Kirk Ferentz facing what could be worse Big Ten Media Day than usual
Questions about his struggling offense and about his son could dominate the narrative
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – In nearly a quarter century of interviewing Kirk Ferentz and listening to his many press conferences during that time, his funniest moment might have come at the annual Big Ten media day event in a year that escapes me.
Ferentz was asked to pick his favorite moment as the Iowa head coach, and by this time, he had rebuilt the program and won two Big Ten titles.
So, there was plenty from which to choose, and yet, Ferentz showed his sense of humor by saying his favorite moment is every time he checks out of the hotel and starts heading back to Iowa City after having attended Big Ten media day.
Ferentz, of course, was joking because he gavve one of his famous snorts when answering the question, but there was also a serious side to his comment because he isn’t a fan of Big Ten media day.
It just isn’t his thing, and never has been.
Ferentz isn’t big on hype or self-promotion, especially in late July, and Big Ten media, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, is all about hype and self-promotion, for the coaches, for the players, and for the media.
I’ve been covering this event since 1992, and if memory serves me correctly, I haven’t missed one and only two head coaches have represented Iowa during that time: Kirk Ferentz, and before him, Hayden Fry.
Just think about that, more than three decades on the beat and just two head coaches.
We take Iowa’s continuity in football for granted, but it truly is spectacular.
Unfortunately, for Kirk Ferentz, his status as the longest tenured head coach in the country is old news and probably won’t be a hot topic when he meets with the media on Wednesday.
This year’s event will provide sort of a smoke screen for Kirk Ferentz as it will be dominated by the hazing scandal at Northwestern, which just recently cost Pat Fitzgerald his job after 17 years as head coach at his alma mater where he was also a star linebacker in the mid-1990s.
But when members of the media, especially those from the other 13 Big Ten teams, zero in on the Hawkeyes, Kirk Ferentz should be prepared to answer questions about his much-maligned offense that finished last season ranked 130th out of 131 teams in total offense, and that only had seven touchdown passes.
To put that in perspective, former Iowa quarterback Chuck Hartlieb threw seven touchdown passes against Northwestern in 1987 in what could be described as a different kind of hazing.
Kirk Ferentz has turned to the transfer portal for help, including landing former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara, and that will give him something to point to as reporters grill him about his offense, and about his son, who runs the offense.

Brian Ferentz is more famous than most college offensive coordinators, but for all the wrong reasons.
His offense was awful for most of last season. In fact, it was so bad, that soon-to-be retired athletic director Gary Barta, who might be Kirk Ferentz’s biggest fan, felt enough pressure to add some performances incentives to Brian Ferentz’s contract.
In the new contract, Brian Ferentz will make a base salary of $850,000 and will be able to have his contract reinstated to a two-year rolling agreement with a bonus and salary adjustment if the team meets certain requirements. The team needs to score at least 25 points per game and win a minimum of seven games in 2023 for Ferentz to hit his goals.
If those numbers were converted to the classroom, Brian Ferentz would be faced with only having to finish with a C average.
So, it’s not as if he’s being asked to do anything unreasonable or unrealistic.
Brian Ferentz is being asked to do what he should be able to do on a consistent basis as the offensive coordinator.
Last year’s performance on offense, when Iowa only averaged 17.7 points per game, despite the defense scoring six touchdowns was unacceptable, and finally sort of a breaking point for Barta, although, his incentives some will say are pretty weak.
It’ll be interesting to see what the new athletic director does should Iowa win the Big Ten West Division and 10 or 11 games, but only averages 24 points per game.
It’s hard to envision any athletic director, especially someone new on the job, telling Kirk Ferentz that his son would have to go under those circumstances.
Kirk Ferentz knows what is waiting for him at Big Ten media day.
When the media isn’t obsessing over the Northwestern scandal, some will ask Kirk Ferentz about his offense, and about his son’s ongoing struggles as the offensive coordinator.
Iowa’s offensive woes is a bigger story for the media that doesn’t cover Iowa on a regular basis because we’ve already addressed this topic multiple times, and there are only so many ways to ask the same questions over and over.

Kirk Ferentz has been dealing with the media long enough to know how to handle this kind of situation. It could get awkward if some in the media keep pestering him about his offense, and about his son, but Kirk Ferentz will do his best to control the narrative.
Hopefully, in the spirit of fairness, Kirk Ferentz will also be asked about his rock-solid defense and about what might be the best punter/kicker combination in college football in punter senior punter Tory Taylor and sophomore kicker Drew Stevens because they also deserve attention.
The rise of junior cornerback and punt returner Cooper DeJean is another intriguing storyline.
DeJean will represent Iowa at the annual event, along with junior tight end Luke Lachey and senior linebacker Jay Higgins, who gets to return to his hometown of Indianapolis to attend the event.
Kirk Ferentz could have picked McNamara to attend the event in order to highlight the positive, but Kirk Ferentz rewarded three players that began their careers at Iowa, and he also probably kept McNamara from having to talk about, or defend, an offense that he didn’t have anything to do with last season.
Higgins replaced senior defensive tackle Noah Shannon, who withdrew from attending Big Ten media day because of his involvement in the ongoing investigation into sports wagering.
Speaking of the investigation, that’s another topic that Kirk Ferentz will almost certainly be asked about, but there is little he can say about it.
It would be nice to know if Kirk Ferentz knew that Shannon was linked to the gambling investigation when he picked Shannon to represent Iowa at Big Ten media day.
So, between his situation on offense, and with the gambling investigation still yet to be resolved, Kirk Ferentz has some unpleasant topics facing him.
The good news is that Kirk Ferentz no longer drives to the event or spends two days answering questions because it’s now a one-day event for seven teams on Wednesday and for seven teams on Thursday. He and the players will get in and out on the same day thanks to now traveling by air.
And nobody on that plane will be happier than Kirk Ferentz when it lands back in eastern Iowa.