Hawkeyes Honed In Despite Suspensions

Iowa Comfortable with Plan Minus Sidelined Coaches

Iowa football Head Coach Kirk Ferentz announces his one-game suspension due to improper contact with an athlete not-year in the transfer portal Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kirk Ferentz is going to miss Iowa’s season opener on Saturday.

He’s not going to miss the pre-game snack with the team on Friday night.

The self-imposed one-game suspension on Ferentz for the game against Illinois State at Kinnick Stadium doesn’t start until 12:01 a.m. Saturday, so the Iowa football coach isn’t going to miss out on the pre-game tradition.

“I'll do what I always do through Friday night. I'll go to the snack,” Ferentz quipped during Tuesday’s press conference. “We tell them a little bedtime story before they go to bed and have a snack. I'll be there for that. It's business as normal for me.”

And then Ferentz will watch the 11 a.m. game from home, the punishment for a recruiting violation of contacting a player, reportedly quarterback Cade McNamara, before he entered the NCAA’s transfer portal after the 2022 season.

The week of preparation for the game, Ferentz said, has been “mostly business as usual.”

And if there is a “Win one for Kirk” rallying cry among the players, they weren’t letting on about that during their availability earlier Tuesday.

“I think we’ll just lean on each other,” said tight end Luke Lachey, who added he didn’t want to talk much about Ferentz’s absence. “At the end of the day, I think it’s going to be all good.”

“He’s going to have a feeling about missing out,” safety Sebastian Castro said. “I would say we want to (win) for him, but at the end of the day, we’re all doing it for our teammates.”

Ferentz is OK with his players being low-key about his absence.

“Just like if a player were hurt, we all go on,” he said. “We all go on and keep pushing on. I won't be here. There's nothing to rally about or anything like that. The idea right now is for everybody to do what they're supposed to do. I'm confident they will. We've got a good group of guys, and the staff will do a great job.

“To me it's almost a non-factor. It could be the same thing if I got hit by a truck or something like that. It's all kind of the same stuff.”

Assistant head coach Seth Wallace will be the interim head coach for the game.

“He’s got the command for the job,” Castro said. “Everybody respects him.”

“He's got to be himself,” Ferentz said. “That's the most important thing. If I've learned anything in coaching — my mentor is very different personality-wise than I am, and the coaches I've worked for are very different than my personality. So you've got to be yourself, that's first and foremost.”

Ferentz elevated Wallace to the assistant head coaching position last winter.

“He's just done a great job,” Ferentz said. “It's no foreshadowing, none of that stuff. Just I felt it was time to reward him. He's had opportunities to lead, and several of our other coaches have as well. It's still a good way to recognize the fact he wanted to stay with the program. We certainly want him to stay.

“I just think it made sense at that time. There's nothing more to it than that. He's done a great job, but I have total confidence. We have a really good staff of guys and guys that have been here for the most part for quite a while and have association with the program for quite a while.”

Ferentz downplayed the impact a head coach can have on game day.

“Really, in all seriousness, and I don't mean this to low key it, but it's probably what you do during the week is more important, I think, and then certainly during camp and just year long, just trying to make sure everybody's kind of keeping their eyes on the target, what we think is important,” he said. “Once you get to game day, I say this in all honesty, players do win the games. They're the ones out there competing. We can't do that. There are times when we maybe do something that's helpful, but overall, it's how the players play. It really is.”