October 12, 2022 • 6 mins
George Wrighster gets into how Brian Ferentz came to be Iowa's offensive coordinator, and the statistics that point to nepotism being the only reason head coach Kirk Ferentz has kept his son employed. #fsrweekends
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're ready to check your feelings at the door. This
is am I rice ster? Or am I wrong? We're
bringing new facts and only the truth. Now, am I
rice ster or am I wrong? We need to talk
about the nepotism that's ruining the football program over as
the University of Iowa. Now, some of you may not
(00:23):
know what's going on, as you might just be checking
the football box scores on Sunday morning, and then you
might be wondering if the Iowa score was accidentally a
misprint from the era of leather helmets and no forward passes.
So for those of you who are not up to
speed on the country's slowest offense, here's the deal. I
was head coach Kirk Ferns, who has been with the
(00:45):
Hawkeye since damn They're the nineteen hundreds. Has all three
of his sons come through the program as players during
his tenure. Now, his oldest son, Brian, was hired to
be the offensive line coach in two thousand and twelve
after three years as an assist it with the New
England Patriots organization. Well, if you follow football at any level,
then you know that nepotism is beyond commonplace. Plenty of
(01:08):
coaches throughout the countries have their children on staff or
at some point in time, on staff in some capacity.
The list is endless, Bill Belichick, Mike Shanahan, Marvin Lewis,
Pete Carroll, Jeff Fisher, Andy Reid, Steve Spurri or Bobby Bowden,
Shane Biemer of Joe Paterno. And it might be easier
(01:28):
to actually make a list of coaches who didn't employ
their own kids. So what makes kirk parents and Brian
Farren's arrangement any different. Well, first of all, the University
of Iowa actually has rules in place and regulations that
are supposed to prevent nepotism. In order to get around
those rules, in two thousand and twelve, the program was
(01:48):
forced to lie and cover up Kirk had any hand
in hiring Brian to be on staff, and despite Brian
saying that the reason he took the job was because
his father called him up and asked him to apply.
And after that initial live though the Iowa guard rail
that was supposedly was put in place to give the
appearance of objectivity, is that for the last eleven seasons,
(02:13):
Brian Farrens has technically been a direct report of the
athletic director, Gary Barter, and not the head coach, his father,
even though that he's the offensive coordinator, so technically father
and son both have the same boss that, independent of
any input from Brian's father, decided, after five seasons of
(02:34):
coaching his own brothers on the offensive line, that Brian
was ready for the promotion to be the offensive coordinator.
And that brings me to my next point on why
this is an extra special brand of nepotism because Brian
Farrens absolutely objectively sucks at his job and in the
last five recruiting classes, IOWA has landed to total four
(02:56):
star skill position players Arlen Bruce and Keegan John and
they would have there would have been a third, But
two thousand and twenty three running back Kendrick Rafael saw
the offense in action and was like, nod, is they
for me? Player? So he can't recruit? So what some
people are more into being innovators and less salesman. Well,
(03:17):
not just Brian Ferns. He managed to have seven plus
future NFL players on his and twenty nineteen offenses and
never ranked better than eighty six in the country in
those seasons. But hey, sometimes it's about getting your own
players into your system, right, So let's look at the
last three years, over which they've gone a very respectable
(03:38):
nineteen and nine. Well, the Hawk guys went from forty
nationally in points per game during the COVID short and
twenties season to ninety ninth last year, and this year
they're sitting at a hundred and twenty seven, just ahead
of the University of Colorado, whose offense is putrid and
in offensive yardage, which Kirk Ferris has called an overrated
(04:00):
stat Iowa went from thirteenth in the Big Ten last
year to dad last in the country this year, and
so far behind last place in the Big Ten that
if you double their output, they would still only be
in third place. Do you realize how ridiculous that that is?
There are statistics and there are realities that can be
used to crush every single excuse to be continuing to
(04:24):
employ the head coach's son as the Hawk Eyes play caller.
For those who say that i was a running team
and they shouldn't expect to put up big numbers in
the passing game, well, there are currently thirty eight FBS
players that have rushed for more yards than Iowa has
as an entire team, plus the Iowa Hawk Eyes have
(04:46):
not had a running back selected in the NFL draft
since two thousand and nine. And for those that say
that Iowa is all about playing for the field goal, well,
four out of every ten possessions for Iowa this year
have ended without one single first down. And they aren't
playing for a field goal. They're they're lucky if they
ever attempt a field goal. Now, six times in the
(05:09):
last calendar year, Iowa has been held to seven points
or less and they only have eighteen offensive touchdowns in
their last fourteen games. That's barely more than one a game.
And you can tell yourself, well, that's just Big Ten football,
But is it Marvin Harrison Jr. Playing in the same
Big Ten as Iowa. He has twelve touchdowns in his
(05:31):
last seven games, all by himself at Ohio State. Now
Gary Barter, Brian's real boss, says that they're not going
to evaluate the status of any position coach until the
end of the season, which means we're gonna get to
see the worst offense in football take the field six
more times this year, starting with a guaranteed blood bath
(05:51):
at Ohio State on October twenty two. And we don't
have the ability to see iowa struggles through a father's eyes.
