you a preview of the Saturday game, Iowa versus Ohio State, so be on the lookout for that. Thank you all for tuning in, though, to today's episode. Have a fantastic Thursday, Hawkeye Nation, and as always, let's go Hawks.