Football Notebook: Ferentz Comments on Firings

Iowa Coach Discusses Dismissals in Big Ten West

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz puts on his headset before a game against Nevada on Sept. 17, 2022 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Two coaches from the Big Ten West have already lost their jobs this season.

The longest-tenured coach in the division knows it’s just life in college football now.

“No, not at all,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said on Tuesday when asked if he was surprised. “Disappointed, but not surprised.”

Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst was fired on Sunday morning, a day after the Badgers lost to Illinois. Nebraska coach Scott Frost was fired on September 11.

Chryst was 67-26 in his time with the Badgers, but the change was still made.

“It's not surprising, but it's surprising,” Ferentz said. “You think about the success they've had, but again, I'm not privy to all the details. I'm not there, so I can't comment on any one specific.”

Ferentz brought up how USC coach Clay Helton was fired two games into last season.

“My question would be if it's that bad, why didn't you do it a year ago or a half year ago?” Ferentz said. “But that's the world we're living in right now. I'm not surprised but disappointed.”

Ferentz is in his 24th season with the Hawkeyes, and he appreciates the stability he has at the university.

“That's one of the things I've always enjoyed about working here,” he said. “You walk in every morning knowing what the expectations are, and they've been very consistent.”

“I've been really lucky in my career, if you think about it,” Ferentz added later. “I've been places where people are pretty reasonable and they understand competition and they help you work through things, and to me there's only two ways to do it if you hit adversity — just trash the thing and then start over again, or you try to work through it.

“For whatever reason, it's just kind of worked out and I'm appreciative of that. I've always been appreciative of working in a good, stable environment. Don't take it for granted.”

SPLIT SEASON: The Hawkeyes’ season is split in half by the bye week.

After Saturday’s game at Illinois, the sixth game for Iowa this season, the Hawkeyes are off until the October 22 game against Ohio State, the beginning of the final six-game stretch of the season.

Going into the time off with a win will be important, Ferentz said.

“It's like winning a bowl game,” Ferentz said. “It's a lot better to go into the offseason after a victory. To that point, there's no downside to winning games ever that I can think of, and there's not much upside from losing.

“But what we've tried to do, and it's so cliche and so mundane, but it's week to week in college football and any football. Any football level I've ever coached at, all three of them, you just try to focus on the opponent and matching up as best you can. Right now we're fully focused on that because we have to be, and we're playing a good football team that's playing very, very well.”

Ferentz said he hasn’t put together a practice schedule for the bye week, but there will be time built in to give players rest.

“It changes week to week, but it's kind of like some people map out their entire preseason,” Ferentz said. “ We'll do that in June. I've never done that because things change so much, and this is a great example. This year is a great example of things.

“As I stand here right now, I've kind of got a mental picture of what we're going to do. I haven't put anything on paper, but I've got a mental picture. I think probably the single most important thing right now is make sure we rest a lot of guys.”

INJURY REPORT: Ferentz expects cornerback Terry Roberts will see more game time this week.

Roberts played sparingly in last Saturday’s 27-14 loss to Michigan.

“He was pretty limited last week,” Ferentz said. “Didn't play much in the game. He's having a better week of practice right now, so that's encouraging. Hopefully we'll get him back this week and that'll help our depth a little bit in the back end.”