The Iowa Hawkeyes have their new offensive coordinator. It’s former Western Michigan head coach and, most recently, Green Bay Packers analyst Tim Lester.
Iowa football and men’s basketball play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin shared an exclusive conversation with Lester on the Hawkeye Radio Network prior to Iowa basketball’s win over Ohio State on Friday night.
Lester shared why Iowa was the right spot for him at this point in his career.
“You know, it was between being an NFL quarterback coach and having a chance to work for coach Ferentz, which being from Chicago, a lot of my really good friends went to school here. My sister is a graduate of Iowa. She’s been a nurse for I want to say 27 years now, so I came down here to visit her.
“I came down here for graduation and I don’t know if you guys remember Matt Bowen, but I played T-ball with him and I’ve known him for a very long time. So, a lot of connections to this place and the coaching staff and everything I’ve heard about what it is to work here and be a part of this football program. That was just too great of an opportunity to pass up,” Lester said.
As Lester is tasked with fixing the nation’s worst total offense from the 2023 season, how much freedom will he really have to put his fingerprints on this Hawkeye offense?
Dolphin caught up with Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and asked how much offensive play-calling freedom Lester would have within Ferentz’s parameters.
“I mean, it’s very similar. We’ve been here 25 years now and the parameters have been pretty much the same. There are certain things that just aren’t negotiable when you talk about offensive football. Ball security is a really big thing, and we didn’t do a great job of that this past year. Our turnover-takeaway margin was not good. Historically, when we do a good job there, we win and win a lot of games. We did win a lot of games this year, but we could’ve improved in that area and ’09 is the other exception to the rule. We were a top-10 team and didn’t really do a good job there.
“That’s one thing right there. Just having respect to our three segments involved in the game and we want to be I think mindful of what helps the defense, what hurts the defense, mindful of field position, all those kinds of things. The bottom line is there’s a lot of ways to move the ball and move the ball effectively and have regard to time of possession, some of those things. Ultimately, the game’s still about scoring more points than your opponent. We historically have played pretty well on defense. We plan to continue that. Just really excited. I think Tim’s a guy who appreciates having balance. I really think in football, modern football … I’ll say modern football, but really the last probably 40 years, unless you’re an option team, you can’t just run the ball. Unless you’re a spread team that’s going to be willing to throw the ball every snap, which has some downside to it, I think having the ability to do both is always going to be critical,” Ferentz said.
Asked what factors went into choosing Lester as his next OC, Ferentz shared the following.
“Just I think the whole process worked really well. Talked to maybe six people and really four extensively. Really my summation is all four of those guys would have been great fits here, so it was just a matter of kind of working through the process a little bit. Tim just really impressed all of us I really think with his thoughts about offense, just his personality. I think the fact that he’s been a head coach — it wasn’t a requisite — but I think it’s certainly beneficial.
“I think he really appreciates and understands just how much goes into winning a football game and how many different people and segments are involved. Feel really good about it and it’s great to get him here on campus finally. Really it times up perfectly because we’re all coming off the road from recruiting. In effect, this is our last day of being on the road if you will. We host a bunch of prospects tomorrow, so he’ll be able to meet some of those players and then next week we’ll shift our gear and start looking toward this season,” Ferentz said.
Lester is scheduled to meet with the Iowa media on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Hawkeyes’ spring slate begins at the end of March as Iowa gears up for the 2024 college football season.
The Hawkeyes open the 2024 season against Illinois State from Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31.
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