All we see from outside is that it is an
offense that can't gain yards, can't score, can't recruit, and
it's had one wide receiver selected in the NFL drafts
in two thousand and thirteen. Now, if Brian Farens didn't
(06:12):
have his father's last name, what defense would there be
for keeping him on. I can't think of a single
defense on Earth that would be good enough to justify
keeping him, not even Iowa's. Let that sink in
You're ready to check your feelings at the door. This
is am I rice ster? Or am I wrong? We're
bringing new facts and only the truth. Now, am I
rice ster or am I wrong? We need to talk
about the nepotism that's ruining the football program over as
the University of Iowa. Now, some of you may not
(00:23):
know what's going on, as you might just be checking
the football box scores on Sunday morning, and then you
might be wondering if the Iowa score was accidentally a
misprint from the era of leather helmets and no forward passes.
So for those of you who are not up to
speed on the country's slowest offense, here's the deal. I
was head coach Kirk Ferns, who has been with the
(00:45):
Hawkeye since damn They're the nineteen hundreds. Has all three
of his sons come through the program as players during
his tenure. Now, his oldest son, Brian, was hired to
be the offensive line coach in two thousand and twelve
after three years as an assist it with the New
England Patriots organization. Well, if you follow football at any level,
then you know that nepotism is beyond commonplace. Plenty of
(01:08):
coaches throughout the countries have their children on staff or
at some point in time, on staff in some capacity.
The list is endless, Bill Belichick, Mike Shanahan, Marvin Lewis,
Pete Carroll, Jeff Fisher, Andy Reid, Steve Spurri or Bobby Bowden,
Shane Biemer of Joe Paterno. And it might be easier
(01:28):
to actually make a list of coaches who didn't employ
their own kids. So what makes kirk parents and Brian
Farren's arrangement any different. Well, first of all, the University
of Iowa actually has rules in place and regulations that
are supposed to prevent nepotism. In order to get around
those rules, in two thousand and twelve, the program was
(01:48):
forced to lie and cover up Kirk had any hand
in hiring Brian to be on staff, and despite Brian
saying that the reason he took the job was because
his father called him up and asked him to apply.
And after that initial live though the Iowa guard rail
that was supposedly was put in place to give the
appearance of objectivity, is that for the last eleven seasons,
(02:13):
Brian Farrens has technically been a direct report of the
athletic director, Gary Barter, and not the head coach, his father,
even though that he's the offensive coordinator, so technically father
and son both have the same boss that, independent of
any input from Brian's father, decided, after five seasons of
(02:34):
coaching his own brothers on the offensive line, that Brian
was ready for the promotion to be the offensive coordinator.
And that brings me to my next point on why
this is an extra special brand of nepotism because Brian
Farrens absolutely objectively sucks at his job and in the
last five recruiting classes, IOWA has landed to total four
(02:56):
star skill position players Arlen Bruce and Keegan John and
they would have there would have been a third, But
two thousand and twenty three running back Kendrick Rafael saw
the offense in action and was like, nod, is they
for me? Player? So he can't recruit? So what some
people are more into being innovators and less salesman. Well,
(03:17):
not just Brian Ferns. He managed to have seven plus
future NFL players on his and twenty nineteen offenses and
never ranked better than eighty six in the country in
those seasons. But hey, sometimes it's about getting your own
players into your system, right, So let's look at the
last three years, over which they've gone a very respectable
(03:38):
nineteen and nine. Well, the Hawk guys went from forty
nationally in points per game during the COVID short and
twenties season to ninety ninth last year, and this year
they're sitting at a hundred and twenty seven, just ahead
of the University of Colorado, whose offense is putrid and
in offensive yardage, which Kirk Ferris has called an overrated
(04:00):
stat Iowa went from thirteenth in the Big Ten last
year to dad last in the country this year, and
so far behind last place in the Big Ten that
if you double their output, they would still only be
in third place. Do you realize how ridiculous that that is?
There are statistics and there are realities that can be
used to crush every single excuse to be continuing to
(04:24):
employ the head coach's son as the Hawk Eyes play caller.
For those who say that i was a running team
and they shouldn't expect to put up big numbers in
the passing game, well, there are currently thirty eight FBS
players that have rushed for more yards than Iowa has
as an entire team, plus the Iowa Hawk Eyes have
(04:46):
not had a running back selected in the NFL draft
since two thousand and nine. And for those that say
that Iowa is all about playing for the field goal, well,
four out of every ten possessions for Iowa this year
have ended without one single first down. And they aren't
playing for a field goal. They're they're lucky if they
ever attempt a field goal. Now, six times in the
(05:09):
last calendar year, Iowa has been held to seven points
or less and they only have eighteen offensive touchdowns in
their last fourteen games. That's barely more than one a game.
And you can tell yourself, well, that's just Big Ten football,
But is it Marvin Harrison Jr. Playing in the same
Big Ten as Iowa. He has twelve touchdowns in his
(05:31):
last seven games, all by himself at Ohio State. Now
Gary Barter, Brian's real boss, says that they're not going
to evaluate the status of any position coach until the
end of the season, which means we're gonna get to
see the worst offense in football take the field six
more times this year, starting with a guaranteed blood bath
(05:51):
at Ohio State on October twenty two. And we don't
have the ability to see iowa struggles through a father's eyes.
All we see from outside is that it is an
offense that can't gain yards, can't score, can't recruit, and
it's had one wide receiver selected in the NFL drafts
in two thousand and thirteen. Now, if Brian Farens didn't
(06:12):
have his father's last name, what defense would there be
for keeping him on. I can't think of a single
defense on Earth that would be good enough to justify
keeping him, not even Iowa's. Let that sink in
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