Iowa Hawkeyes Football

Recently, Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz met with the media to discuss the hellos and goodbyes that have taken place in the Iowa football compound over the offseason—hellos and goodbyes that have led directly to a reshuffling of coaching duties, both on the field and in the recruiting wars.

Ferentz detailed, via Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, much of that reorganization and how it will affect his program, a program in need of some reorganization after three disappointing seasons in a row, the last of which was 2012's bowl-less 4-8 squad.

There is a lot to like about the new-look football staff, especially as it concerns recruiting, though there is also a bit that is questionable.

Ferentz specifically went over new recruiting areas and strategies. This is on the heels of an Iowa recruiting class that is largely considered a disappointment—strictly from a recruiting standpoint—and that 247sports.com ranked 10th in the 12-member Big Ten.

It also follows Hawkeyes recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson's announcement (per Marc Morehouse of the Cedar Rapids Gazette) that Iowa would no longer actively recruit Florida, the second-most talent-rich state in the country, according to MaxPreps.

Iowa's recruiting strategy heading into the 2011 recruiting season had at least one coach actively recruiting the following states: Iowa, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland/Washington D.C, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas.

The Hawks had two coaches in Illinois—one in Chicagoland and one in the southern part of the state—and in Missouri—split between the St. Louis metro area and the rest of the state.

It is also worth noting that based on all available information, the Hawks' best and most successful recruiter—former running backs coach Lester Erb—was the Chicagoland recruiter.

The new recruiting strategy has Iowa dropping Florida. According to Ferentz, "We’re not going to shut the door in any area," but the Hawks will no longer send a staff member to actively recruit the Sunshine State.

Meanwhile, Iowa coaches will be assigned the following states: Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana, the overall mid-Atlantic area—Massachusetts-to-Virginia—Ohio, Illinois and Texas.

More notable than the areas themselves is how many coaches will be in each area. The new strategy has two coaches in the mid-Atlantic, two-and-a-half coaches (more on that shortly) in Texas and three each in Ohio and Illinois.

Ferentz didn't specifically mention whether he would keep two coaches in Missouri.

What's to Like About Iowa's New Recruiting Strategy?

The renewed attention to Texas is a decisive and logical move in light of the Hawks' hiring of wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy.

Kennedy spent seven seasons at the University of Texas, and for the past two years, he recruited the state of Texas for the University of Colorado. He has connections in the Lone Star State, and he brought solid recruits into Boulder despite the Buffs' failure to make a bowl for each of the past five seasons.

Linebackers coach LeVar Woods was in Texas last year and will continue his efforts, though he didn't have any notable success in his first season of active recruiting.

Finally, offensive coordinator Greg Davis, a native Texan and the "half" in the above equation, will likely help out.

Iowa had early success in Texas with such Lone-Star Hawks as Drew Tate, Jonathan Babineaux and Scott Chandler. However, the Hawkeyes haven't found consistent recruiting success in Texas since Ron Aiken and Carl Jackson left the staff in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

With Florida no longer in the picture, Texas, the most talent-rich state in the country, has to become a top priority for the Hawkeyes.

Another strong move is placing two recruiters in Chicagoland, with Brian Ferentz the most notable of the two.

According to Rivals, going back to the 2005 recruiting class, Iowa has signed 23 out-of-state, 4-stars-or-better recruits. Thirteen of those players, or just over 56 percent, were recruited by Lester Erb, and most of them were from Chicagoland.

In short, outside of the state of Iowa itself, Chicagoland has to be the Hawks' top recruiting priority.

Brian Ferentz had a strong first recruiting season and within the staff, confidence must be high that he can continue Erb's success.

He will be joined by new co-linebackers coach Jim Reid, who has no previous experience in the area. Nevertheless, look for Ferentz to be the major player in that area of the country.

The addition of Chris White to the staff is a strong commitment to improved special teams, and just as importantly, all indications are he is a top-notch recruiter.

Between 2005 and 2008, he was the Syracuse wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. The Orange went 10-37 during that stretch. Despite its record, Syracuse brought in seven 4-stars-or-better players between 2006 and 2008. Four of them were recruited by White.

White will take over the eastern seaboard, the northern part of which he is obviously familiar with. He will also get help from Reid, who spent a good amount of time in Virginia, both at the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond.

