Iowa is Just Going to Go Ahead and Sit Florida Out
You just finished 4-8. What's your next move? Why, pulling recruiting resources out of the nation's most fertile state, of course:
Ferentz said he's no longer assigning an assistant coach to recruit Florida. Then Tuesday night, Iowa recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson told an I-Club gathering in Des Moines that Florida is no longer a priority area for the program's recruitment.
The Iowa coaches think the program needs to concentrate recruiting closer to campus.
Makes sense.
Comments
That's absolutely genius. Given the intense competition for recruits in states like Ohio and Illinois these days, you should absolutely redouble your efforts there. Moves like this are the hallmark of a true B1G Coach of the Year. Well played, Kirk.
Baaaahahahaha! That's all I got.
Hayden Fry is going to handle the Florida recruiting duties from The Villages...Florida's Friendliest Hometown.
Haha! I used to live in Orlando... I still sing that song sometimes.
Ferentz should be fired. This is totally unacceptable and an embarrassment to the B1G.
The 2012 National Champions.
If I were an Iowa fan I would be so pissed about this.
vacuuming sucks
Iowa has fans?
How firm thy friendship..
LOL
In other news: Relevance is no longer a priority with Iowa football.
Where is the line for signing up to be a completely inept college coach who dupes the school into signing away its football success for an ungodly sum? Do I just need to line up behind RonP? Sweet mercy, this is atrocious.
Just when you thought things were looking up for the B1G they take a step back. How can anyone with a straight face say, "Hey, I'd rather go after Iowa players who finish around .500 over speedy athletic Florida players who might actually help you win a league title?"
Does OSU even have anyone from Iowa on their roster?
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
Ohio State does not have anyone from Iowa on its roster.
According to Rivals, the top 10 recruits from Iowa in 2013 were as follows:
Iowa only has 5 players from Florida on their roster anyway.
Class of 2010.
Getting too much talent will lessen his odds of getting Coach of The Year. A 7-6 season doesn't look as good when you have fast and talented players.
Nothing says "earning your enormous contract" like DOING LESS WORK. Ha.
I wish "College football coach employment logic" applied to, you know, us in the Real World.
This does make sense...how can you possibly appease the AIRBHG if your parading all over Florida?
What do you think Iowa center?
"Florida is that way....I think"
If Denard Robinson isn't careful with spooning all that food into his mouth, he's going to end up lookin' like Whoopi Goldberg
There are 5 kids on the team from FL so theres obviously some success from the that region...
Nothing like dancing on the field in 02...
In Bruges?
I like football
Iowa can change up their recruiting strategy as much as they desire and it still won't allow them to play at the level OSU will be playing at the next few years. The Hawkeyes are basically playing for participation ribbons at this stage of the game.
I was going to come in to this thread and try to justify Ferentz by pointing out he does better in Texas than he does Florida but i have to be honest.... This just doesn't make sense.
Ferentz be trollin'?
This is what Urban was talking about!!!! This makes a mockery if the BIG!
From a certain perspective it kind of makes sense in an indolent sort of fashion. Using rivals, I went back and counted number of recruits Iowa brought in from 2006-2013 classes. They brought in ten 3*s and four 2*s during that period. So they averaged 1.75 recruits from that state over eight classes.
I didn't pay attention to names and I don't know enough about IA FB to know if those guys were stars, starters, bench players, or busts. And I don't know how much time/energy/money they were spending in the sunshine state. But 1.75 recruits per year and not a single 4* caliber player isn't exactly burning it up recruiting-wise.
So it looks to me that they did need to change something about how they recruited Florida. Granted I think they've got it backwards and need to change their monetary commitment to that state or their recruiting tactics. So no, I don't think giving up on that state is a great idea.
I don't think he should have announced it publicly, but he's been there long enough to know whether they're successfully getting good players from the state. If they're not (which must be true), they have two choices, 1) pull resources away from other areas of the country in which they've consistently gotten quality players so that they can get bigger fish from Florida, or 2) cut off the region and put those previously wasted resources into getting more players from places where the top kids actually want to come play for you.
