Hawkeyes Embracing Tim Lester Offense

Iowa Continues Absorbing New Scheme

Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester calls a play during Kids Day at Kinnick Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Teaching a new offense also meant that Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester was teaching a new language.

The debut of the Hawkeyes’ offense comes against Illinois State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, but getting to that point meant learning new terminology when it comes to play-calling.

“The thing you hit on the head is it is a new language,” Lester said at Iowa’s media day earlier this month. “But once you learn it, you hold on to it for a very long time. So they’ve embraced the opportunity to learn a new language.”

It’s required a lot of study, wide receiver Jarrett Buie said.

“You’re in college,” he said. “You’ve got your classes. You’ve got to pay attention in class. But you’re not going to get it all in class. You’re going to go home and do your homework. That’s literally how it is out here. If you don’t go home and do your homework, you’re going to fail that test. If you’re not paying attention in class, you’re going to fail that test. It’s just being locked in every day.

“We’ve got NFL-styled plays. So you’ve got to have an NFL-styled mind.”

Iowa’s offense has ranked at or near the bottom of every major category in FBS play the last two seasons, and there is optimism that Lester, who was hired in the offseason to replace former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, can turn that around.

It has been a lengthy process that started in the spring.

“First, we are trying to set the standard of what we can do at the line of scrimmage and what plays we can get good at,” Lester said. “The truth of the matter is, the plays I call in game one, we aren’t going to have run them thousands of times. How many reps can we get in walkthrough? How fast can we change this curve? There’s a normal curve to a new offense, no matter where you go. That’s the battle we’ve been in. We can put more plays in the more efficient we become and we are working hard at it. The guys are doing a great job.”

Each play is an extensive call, with specific words for specific positions, which isn’t unusual in football.

“It is a lot of words, and I can’t stop it from being a lot of words,” Lester said. “I told them in the first meeting, this is a little wordy. Now the difference is, we can do a lot of things, because every word talks to someone else. The tight ends, in particular, they have a lot of different words that mean a lot of different things. If they hear that word, they’re good to go. They don’t have to listen to the other 20 words in the call.”

Lester wasn’t about to give any sort of hint on what terms he uses.

“No, I’m not giving anything away,” he said, laughing. “We’re not going to do that.”

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara, who has to know what every word means, is used to learning a new offense, something he did when he was at Michigan, and then when he came to the Hawkeyes.

“For me, I’ve been in multiple different offenses with multiple different coordinators over the course of my career,” he said. “For guys who have been at Iowa, they’ve had the same offense. So I think for them to go through a change, it’s not easy.

“I remember my first time, switching the offense. First two weeks of college, they switched the playbook. I was like, ‘Well, I guess I studied that all for nothing.’”

“Everybody’s got it down, some more than others,” Buie said. “The quarterbacks know what they’re doing. I know what I’m doing. The other receivers know what they’re doing.”

“It’s not that much difference from my previous school,” wide receiver Kaleb Brown said. “It’s just a matter of studying it, repping it every week. It’s a lot of words. But it’s not a big deal.”

The players on the field will have some help.

“It’s an advantage, once you get over the stigma of, ‘It’s long,’” Lester said. “Now we do have wristbands. So (the quarterbacks) have to read it off, and everybody has to listen to their piece, and then go out there and execute.”

Hearing the plays, though, might be a different matter.

“I’m excited for that Kinnick Stadium vibe, 70,000 fans and all,” Buie said, smiling. “But everybody better be quiet in there because the plays are long.”