Oh, what a difference a year can make with new people in charge. Last year at the bye, Iowa football was in a similar situation. The offense under offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz was horrendous, and the fan base called for changes.
Instead, head coach Kirk Ferentz issued a snippy response to the naysayers. Iowa wouldn’t consider a midseason coaching change. It had done things its way for years, and that Iowa way had led to a great deal of success in case you weren’t aware.
You can see the condescension from Ferentz on display during that press conference below.
Pointed out a few facts to Kirk Ferentz about the offense over the past calendar year and them being ranked the lowest in the country in yards… “We won 10 games last year I don’t know if you’re aware of that…”
Full answer: pic.twitter.com/Px4cBF8wJ7
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) October 9, 2022
A year later, the situation isn’t much better. Despite making moves over the offseason, the Brian Ferentz-led offense is still a disaster. The team has the 118th-ranked scoring offense in the nation: 19.5 points per game. That’s a far cry from the laughably manageable 25 points per game mandated in Ferentz’s designated performance objectives.
This isn’t the same ol’ Iowa, though. Not with Beth Goetz calling the shots. Not content to sit around and smile about the glory years of old like her predecessor, Goetz made a decision that took real guts.
It was announced on Monday that Brian Ferentz would not be back next season. After Iowa’s bowl game this season, his tenure as offensive coordinator is through.
Now, this may seem like an easy decision. The bare minimum really. But many Iowa fans — and general pessimists out there — believed Iowa would not seriously get rid of Brian Ferentz. With the nepotism and the do-nothing attitude of the organization’s powers that be, it seemed impossible.
With Cade McNamara and numerous offensive players going down this year, it seemed the perfect excuse was brewing to give Brian one more chance at the helm in vain.
Goetz was not having it.
Saddled with one of the unique — and let’s be honest, embarrassing — situations in all of college football by former athletics director Gary Barta, the interim AD stepped up and made the proper decision. It’s a massive decision, too, letting go of the coach’s son, one of the longest-tenured coaches in college football history, all while still only being the interim AD.
It perfectly summarizes Goetz’s entire tenure as the interim athletics director at Iowa. She had zero intentions on being a placeholder. This was her job for the taking and she was going to change Iowa for the better.
For years, we’ve been saying somebody needed to help take Iowa into the future of college sports. This was highlighted even more in recent years, with the vast expansion of superconferences, the transfer portal and name, image and likeness licensing.
In just one season as interim AD, Goetz has helped Iowa embrace the portal in multiple sports, heavily invest in the idea of NIL and made a move that has been desperately needed. The program will not just magically get better with Brian Ferentz gone.
However, he was a clear and evident problem, and keeping him around was a declaration of unseriousness from the program to both fans and future recruits. “Don’t buy into us, we’re content with this.”
It needed to be done for Iowa to move forward as a football program, and Beth Goetz made the tough decision for the better of the school.
The time to promote Goetz to permanent AD was yesterday folks.
Many across social media had similar thoughts as Hawkeye nation joined in praising Goetz’s leadership.