Yep, its a simple cost/benefit analysis. If they aren't being successful in pulling the top kids out of FLA (and let's face it, what FLA kid would want to go to a 2nd tier team in a weak league in Iowa City if he has other options), then what's the point of chasing after them. Probably not so smart to announce it, but its really just an admission of the harsh reality.
"Question: Where are all of your B1G COY awards? Yeah, that's what I thought."-Kirk Ferentz
Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless.
And all at once, prep running backs from the state of Florida exhaled.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
Oh, so that's what it's going to take to appease the AIRBHG? Then Kirk's crazy for not doing this sooner!
HAHA Well done!
I can't tell if Iowa is being sarcastic or not.
And.............. this is why our conference won't be a national power anytime soon. Thinking like this.
I don't really care. As long as Ohio State is a national power i'm happy.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
There are probably certain years in which you'd sit a state out (e.g. Pennsylvania) for lack of players, but to take a systematic approach to abandoning a state that never lacks players (and in big numbers) is ridiculous. Embarrassing. Gotta think there's at least a little pride left in Iowa City.
Urban Meyer states that the B1G needs to step up it's recruiting to compete nationally. Kirk Ferentz, darling of the B1G, the elder statesman amongst the conferences HCs, and multiple coach of the year award winner, is not having it! "I'll show that little SEC weasel to come up here & boss me around! I'll do THE EXACT OPPOSITE! I mean, what the hell has Urban Meyer ever done that's so special??? I'll make my own decisions dammit. I'm rich! I'm filthy stinking rich!"
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Just U. F. Meyer putting another nail in the coffin of The Li"l Eleven soon to be Thirteen. These guys are throwing in the towel.They are no longer going to pretend to try and compete with TOSU.The BOT"s of this KonFerentz do not support football as a competitive sport,because they can't compete with TOSU.Have mercy Urb pull the plug on these endangered creatures.GO BUCKS!
I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.
If I were a fan of Iowa football I'd certainly be on the phone cancelling my season tickets (assuming they have ANY fans like that any longer) in protest of this GIANT step backwards. I don't see how in any way shape or form this helps the B1G
Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates. Football is no different, the guys down in the trenches win the games, not the coach.
Don't you think the good people of Iowa - and hopefully their athletic director, too - did a collective forehead smack upon reading this news?
I resemble that remark. LOL.
Who's next? Texas and Cahleefornia?
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
By far the most over-rated coach
Well if he's not getting anything from Florida anyway then I don't see a problem in not recruiting them. I mean yeah Florida has a lot of talent, but whats the point if the kids you get from Florida are bottom of the barrel scrubs you could find anywhere. Plus imagine how hard it would be to sell a top Florida recruit on Iowa. Might as well go for the best midwest kids you can get and maybe if you can become nationally relevant go try Florida again.
More schollies for T-Rex armed dudes like Kevin Reilly from the corn/rust belt.
(via BHGP)
"I 've got an El Camino full of rampage"-- Sterling Archer, codename: Duchess
OMG, LMAO here! :)
That's friggin hilarious! After the last few days, that is what this site needed to get back to normal!
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
He needed to pull that coach from Florida to concentrate on the High School Football hotbed of talent known as North Dakota. He really thinks it's an untapped resource of 5 star talent!
"Because I couldn't go for 3"
Ferentz must think Florida players and their families are relocating to ND so the parents can work in the oil fields that are booming. Why go to them to recruit when they can come to you?
Yeah, right LOL
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
If you can't meet all your recruiting needs in state--and Iowa obviously can't even come close--then I don't see how you can eliminate any potential options.
Big mistake, especially with Iowa State having 2 straight wins over the Hawkeyes, and looking a little more hip and entertaining in comparison right now.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
Well I guess we don't have to worry about them landing Brad Banks type guys anymore. Go Bucks.
Who in Florida would go to Iowa anyway?
Class of 2010.
Okay, here's why this really isn't as bad as it seems, for either Iowa or the Big Ten:
1) Iowa isn't going to sign any of the top 100 (or top 300 even) type talent in Florida. They might have a shot if they can once again put a few good years together, but they definitely aren't there right now. At best, they'll luck into a player or two of that caliber in the midwest.