Historically, Iowa has stopped its mid-Atlantic recruiting efforts around the Washington D.C. area, but according to Ferentz, the Hawks will move further south, presumably into Virginia, Reid's backyard.

Given the recent Big Ten expansion, increased attention to the eastern seaboard is a smart move.

Finally, Phil Parker will remain an active recruiter. This was something his predecessor at defensive coordinator, Norm Parker, never really was.

Phil Parker will be in Michigan, and he will be the third man in Ohio, along with Brian Ferentz and Reid. Parker has always been a solid recruiter. Within Michigan, he was more successful than former Hawkeyes wide receiver coach Erik Campbell.

It is good to see Parker out there, as it would have been a waste of man power to keep him from actively recruiting simply because he is the coordinator.

What's Questionable About Iowa's New Recruiting Strategy?

It seems like part of the recruiting plan is to replace Florida largely with Midwest recruits, and specifically Ohio recruits.

The problem is the Hawks have to accept the limitations of the Midwest, and especially Ohio.

Iowa will never go into the Buckeye state and outrecruit Ohio State. For that matter, it's unlikely the Hawks can outrecruit Michigan and Notre Dame within Ohio.

Over the past five years, 87 Ohio recruits have received an offer from OSU. The majority of them have been of the 4- or 5-star variety.

Of those 87, 61, or just over 70 percent, committed to the Bucks. Another eight committed to Michigan, while five committed to Notre Dame.

The majority of the remaining 13 committed to elite out-of-state programs such as Alabama, Texas or Southern Cal.

There were a couple of exceptions such as 2010's Dominique Brown who committed to Louisville over OSU, or 2011's Shane Wynn who shocked the recruiting world by choosing Indiana over a late offer from the Bucks.

None of these 87, many of whom held an Iowa offer, opted to go with the Hawks.

This isn't to say Iowa should ignore the Buckeye State.

A number of great Ferentz-coached Hawkeyes have come from Ohio, including Ricky Stanzi, Micah Hyde and Derrell Johnson Koulianos. Moreover, Iowa has mined Ohio for a few highly recruited prospects, including 4-star offensive lineman Andrew Donnal, who held a Michigan offer but not an OSU offer.

Can the state of Ohio possibly supply Iowa with enough recruits—let alone highly touted recruits—to justify sending three coaches there?

As Ohio had 150 FBS recruits in 2013—compared to 350 from Florida—it is unlikely.

In effect, three Hawkeyes recruiters in the state of Ohio will net the Hawks a few quality 3-star players, maybe one 4-star offensive lineman, but more than anything, it will secure a number of players who otherwise would wind up in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

And sometimes, that works out splendidly, such as was the case with former Hawkeyes safety Bob Sanders. As detailed by Jockbio.com, he would have been bound for Ohio University, his only other known offer, if not for a late Iowa scholarship.

However, recent Iowa graduate Steve Bigach is more representative of what happens when a team is laden with MAC-level talent. His only offers were from Iowa and Air Force. He played with as much effort as a coach could ask but didn't have the talent to be a difference-maker in the Big Ten. The end result left him a two-year starter on the most talent-poor Hawkeyes defensive line since before Kirk Ferentz took over.

On the other hand, Iowa isn't going to go into Florida and pull out 5-star prospects hand over fist, but unlike with OSU, Florida and Florida State can't grab all of the 52 4-star-recruits-or-better that the Sunshine State produced in 2013.

In effect, there is more leftover talent for Iowa to field, and instead of sending three coaches to Ohio, the Hawks would be better served sending one coach south.

Iowa can afford to leave Florida behind if Texas becomes a priority surpassed only by the state of Iowa and Chicagoland.

It is a problem if Texas is put on the same level as St. Louis or Minnesota.

Furthermore, it seems silly to drop Florida from the map for little reason other than that the last guy who recruited there—former defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski—wasn't an especially good recruiter. As ESPN's Adam Rittenberg detailed, former Hawkeyes coach Bret Bielema proved Iowa could go into the Sunshine State and pull out talented players.

In short, dropping Florida may or may not be a bad move. The question is what Ferentz expects to take its place.

Final Synopsis of Iowa's New Recruiting Strategy

Overall, Kirk Ferentz has made a number of positive moves with his recent staff shakeup, and the end result will be a net gain.

