Iowa offensive line wins the 2016 Joe Moore Award
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – At some point on Friday, I’m guessing that Kirk Ferentz became emotional for a very good reason.
He isn’t somebody to dwell on awards, but the one given to the Iowa offensive line on Friday was special for so many reasons.
Iowa’s blocking crew edged the offensive lines from Alabama and Ohio State to win the 2016 Joe Moore Award, which goes to the nation’s top collegiate offensive line.
Any victory over Alabama and Ohio State is significant whether on the field or in the voting for an award.
But this accomplishment goes way beyond edging two superpowers for an award.
There are so many emotional ties to this award for Ferentz that he had to have shed a tear or two after learning that Iowa was this year's recipient.
Joe Moore probably had the greatest influence on Ferentz as a football coach and as a person, outside of Ferentz’s mother and father.
Moore was a coach, friend and mentor to Ferentz.
He was Ferentz’s head football coach at Upper St. Clair High School in suburban Pittsburgh in the early 1970s. They reunited for one year in 1980 at the University of Pittsburgh with Moore serving as the offensive line coach and Ferentz as a 25-year old graduate assistant.
Ferentz joined Hayden Fry's staff at Iowa a year later, thanks partly to Moore's recommendation, and Ferentz then coached the offensive line under Fry for nine seasons from 1981 to 1989.
Moore made a huge impression on Ferentz and they would go on to form a bond that lasted until Moore’s death in 2003. They both shared a passion for football and for coaching the offensive line.
Ferentz’s rise up the coaching ladder started in the trenches. In addition to coaching the Iowa offensive line for nine seasonsd, Ferentz also coached the offensive line for six seasons in the NFL before replacing Fry as the Iowa head coach shortly after the 1998 season.
All three of Ferentz’s sons also played on the offensive line, with youngest son Steve a senior on the current team that is preparing to face Florida in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 2 in Tampa.
Middle son James plays for the Denver Broncos, while oldest son Brian now has the same job that his father had 30 years ago as the Iowa offensive line coach.
Imagine how proud Brian must feel knowing that he helped win this award.
The Joe Moore Award is special not only because of Moore’s connection to the Ferentz family, but also because it’s a group award.
Kirk Ferentz always stresses team over individual achievement. And he probably learned that from playing under Joe Moore.
The Joe Moore Award goes to a group of players who function and excel as a unit and who depend on each other to get the job done.
All three of the finalists struggled at points during the season, but they persevered.
Iowa’s offensive line was rocked by injuries and performed poorly during the team’s four losses this season.
The situation looked bleak after the 41-14 drubbing at Penn State on Nov. 5, but that proved to be a turning point, or as some of the Iowa players put it, a wake-up call.
The Hawkeyes rebounded a week later to defeat Michigan and then closed the regular season by pounding Illinois and Nebraska by scores of 28-0 and 40-10, respectively.
Senior LeShun Daniels and junior Akrum Wadley have combined for the most rushing yards in a season by two Iowa players at just under 2,000 yards.
They’ve done so remarkably by running behind an offensive line in which not one single member was named first-team all-Big Ten this season.
In Iowa’s case, the whole is better than the parts, but that parts, which include junior guard Sean Welsh and sophomore center James Daniels, are pretty good, too.
“The voting was intensely close this year and Iowa and Alabama were neck-and-neck until the very end of the voting period,” said Aaron Taylor, CBS Sports CFB Analyst and Chairman of the Joe Moore Award Voting Committee. “Ultimately, while the other units may have had a few standout individual players, many of the voters felt Iowa personified the fundamental principle that drives this award: Teamwork. Iowa excelled in that this season.”
Moore’s impact on the Iowa program goes beyond what he taught Kirk Ferentz.
Moore also was largely responsible for Bob Sanders coming to Iowa. Sanders was a lightly recruited defensive back from Erie, Pa., when Moore recommended him to Ferentz.
Ohio University was the only Division I program to have offered the 5-foot-8 Sanders a scholarship at the time. So Ferentz took a leap of faith and was rewarded handsomely as Sanders would go on to become one of the greatest defensive backs in the history of the Iowa program.
Ferentz and his sons will cherish this award forever because it’s about more than just football. It’s about persevering and overcoming adversity, which carries over to life.
It represents teamwork, friendship and the constant pursuit of excellence.
It represents so much of what Joe Moore stood for in life.