2) This means they need to sign the type of high potential player that is very raw and lacking in development but has the requisite work ethic and desire to keep improving. Those players are hard to spot. The only way you're going to do it reliably is to have a very good network of high school coaches you can rely on to help you.
3) To establish that kind of network, you need to focus on the areas where your coaches already have tie-ins and a good history.
Kirk Ferentz isn't stupid, despite how much we like to make fun of his salary and coach-of-the-year awards for mediocre results. It's probably simply the case that his current coaches simply don't have very many good connections in Florida, and maybe they do in other talent-rich areas like Texas and Missouri (St. Louis).
Sorry, this is no place for reasonableness...take that shite someplace else.
I agree Zenshade. They have had little success in that region, so I guess you can either hire a position coach from Florida, or invest your time and energy somewhere else. In some ways, I'm sure midwestern kids might see this as a good fit. Who knows, maybe kids will flock to Iowa to strickly rep the midwest? Maybe Ferentz is thinking he will target all the kids who aren't quite good enough to play for tOSU and Meatchicken, and his pitch will be about being a "midwest" team comprised of our own talent. He could twist it into a pride thing. Make bigger programs look like they don't think you are good enough pitch..... Who knows
Dustin Fox was our leading tackler as a corner.... because his guy always caught the ball.
Iowa, do you even still lift?
Trotwood-Madison. Once a Ram, Always a Ram.
The guys over at Blackheartgoldpants weighed in on this:
http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2013/2/22/4018724/recruiting-territories
Apparently they are tripling down on Ohio and moving in to Texas more. They will continue to try and recruit Florida will not have a coach assigned there. It is not as bad as I initially thought. Still seems a bit strange to have a recruiter assigned to Nebraska but not to Florida.
Iowa has gone 100-74 under Ferentz, playing before the 70,000 faithful in Kinnick Stadium. All-time, Iowa is 14-46-3 vs OSU.
http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigten/iowa/opponents_records.php?teamid=2380
Ferentz is 1-7 vs the Buckeyes, and Iowa is 3-16-1 vs OSU since Earl Bruce unleashed
on the #1 Hawkeyes in the rain-soaked astro turf of the Mid-80's Horseshoe.
I think it's probably bad to announce this sort of thing, but I don't think it's actually a big deal.
if I were head coach of Iowa (I'm assuming my contract allows me to throw the OSU game whenever it comes up), I'd consider my recruiting base to be my home state and every state it touched. I'd then focus on just a few of the larger recruiting areas, and I'd aim for those which had weather or cultural similarities with me, namely Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Texas. I'd have some forays into nearby states with good recruiting bases, probably Virginia, Tennessee, and New York. Finally, although I'd aim for assistants with connections in the areas I've targeted, if I had an assistant with good relationships from somewhere else I'd add that area.
its Iowa, not OSU, TSUN, Notre Dame, USC, Bama. Their long term goal should be to be able to recruit against the big boys and to recruit in any area of the country, but they're not there yet. Based on where they are, they need to win recruits through strong relationships with high school coaches in areas where kids might actually consider going to Iowa. In Other words, their focus needs to be on the depth of their relationships, not the number of relationships.
Reducing their recruiting footprint is actually better recruiting, if they take advantage of the reduction to really hone in on a few choice spots. Why waste time and resources in places where you just aren't going to win recruiting battles? Pick your spots.
that said, I really don't understand announcing it.
This is exactly what the B1G doesn't need. Guys like Ferentz, happy to get the 2 and 3 star local/corn belt kids, finish (maybe) in the top half of the conference and go to (maybe) a mid level bowl, all while collecting his 3 million a year. This is why the conference is terrible right now. The B1G needs ass kickers (Urban Meyer) to go out and compete tooth and nail for the best players in the country. Kirk Ferentz is the kind of coach this league could do without. He seems to have grown fat and happy. Complacent as they say...
This just in .... Iowa also no longer recruiting North Dakota.