As recruits seem to give verbals sooner and sooner, it is likely Hawkeyes fans will know sooner than later if they've improved on this front.

Yes, Iowa is a developmental team, but the developmental players tend to flourish when they operate side by side with pedigree players.

Iowa needs to upgrade its talent. Hopefully, this is a step toward making that happen.

It's not often you see a program just roll over and quit on a region when it comes to recruiting, but it's hard to otherwise describe Iowa's recent decision to no longer recruit the state of Florida.

Does that sound like an exaggeration, something done for comedic effect or for the sake of—what is it you kids call it these days—hating? Because, oh no, that's actually the explicit route Iowa's going here. To wit, this from Hawkeye Nation:

The topic of Iowa football and recruiting in Florida came to a head Tuesday night in Des Moines when Recruiting Coordinator Eric Johnson said the program would not be making Florida a priority in the near future.

Johnson’s comments echoed that of Kirk Ferentz from last winter when he decided not to assign one of his assistant coaches to the Sunshine State for the first time during his tenure at Iowa. Not surprisingly, this last recruiting class didn’t have any Florida preps in it, also the first time that has happened under Ferentz.

Johnson said they feel they have the best chance to land and keep players on campus who come from no farther than six to eight hours away from campus.

This is, to put it simply, a mistake. As ESPN.com points out, Florida is where 22 of the 2013 ESPNU Top 100 recruits came from. The state had 52 4- or 5-star recruits in the 247Sports.com rankings, to say nothing of more than 200 3-star recruits with which many schools are more than happy to bolster their ranks after the giants of the region have taken their fills of the elite prospects. 

Now, yes, as The Gazette points out, Iowa's track record with Florida signees as of late has not been stellar. And yes, there's some merit to the notion of recruiting closer to home. All right. Now let's double-check how Iowa did in the 247Sports.com composite team rankings for 2013.

Ah yes, that's right.

This isn't even a surprise, though. If there's one pattern to Iowa's recruiting lately, it's that for whatever reason, Kirk Ferentz doesn't often compete very hard for recruits. As mentioned here a while back, we found 45 4- or 5-star recruits—the elite type of impact players that put a program on a level playing field with the big boys—to whom Iowa offered scholarships. That was woefully behind every program in the Big Ten with one exception: Northwestern. Northwestern has the excuse of unusually rigorous academic standards that limit the number of student-athletes it can recruit.

Iowa, suffice it to say, has no such academic excuse.

So if Iowa's not going to recruit Florida, not going to go after the same number of elite prospects and evidently not going to find other ways to out-recruit its Big Ten brethren...where, exactly, are the conference-championship aspirations going to come from?

The enduring hallmark of Kirk Ferentz's tenure as the Iowa Hawkeyes head football coach has always been stability, but the recent coaching shakeup that has led to the hiring of Jim Reid and Bobby Kennedy changes that dynamic.

As ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported, the Iowa coaching staff has undergone an "extreme makeover" during the last two years.

In 2013, none of the assistant coaches—including both coordinators—will coach the same position they coached in 2011. In fact, as of now, only three members of the 2011 staff are still in Iowa City, and none of them are where they were in 2011.

The most recent additions to the football staff are Reid and Kennedy.

Last year, Reid was the defensive coordinator (DC) at the University of Virginia under Mike London. He was fired after a disastrous 4-8 season—yes, 4-8 is considered "disastrous"—though in some fairness, offense, or lack thereof, was the Cavaliers' biggest problem.

Kennedy was most recently the wide receivers coach at Colorado. He left Boulder when Jon Embree's staff was purged following 2012's 1-11 campaign.

Both of these coaches are veterans with substantial resumes. Consequently, Hawkeyes fans can piece together a good idea of what they'll get out of their new coaches.

Firstly, while it is true that none of the coaches in question was fired, this much of a staff turnover on this stable a staff brings into question whether the coaches were encouraged to leave.

In effect, the coaching carousel, as Iowa blog Black Heart Gold Pants referred to it, is potential evidence that Kirk Ferentz acknowledges something is wrong, and he is committed to change.

This might not seem like much to be thankful for, but Ferentz is known for his stoicism. This stoicism has led some Iowa fans to wonder if Ferentz even recognized how unacceptable 2012's 4-8 record was.

Perhaps these moves prove that he does recognize 2012's shortcomings, though it remains to be seen if these changes will be effective.

