By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The fact that I didn’t ask Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz to comment on Monday about his profanity-laced meltdown in the Kinnick Stadium press box can only be explained in one way.

I choked, or chickened out or however you want to put it.

The subject never came up during Brian Ferentz’s press conference on Monday.

He and Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker both met with the media on Monday to discuss the Dec. 27^th matchup with Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl, and whatever else came up.

And lots of stuff came up, but not the press box incident, which occurred at halftime of Iowa’s 17-10 victory over Minnesota on Oct. 28 at Kinnick Stadium.

There were several times during Monday's press conference when I thought about asking Brian Ferentz if he learned anything from the incident or if he had any regrets.

But I regret to say I didn’t ask.

Monday’s press conference was the first time that Brian Ferentz has met with the media since his press box meltdown. So it would have been fair and timely to have asked him about it simply for that reason.

And I speak only for myself because I never would tell a colleague how to do his or her job, and because I wrote a column the night of Brian Ferentz’s meltdown that criticized him for crossing the line and for embarrassing himself, his father, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, the Iowa football team and the University of Iowa as a whole.

Brian Ferentz stood less than 10 feet from where I was seated in the front row on Monday, and yet I failed to capitalize on the moment.

I’m not saying that an incident that happened almost two months ago should have been the focal point to Monday’s press conference.

But at the least it should have been mentioned. And I should have taken it upon myself to ask about it since I made such a big deal about it on the night when it happened. I should have given Brian Ferentz a chance to explain why he lashed out at the Big Ten replay official because all we have so far from Brian is a statement in which he apologized for his behavior.

Brian Ferentz has a gift for gab, and I’m sure he would have handled the question the right way.

But instead, I asked Brian if his first season as Iowa’s offensive coordinator has been what he expected, and if there have been any surprises along the way.

In other words, I lobbed him a couple soft balls.

“Football is a game of surprises,” Brian Ferentz said. “This is a business full of surprises. I think if anything went the way you expected it in this business, it wouldn’t be much fun. None of us would be in it and it would be pretty boring."

Brian Ferentz went on to say that a lot has surprised him and a lot that has gone exactly how he thought it would, but without being specific in either case.

“That’s just how this kind of works, and that’s why it’s fun,” Brian Ferentz said. “Every day is a new adventure.”

Brian Ferentz gave high praise to Wisconsin, saying the other teams in the Big Ten West Division are chasing the Badgers.

And while that is stating the obvious, Brian Ferentz was asked about competing against Wisconsin’s 3-4 defense, which held Iowa to just 66 yards during a 38-14 victory on Nov. 11 in Madison, Wis.

“I know this, if you want to win a Big Ten championship the road goes through Madison,” Brian Ferentz said. “I think we all saw that this year. In my opinion, those guys didn’t get enough credit as the year went on. That’s a really good football team. “

Iowa, on the other hand, is an inconsistent football team, especially on offense. The same offense that failed to score a touchdown against Wisconsin and that scored only one touchdown apiece in losses to Michigan State and Northwestern shredded Ohio State for 487 yards and six touchdowns, including five passing touchdowns by sophomore quarterback Nate Stanley.

I asked Brian on Monday if there was a simple explanation for what happened against Ohio State.

“No. We played well, and I think they helped us a little bit with field position and turnovers” he said. “If you look at all the numbers that matter in that game, we won in all of those categories.”

As for Phil Parker’s interview, he shed no light on whether junior All-America cornerback Josh Jackson has made a decision about entering the 2018 NFL draft.

But even if Parker knew the answer, he almost certainly would not have shared it with the media under the circumstances.

Parker was asked several questions about having to replace the three senior starters at linebacker, most notably Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Josey Jewell.

Parker said Kristian Welch, Aaron Mends and Nick Niemann might have the inside track to replace the three senior linebackers, with Amani Jones also in the mix.

Nick Niemann is the younger brother of Iowa starting linebacker Ben Niemann. Nick is also apparently a great athlete, considering that Parker said Nick is faster and quicker than his older brother. That's saying something because Ben Niemann is athletic for a linebacker. 

Parker also said they are considering moving a safety, perhaps Amani Hooker, to outside linebacker for the 2018 season.

But Monday's press conference for the most part was uneventful and business as usual.

Brian Ferentz might have dismissed any question about the press box incident by saying he is now focused on other things. But we'll never know because it never came up.

And I'll take much of the blame for that.