Iowa fans will roll their eyes at head coach’s latest comments

The comment will not get Ferentz fired, though it certainly caused frustration in the fan base as his remarks came on the eve of a pivotal season for Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, Ferentz’s oldest son.

In February, Brian signed a revised one-year contract that stipulates the Hawkeyes must win seven games and score 25 points per game if he is to return in 2024. The contract also docked his pay by $50,000.

Despite owning the nation’s top defense last year, the Hawkeyes went just 8-5 and failed to score more than 10 points in four games and more than 20 points in seven.

The Hawkeyes offense prevented what could have easily been a more successful season had they been more effective with the ball. Yet, Ferentz’s stubborn love for ugly wins demonstrates complacency.

As offenses continue to become more explosive, Iowa’s 18.6 points per game in 2022 are not going to cut it. The top 20 scoring programs in 2022 scored a minimum of 34.5 points per game—nearly double the Hawkeyes—while 44 teams scored a minimum of 30 points per game—two scores greater than Iowa.

The disparity between the top end of college football and the Hawkeyes demonstrates a clear need to get better on offense, but Ferentz does not see it that way.

“Probably the most important stat, if you want to rank coordinators, would be wins per coordinator,” Ferentz said. “How many wins does this guy average when he is the coordinator? I have been around five coordinators in my career here…those guys all have pretty good numbers in terms of the amount of wins they were involved in as coordinators.”

If it is all about the wins, as Ferentz said, perhaps he should take a look at the victories his team left on the table because of its putrid offense.

Since Brian Ferentz became the offensive coordinator at Iowa in 2017, the Hawkeyes have lost 23 games across six seasons. Of those 23 games, 15 losses have been by one score and in six of those 23 games the Hawkeyes failed to score double-digit points.

During that same span, the Hawkeyes featured five top-20 finishes in total defense and never finished outside the top-20in scoring defense.

Until the Hawkeyes’ offense quits costing Iowa wins, Ferentz’s love for winning ugly is nothing other than complacency with a dash of nepotism.