As for the coaches themselves, Reid has mostly worked in the northeast and mid-Atlantic areas.

He is from Massachusetts and graduated from the University of Maine in 1973.

After spending the first 19 years of his career at UMass—both as a graduate assistant, assistant and head coach—he moved on to the University of Richmond where he was the DC for two seasons.

He then became DC at Boston College for one year, before heading back to Richmond where he remained the head coach until 2003.

Since then, Reid has been all over the place, serving as defensive line coach, head coach, outside linebackers coach and DC at Syracuse, Bucknell, Virginia Military Institute, the Miami Dolphins and Virginia.

He has never had overwhelming, consistent success anywhere he's been, and his lack of success at a big-time institution—NFL or FBS-level college football—might be cause for concern.

Nonetheless, he's a professional who knows the sport.

Given his relative familiarity with the northeast and mid-Atlantic, he will likely take over former secondary coach Darrell Wilson's recruiting area—New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland/Washington D.C.

While at UVA, Reid's primary recruiting area was Virginia. He had minimal success when one considers that his area was the program's home state.

It is also sensible to assume that he will take over Wilson's spot as the defensive backs coach. On the other hand, there are a great many rumors swirling about defensive line coach Reese Morgan's eminent retirement, such as the following from the Daily Iowan's Ben Ross:

Darrell Wilson has left the Iowa football staff for Rutgers. Sources say Reese Morgan and Lester Erb will be gone within the end of the week

— Ben Ross™ (@benEross) February 13, 2013

As Ross was correct about Erb, it stands to reason his information concerning Morgan might have some weight to it.

In effect, if Morgan does call it a career, the natural move might be for Reid to take over defensive line duties, thereby leaving the defensive backs coaching position open.

Kennedy's role with Iowa, as well as how effective he's been throughout his career, is easier to predict and consider.

He has spent the majority of his career as a wide receivers coach, and that is the position he will take with Iowa.

He is originally from Colorado and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1989. He began his collegiate coaching career in the Big Ten, working as a graduate assistant at Illinois and then Penn State.

He became a full-time coach in 1993 at the University of Wyoming. He stayed in Laramie through 1994, after which he moved to Wake Forest. From 1995-1998, he was the receivers coach. He was the running backs coach in his last two years in the ACC.

He then spent one year as running backs coach at Arizona and two years as wide receivers coach at Washington.

Finally, he moved to Austin, where he joined Mack Brown's staff and became the receivers coach under then-Texas OC and current-Iowa OC Greg Davis.

In 2010, Brown purged much of his staff—including Davis and Kennedy—which led to Davis taking the year off, and Kennedy going to Boulder.

Among other players, Kennedy coached four All-Americans throughout his career including Jordan Shipley (Texas), Reggie Williams (Washington), Marcus Harris and Ryan Yarborough (both at Wyoming).

Kennedy will likely take over and hopefully reinvigorate Texas recruiting, an area that has been nearly dormant for the Hawkeyes since 2006.

According to Rivals, he brought in four Texas recruits in his one year of active recruiting at Colorado—three wide receivers and one tight end, all of them 3-star players.

For those who argue that it is harder to recruit to Iowa than Colorado, consider that the Buffaloes' last winning season was 2005. They have had four head coaches during that stretch. The last head coach to hang around longer than six years was Bill McCartney, from 1982-1994.

Moreover, given Kennedy's track record with his former OC, it is evident that Davis wants to work with him. He has an impressive resume, but the same could have been said for former Iowa receivers coach Erik Campbell.

In this case, if the Hawkeye receivers fail to show up in 2013, the blame will lay solely on the scheme, and that is considerably more worrisome than replacing a coach.

As it stands, Kennedy's hiring should be an improvement to the staff in both recruiting and player development. Reid is somewhat sketchy.

Either way, Kirk Ferentz still has one, and potentially two more hirings to make before kicking off the 2013 season with spring practices.

If nothing else, it's good to see that Captain Kirk recognizes that something is wrong in Iowa City, and that he is invested in change.

The 2013 Iowa recruiting class has been finalized and, for better or worse, it tells Hawkeye football fans a great deal about the direction head coach Kirk Ferentz plans to take his offense.

