Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

This is clearly not always the case, but most firings happen shortly after the season concludes. If Ferentz had been looking to replace O'Keefe, I assume the move would have happened much earlier.

Not that it was a no-brainer decision for O'Keefe to leave, but I see why he took the job with the Dolphins. If he wanted to try his hand coaching in the NFL at some point, this was the time to do it - brand new coaching staff, he'll be working for someone he knows well, etc.

And honestly, it's not all that easy to build a great resume as the OC at Iowa. In general, those guys are evaluated by statistical measures, winning and impressive play-calling, so given Iowa's scheme and general offensive philosophy, it would be difficult for him to turn heads to the extent that he'd he'd have a ton of options to move on to a more prestigious position, whether that's as HC of a college team or OC of an NFL team.

Ferentz will never be on the Hotseat. He has yet to have a losing season after his initial two seasons. Our down season was at 6-6, still way better than most schools down seasons. We have been bowl elgible for 10 years in a row(I know there are way too many bowls though). He consistently puts a winner on the field at a school with little to no in state talent in comparison to most schools. We never develop much depth at Iowa due to large amounts of attrition(all schools suffer from this). He is the Dean of the B1G. He is Highly regarded at all levels of coaching, from high school to college to the pros. You rarely if ever hear a negative comment about Ferentz unless you are a sensationalist writer with an axe to grind(Rob Howe). In today's society its all about what have you done for me lately in the public's eye, but the people that really matter and make these decisions are smarter than the general public, which leads me to believe that they know we have a great representative of the state of Iowa leading our football program.

No breaking point for me. Kirk 4Life homer here.

This is a great post. I'm honestly still thinking about where I stand on this. I do think there has to be some tipping point, but I don't think it's gotten to that stage yet.

But along the lines of what you're saying, there are coaches that have been able to win consistently in places with as many - or more - inherent disadvantages as Ferentz has at Iowa. I know I bring him up a lot here, but the job Chris Petersen (and Dan Hawkins before him) has done at Boise State is unbelievable. While Iowa isn't in a prime location, at least it's an upper-tier B1G program that recruits around the Midwest know about and are excited about. I realize Boise State doesn't play a grueling schedule week in and week out, but for them to beat Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Georgia is truly remarkable. Whether it's him or someone like him, there may be someone out there that could do better than Ferentz at Iowa and would be willing to turn down more prestigious offers. It won't be easy to find that person, but it's definitely possible.

I've always thought Boise St. is a tough measuring stick because of their lack of competition. The big fish in a little pond.

However, I think schools like West Virginia and Nebraska continue to be good measuring sticks. Schools without an inherent instate talent, play in a good conference (even moreso for WV now), geographically are near major metropolitan areas and football hotbeds, and each school own the state fan allegiance -- there is nothing in the state greater than Mountaineer and Cornhusker football.

Iowa actually has advantages in that it is a better school by far academically than either school and Iowa City as a whole is far better as a college town. Although, albeit, Morgantown is certainly known for being a party school, their campus is nothing compared to Iowa City.

I would throw schools like Missouri and Va Tech into the mix as well, but they have inherent instate recruiting advantages that Iowa will never have.

I can't predict catastrophic events, which IMO is what it would take for him to ever be fired. I will never say never but I can't see it ever happening. Ferentz is far too invested in this program to ever let it slip that far.

One thing is for sure I will never be in this crowd