PART 1: COACHING CHANGES
I'm split on the departures by the previous coordinators. On the one hand, the stability of the coaching staff under Ferentz has been a hallmark of his time at Iowa. On the other hand, change was sorely needed, nowhere more evidenced than by the flat, unimaginative offenses that Iowa has fielded for the last couple of seasons.
Offense
I'll start with the offensive side of the ball, and say that I'm actually glad that Ken O'Keefe (KOK) is no longer in Iowa City. Early on, I was a fan of his offense, because I'm a fan of a run-first, pound the defense physically offense. But it got bad when as a fan I could predict the next plays that Iowa was going to call in any given situation. If I can do it from home, I know that a guy paid by an opposing team to stop the offense surely knows what's going on. In my mind, an offense thrives when it consistently moves the ball every play/possession, and can set up the defense for a surprise every few plays.
Under a KOK Iowa offense, you know you're going to see a lot of I-formation, and only a few 3 receiver sets (mostly under shotgun). That's not an issue except that the only time you saw a 3 receiver set was on an obvious passing down. So as an opposing defense, I see 3 Iowa receivers on the field, I know it's a pass coming on that play. While the offense generally performed well rushing the ball (despite the turnover at the tailback position, Iowa has had some stellar performers over the last decade), KOK failed to use that effectively with personel/formation changes to surprise the defense into giving something up. A change of pace for KOK was a play-action QB bootleg to the right flat, usually ending up in the hands of a fullback pulling out wide, or a tight-end coming over the middle (look back at the last few years of Iowa football if you don't believe me).
KOK's saving grace on the team was that he was good at developing QBs. The short list of pretty amazing QBs who played under KOK's tutelage goes like this: Brad Banks, Ricky Stanzi, and James Vandenberg (JVB). Not necessarily household names if you're not from the state of Iowa, but Brad Banks was a runner-up for the Heisman and led Iowa to an Orange Bowl. Stanzi is now on the roster for the Kansas City Chiefs (where there's some speculation he may see the field this year under center), led Iowa to an Orange Bowl victory, and had one of the best passer ratings in the nation his senior season. JVB is still at Iowa, but let's not forget that he was one of the best passers in the B1G last year, and should be primed to do better (even without his favorite target from a year ago).
With KOK departing for Miami to coach wide-outs for the Dolphins, the search was on for a new Offensive Coordinator. Ferentz settled on Greg Davis, formerly the OC for Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns. This is instantly an upgrade for the OC position at Iowa for several reasons. As good as KOK was at developing QBs, Davis has a certain knack for it as well. Do the names Colt McCoy or Vince Young ring a bell? I'd say he's qualified to tutor a QB or two.
Davis also won a BCS national championship with his offense in 2006, competed again in 2009, and then after a "down" year in 2010 was let go from the team. I'm glad Mack Brown got rid of him, because this is going to be huge for Iowa. Looking at the career of Colt McCoy, it's clear the man knows how to develop a passing game, and since Ferentz is a genius of the offensive line/rushing game this should mark the beginning of truly solid offenses coming out of Iowa. Either that or we'll see that Ferentz was the one pulling the strings on the offense the last few years, and it's actually his fault that the offense wasn't aggressive enough in certain situations.
Defense
On the opposite side of the ball, I've been quoted before as saying it'd be a sad day in Iowa City when Norm Parker finally decided to hang up the whistle. I think the entire state collectively wept, and OCs around the B1G cried tears of joy. Let's face it, when you think of Iowa football for the last decade one phrase comes to mind: bend but not break. Iowa's defense had been a stalwart defensive unit under Parker with some of the best defenses in terms of points allowed, rushing yards allowed, and just mentally wearing down a defense.
Like KOK, Parker didn't do anything schematically aggressive, but on defense that works well. Parker put his players into position, coached them what the offense was going to try to do in certain situations and let them do the rest. You didn't see a lot of frilly blitzes, or elaborate zone coverages. What you did see more often than not was an agressive D-line that held the line of scrimmage, a 2-deep safety look, and prototypical B1G linebackers roaming through the middle of the field ready to pop any receiver, tight-end, or back that came with in range of a hit. I liked that about Iowa's defense. It was simple, elegant, and effective.
We now have a new Parker (Phil Parker, no relation to Norm) as the coordinator, and he spent the last 13 years learning from one of the best defensive minds in football (at least in my opinion). He's been quoted in the press as saying that this year's defense won't look much different than it has in years past. That's music to my ears to hear that. While the defense has had it's problems over the last couple of years, it's not necessarily a schematic problem as much as an attrition problem. The linebacker corps. has taken a hit due to injuries over the last couple of seasons, and this could be the best linebacker corps. since the days of Hodge and Greenway (remember those guys?).
Parker 2.0 will bring in some new wrinkles though, and due to the youth on his D-line will probably have to be a bit more schematically creative than he might want, and will definitely be a lot more schematically creative than fans are used to seeing. The key is to find a balance that teaches the younger players how to play the base defense that Parker 2.0 wants to install, but still make sure the defense is doing its job. That's a balance that's going to be difficult to strike this season unless the D-line shows some growth, and aggressiveness.
Coaching Shuffle
Conclusion
On top of the changes to the coordinator positions, there were several changes in position coaches as well. Lemme rephrase that, all of the position coaches changed positions. This kind of shuffle can be good, especially as I think Ferentz has surrounded himself with coaches that truly undertand the game of football. Plus in many cases, the coaches merely switched sides of the ball, so their experience coaching the opposing position gives them great insights when teaching their new positions. For example, D-line coach Reese Morgan coached Riley Reiff, Brian Bulaga, Adam Gettis, and current O-line coach Brian Ferentz who were all drafted into the NFL (among others). So the man who is responsible for bringing along a young crop of D-linemen and making them game-ready knows extensively what it takes to make a good O-lineman. This can only help the development of the D-line as far as technique is concerned, and should ultimately increase the effectiveness of the line.
The biggest addition to the team, besides the two coordinators has to be the addition of more NFL quality coaching talent. Brian Ferentz (son of head coach Kirk Ferentz, and former Hawkeye center) came to the team in the spring after coaching TEs for the New England Patriots. I'll say that again, Brian coached TEs (READ: Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez) for New Englang (READ: Bill Belichick). The elder Ferentz also coached with Belichick and anytime someone good enough for NFL coaching comes back to the collegiate ranks, it can only make a team better. Look at Alabama and Nick Saban.
Conclusion
All in all I'm really excited to see how the new coordinators do. Davis will be a breath of fresh air, and I think exactly what the doctor ordered to help the anemic Iowa offense. Look for JVB to have a great season under Davis' tutelage, and a brand new "surprise" look to the offense. Parker 2.0 will show some struggles early on, but I look for him to figure out how to put his players in the best positions to be effective. I'm still sad that Parker 1.0 retired, but I also know it was his time to move on.
As for the rest of the coaching staff, I like the way things are shaking out. There's some great talent on the coaching staff, and I think the young players will respond well and be able to learn tons of information to make themselves better. The kicker to all of this, though is how much the players themselves want to show up and perform on a daily/weekly/season-long basis. If they players have the will and desire to learn and perform, the coaching staff is in place to make them the best they can be.
The coaching staff will make this team rise above most analysts expectations, and I still feel justified in predicting an 8-4 season for the team.
The coaching staff will make this team rise above most analysts expectations, and I still feel justified in predicting an 8-4 season for the team.
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