By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The three coordinators for the Iowa football team will meet with the media on Wednesday at the Iowa football facility.

The interviews will start at 1 p.m. and it would make sense for Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz to go either first or second, because if he were the last of the three coordinators to be interviewed, the questions might never end.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the press conference after having tested positive for Covid Monday afternoon.

Fortunately, my symptoms have been mild, so I will be paying close attention as Brian Ferentz, defensive coordinator Phil Parker and special teams coordinator LeVar Woods address the media.

All three should have plenty to say, and for Parker and Woods, it’ll be a chance to give praise and highlight how well their units have performed this season, which is currently in a bye week and at the halfway point of the regular season with Iowa 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

For Brian Ferentz, on the other hand, it’ll be a chance to explain why his offense is arguably the worst in the nation, and so bad from a performance, and from a statistical standpoint. that it has become a laughingstock and a punchline.

This will mark the second time since the season started six weeks ago that Brian Ferentz will have addressed the media.

Say what you want about his offense being horrible, and about him working for his father, but you can’t say that Brian Ferentz is being shielded from the media.

It would be nice to be able to interview coordinators immediately after games, as is the case with head coaches and players.

But that’s just not the way college football operates.

So, you take what you can get, and to have Brian Ferentz made available twice in barely one month is certainly a lot better than nothing.

I know the Iowa media gets ridiculed for supposedly not asking the tough questions during tough times. But I guarantee there will be some tough questions asked to Brian Ferentz at Wednesday’s press conference because there has to be under the circumstances.

That doesn’t mean I expect a reporter to just come out and ask Brian Ferentz if he thinks he still deserves to have his job, because that’s easy for me to ask knowing that I won’t be there.

But it would be fair, and reasonable under the circumstances, to ask Brian Ferentz if he believes he has received preferential treatment from his father, and if Brian Ferentz believes he already would’ve been fired if he weren’t Kirk Ferentz’s son, given Brian Ferentz’s track record.

Those are uncomfortable, but fair questions that probably wouldn’t get answered, but they still have to be asked.

What I also would like to know is if Brian Ferentz truly agrees with the decision to have had Spencer Petras take every snap at quarterback so far this season.

Kirk Ferentz, obviously, has the final say on everything.

But where does Brian Ferentz stand on not using another quarterback?

Maybe he truly believes that Petras deserves to have taken every snap so far this season.

But if he doesn’t, it would would be interesting, and telling, to hear Brian Ferentz say it publicly, although, that is highly unlikely because some things just aren’t to be shared publicly.

Another fair and reasonable question under the circumstances would be to ask Brian Ferentz why the Iowa running game continues to struggle.

The team’s inability to sustain a rushing attack in the first six games is nothing new.

Way more times than not Iowa, oddly enough, has struggled to be productive on the ground under Kirk Ferentz.

It’s one of the hardest things to explain since Iowa is known mostly as a power running team under Kirk Ferentz, whose area of expertise is the offensive line.

Would also like to hear Brian Ferentz’s thoughts on whether he thinks Iowa should start recruiting more mobile quarterbacks, and whether he thinks Iowa needs to evolve more on offense.

In this case, Iowa, of course, means his father.

Would also like to know if Brian Ferentz is concerned that the deficiencies on offense could ultimately hurt recruiting, and if Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta has voiced any concerns, or made any demands since Brian Ferentz reports to him.

My media colleagues will ask the right questions to Brian Ferentz on Wednesday, and it could get uncomfortable at times, as it has with his father at times this season.

But for as long as the Iowa offense continues to perform at a historically low level, most of the interviews with members of the offense will be uncomfortable at times.

The fact that Brian Ferentz is Kirk Ferentz’s son just takes it up another notch.

Petras might struggle on the field, but his willingness to face the media after each game, and under miserable circumstances in some cases, is something to admire.

Petras gets blamed the most partly because he is the quarterback, but the performance of his offensive line has arguably been worse than his performance.

The way this season has played out so far on offense has to just be devastating to Petras, and to Brian Ferentz.

They both have put so much time and effort into it, and yet, the results have left so much to be desired, or some might say the results have been embarrassing.