By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Some outsiders apparently believe that Brian Ferentz is a liability, or sort of a black eye for the Iowa football program, when that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

And by outsiders, I mean fans from rival schools, who seem to think that having Brian Ferentz as the offensive coordinator is bad for the Iowa program.

I’ve had several exchanges on social media in which fans from rival schools mentioned Brian Ferentz when trying to criticize or minimize Iowa’s success and importance as a program.

That struck me as odd.

Brian Ferentz is an easy target as the son of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, and as his father’s 35-year old offensive coordinator.

But to say that Brian Ferentz reflects poorly on the Iowa football program, or that he is in over his head, as has been suggested to me recently, is just wrong.

Iowa won eight games in Brian’s first season as offensive coordinator. His quarterback threw 26 touchdown passes and just six interceptions, his star tight end had 11 touchdown receptions and the offensive line mostly held its own despite a rash of injuries.

It was hardly a masterpiece. But for his first year being in charge of the offense, Brian Ferentz did okay, probably a little better than okay.

He is now a year older and a year wiser, so it’s reasonable to expect more from his offense and more from Brian this coming fall.

Brian Ferentz was asked on Tuesday while addressing the media in the final week of spring practice what he has learned about himself over the past year.

“I think I learned that I'm not really as good at it as I'd like to be,” he said. “And I think if you do anything, that should be the way you're looking at it. But tried to be realistic going into it. I've been around long enough now to understand that anything you do, you're probably going to improve over time. But you have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone a little bit and push forward.

“There's a lot of things that I can do better just from a personal standpoint, but I think the main thing is just trying to do a better job of putting our football team in a position to be successful and to have a chance to succeed.

“I think the biggest thing for me is learning how to do a better job of maximizing the role I'm in now because it was new to me a year ago.”

Brian Ferentz will always be a lightning rod for controversy just from being his father’s son and from being outspoken.

Unlike his very-guarded father, Brian Ferentz often speaks without a filter and raises eyebrows with some of his comments.

He stayed away from controversy on Tuesday, but it still was typical Brian Ferentz at the podium, a mixture of passion, pride and humor.

He spent approximately 30 minutes answering all sorts of questions. Brian responded to one rather long and detailed question by saying “you’re killing me” to the reporter who asked before giving his answer

But for the most part, Brian was humble, respectful and funny. He certainly knows how to take over a room with his presence.

Brian understands that he is fortunate to be Kirk Ferentz’s son and he should never take that for granted. But Brian also has met almost every challenge that he has faced.

His well-connected father probably helped Brian land the position with the New England Patriots in 2008 as a scouting assistant, but it was up to Brian to seize the opportunity, which he did. Brian's former colleagues in New England speak highly of him as a coach and as a person.

The anti-Brian Ferentz sentiment is mostly fans from rival schools poking fun of him as a daddy’s boy, or saying that some of his behavior is bad for Iowa’s image.

When asked to explain what they mean, or to give some examples that would support that belief, opposing fans usually bring up the press box incident, or the nepotism argument.

And then I respond by saying is that all you have?

The nepotism debate has festered since Brian and his younger brother, James Ferentz, both played as offensive linemen on scholarship for their father at Iowa. It resurfaced when Brian joined his father’s coaching staff in 2012 and still exists today.

My stand on the nepotism debate is while there probably is some merit to it, Kirk Ferentz has accomplished enough on the field, and has been extremely loyal and classy off it to where he has earned the right to have this unique setup for as long as it works.

If that makes me a Ferentz apologist, then so be it.

As for the press box incident, in which Brian Ferentz unleased a profanity-laced tirade directed at the replay official at halftime of the Minnesota game on Oct. 28 at Kinnick Stadium, Brian was out of line and his behavior was embarrassing, for Brian and for his father.

The hope is that Brian learned from the incident and will never repeat that behavior again. He issued a public apology and his father made it clear that Brian’s behavior was unacceptable.

I wrote a column that criticized Brian’s behavior because it was unacceptable, but that was it. I have since moved on and hadn’t thought about the press box incident until fans from three different rival schools recently brought it up while trying to minimize Brian’s popularity.

I took a lot of bashing and grief for criticizing Brian Ferentz because some Hawkeye fans thought I blew the press box incident out of proportion, but also because a lot of fans like Brian Ferentz.

They like his energy, his passion, his creativity and his influence on his 62-year old father.

If anybody can get Kirk Ferentz to think outside the box, it’s his oldest of five children.

Opposing fans can think what they want, but to associate Brian Ferentz with what’s wrong with the Iowa football team isn’t fair, accurate or popular at the moment, not with Iowa coming off an incredible 55-24 victory over Ohio States and its first bowl win since 2010.

I would guess or estimate that most Iowa fans are pleased with Brian Ferentz’s performance as the offensive coordinator and confident about the future. Some probably even like the idea of Brian succeeding his father as head coach some day, although, that's putting the cart way in front of the horse for now.

What happens on the field will ultimately decide Brian’s legacy. And despite what some opposing fans might think, Brian Ferentz is more of an asset than a liability at this stage.