Last season, Ferentz hired only his second offensive coordinator (OC) in his 14 years as the head man. That OC was former Texas-OC Greg Davis, and there is almost nothing positive to be said about Davis' first year on the job. At least not from an outsider's point of view. As Randy Peterson of Hawk Central pointed out, the numbers tell the story for Iowa's offense.

However, maybe 2012 was a transitional year, and the offense will improve once Davis has the players he wants. Those players will come from recruiting.

The most glaring aspect of the 2013 class is the number of wide receivers and potential wide receivers.

According to Scout, Iowa signed five receivers, though Rivals and 247sports list some of those players as "athletes." Still, all of them will come to Iowa City as receivers.

On top of the five, the Hawks brought in running back Akrum Wadley, who could wind up at receiver. Lastly, Matthew VandeBerg is a receiver who will grayshirt this year.

Using Scout's database—which goes back to 2002—the only other year when Iowa brought in that many receivers was 2006. And 2005, unlike 2012, saw the graduation of the Hawks' top two receivers, plus a senior who provided depth.

Only one receiver who caught a pass graduated last year.

Moreover, there are currently seven scholarship receivers on the roster. Two of them—Kevonte Martin-Manley and Jordan Cotton—have a good deal of experience. Another one—Don Shumpert—is an upperclassman. The rest are inexperienced freshmen or sophomores.

Typically, this would be a decent returning group for a Ferentz team. For example, the 2009 team had seven scholarship receivers, one of whom was a returning starter, along with three other upperclassmen.

The 2010 team had eight scholarship receivers, and that group had a strong receiver class.

The 2013 team will enter camp with as many as 12 scholarship receivers. It is unlikely all of those players stay at receiver, but it's also unlikely the Hawks will enter the season with fewer than 10 receivers.

One can surmise two possible reasons for the emphasis on receivers.

The first is that the Iowa brainstrust is uncomfortable with the receivers it currently has on campus. The second is that the Hawks are moving toward more receiver-heavy sets.

Regarding the first possibility, consider the current Iowa receivers' heights and weights. The seven of them average almost 6'2" and 195 pounds. The smallest of them is redshirt freshman Maurice Fleming, who is 6'0" and 185 pounds.

In comparison, the incoming recruits—based on Scout's listed height and weight—average just shy of 6'1" and 182 pounds. The smallest is 5'11'', 160-pound Andre Harris.

The difference might seem small, but it says a great deal.

According to Hawkeye Insider's Rob Howe (via an interview with Hawk Central), Iowa is

trying to add a different kind of receiver...From what you saw with (offensive coordinator) Greg Davis last year, they are looking for guys that can catch short passes and make plays with the ball in their hands. … Yards after catch.

The question is how long will it take these smaller, quicker, younger players to supplant the already established bigger, slower Hawkeyes' receivers. Will it take a year or will the older players cycle off the roster first?

Another notable element of the recruiting class is the lack of urgency in finding fullbacks.

Historically, Iowa's starting offensive lineup included five linemen, two receivers, a tight end, a tailback and a fullback. However, last year, according to Phil Steele, Iowa opted to start a second tight end or third receiver in four of the final five games.

A large part of the reason for this was because fullback Brad Rogers was injured. However, given that Rogers is a senior and has a history of injury and health problems, one would think fullback would be a priority for the Hawkeyes.

Yet, there are no current Iowa fullbacks—unless one includes fullback-turned-tailback Mark Weisman—poised to take Rogers' place and no new recruits ready to step onto the depth chart as his backup.

Finally, there is the Hawkeyes' 2013 quarterback recruit, Nic Shimonek.

According to Max Preps, Shimonek rushed for 842 yards and 6.68 yards-per-carry last year.

The Texan is not Johnny Manziel, and Iowa is not going to adopt an offense like Texas A&M or Oregon. Furthermore, it's unlikely the true freshman will start or even make the depth chart next year.

Nonetheless, a quarterback with dual-threat capabilities could be an indication of the prototypical Iowa quarterback of the future.

It's impossible to say exactly where Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa offense will go in 2013. However, the 2012 offense, though unsuccessful, was decidedly unlike the previous Ferentz-coached Hawkeye offenses.

Perhaps the 2013 group will feature more three- and four-wide sets, fewer fullback looks and even an emphasis on a dual-threat quarterback.

It will also have the players Greg Davis wants, and it will be a truer indication of what Davis can do with his players on the field.