By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In all my years of covering Hawkeye sports, the news on Monday that Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz would be let go after the 2023 season was perhaps the most stunning of all.

It wasn’t necessarily that he would be leaving his father’s coaching staff that made it stunning, but rather the timing and the circumstances surrounding it, and who apparently has led the charge for change.

I had convinced myself only recently that Brian Ferentz would step down after this season, because obviously, he wasn’t meeting an acceptable performance level, and wasn’t even close to meeting it.

But I didn’t expect it to come on the Monday after the bye week, and with Iowa tied for first place in the Big Ten West Division and 6-2 overall, and I didn’t expect Iowa Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz to be leading the charge.

Goetz released a statement in which she explains how the decision was reached.

“Anyone who loves Iowa football recognizes both the success and challenges that have brought attention to our program this season,” Goetz said. “Our struggles on offense coupled with the offensive coordinator’s contract make this a unique situation.

“After conversations with head coach Kirk Ferentz, coach Brian Ferentz and President Wilson, I informed Brian that our intention is for him to be with us through the bowl game, but this is his last season with the program,” Goetz said. “Making this known today is in the best interest of the program and its loyal fans; it provides clarity during this pivotal time in the schedule.

“It is not my practice to be involved in assistant coaching decisions and certainly not to make public such a change during a season. Our priority is to put all our student-athletes in the best position to have both short-term and long-term success, on and off the field. Our football team has a group of outstanding young men and talented athletes, who at 6-2, have a lot to play for. As a former athlete, I know every opportunity to put on the jersey is a cherished one.

“As Hawkeyes, let’s continue to support all our coaches, staff and student-athletes in their pursuit of a Big Ten Championship and bowl game victory.”

There is definitely a new sheriff in town, and it’s Beth Goetz.

Hawkeyes fans learned something about her with this decision, which is that she isn’t afraid to take a difficult stand for what she believes is best for Hawkeye athletics.

Goetz is Brian Ferentz’s director supervisor because of nepotism policies, and she apparently takes that delicate role very serious.

It couldn’t have been easy for Goetz, after barely one year as an Iowa athletic administrator, and still wearing the interim tag, to look Kirk Ferentz in the eye and say we’re firing your son after the season.

Kirk Ferentz wields a lot of power as evidenced by him even having his son as offensive coordinator, and his son-in law as recruiting director.

But there is a limit to his power, and it has reached that point.

Beth Goetz apparently has seen enough on the field, and probably heard enough from frustrated fans and donors that she had to make a change, interim tag or not.

And the sooner the better to help start changing the narrative.

Even if Iowa should struggle on offense for the rest of the season, there still will be some hope for the future simply because Brian Ferentz will be moving on.

It’s hard to know for sure how much he is to blame for the current problems since it is his father’s offense.

But the statistics don’t lie in this case.

Brian Ferentz entered the 2023 season under weird circumstances after then Athletic Director Gary Barta added a 25-point per game performance incentive that had to be met for the contract to roll over.

Iowa also had to win at least seven games as another provision in the contract.

The decision by Barta was met with wide skepticism because it only made a bad situation worse, and it made Brian Ferentz, and the Iowa football program, an easier target for ridicule and jokes.

The drive to 325 became a popular phrase and storyline, but it was embarrassing for Brian Ferentz, for Kirk Ferentz, and for the Iowa program.

Barta retired in August and just a few months after announcing the performance incentives. He hasn’t had to deal with the fallout that many believe he created by changing the contract.

Some fans also have accused Barta of being too soft on Kirk Ferentz over the years, and for allowing him to turn Hawkeye football into a family business.

Brian Ferentz will land somewhere in coaching if that is what he chooses to do moving forward.

His father, obviously, has connections, and Brian Ferentz has already proven to be a pretty good offensive line coach and a tight ends coach.

He just wasn’t ready to be an offensive coordinator at this level of football, and running his father’s offense eventually became too much for Brian to handle.

Brian Ferentz is the third offensive coordinator to work under Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, and all three have left under less-than-desirable circumstances.

Fans felt that Ken O’Keefe had worn out his welcome by the time he left in 2011, while fans never really took a liking to Greg Davis during his five seasons as offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2016.

Brian Ferentz released a statement on Monday to ESPN in which he said his main priority right now is to help the team have success.

“For the vast majority of my adult life I have had the privilege to represent the University of Iowa as a football player and coach,” Brain Ferentz said. “I have always considered and will always consider it an honor.

In that time my singular goal has been to contribute to the football team’s success. As long as I am employed by the University of Iowa my stated goal will not change. My priority will continue to be the well being of our students and the success of our team.”

Iowa will face Northwestern on Saturday at Wrigley Field, and it’ll be interesting to see if the news about Brian Ferentz has any noticeable impact on the players.

Kirk Ferentz will also hold his weekly press conference on Tuesday, and this story is likely dominate the questions unless Iowa finally says enough.

The news that Brian Ferentz would be let go after the season was big by itself.

But the news about how it happened was almost as big.

I assumed after learning Monday morning that an announcement would come later in the day that Brian Ferentz was stepping down that it was Brian Ferentz’s decision to step down.

I didn’t think Beth Goetz had this in her, especially while still wearing the interim tag.

But she proved me wrong, and I assume that she also made a lot of frustrated fans happy.

It was widely assumed when Brian Ferentz joined the Iowa staff in 2012 that Kirk Ferentz was grooming his son to be his successor.

That assumption grew when Kirk Ferentz promoted Brian Ferentz to offensive coordinator before the 2017 season.

Brian Ferentz was a fan and media favorite at the time because he had a gift for gab, often spoken without a filter and could get his highly conservative father to think outside the box a little bit.

Remember, New Kirk, the coach who would occasionally go for it on fourth down, and take chances down the field on offense?

Well, Brain Ferentz was largely responsible for his father’s transformation.

Brian Ferentz’s first three seasons as the offensive coordinator certainly had their moments, from Iowa’s 55-24 victory over Ohio State in 2017 to the 49-24 rout of the University of Southern California in the 2019 Holiday Bowl to the 41-21 win at Penn State in 2020, there were some impressive performances by his offense.

Iowa also defeated Indiana 34-6 in the 2021 season opener and then crushed Maryland 51-14 in the fifth game of the 2021 season.

However, the 2021 season ended with a 42-3 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game, and with a 20-17 loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.

And since then, the offense has never been the same.

From the start of the 2022 season until now, the offense under Brian Ferentz has been in a disturbing free fall from being average to pretty good prior to the 2022 season to now being horrible most of the time.

The fact that Iowa is 14-7 since the start of last season is a testimony to how well the defense and specials teams have performed and due also partly to a favorable schedule, especially this season.

And with USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon all set to the join the Big Ten in 2024, the road to success in football will get even harder to travel.

Brian Ferentz was given more than enough time to prove himself as offensive coordinator, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

His father also made a mistake by making Brian Ferentz the quarterback coach in 2022 because Brian just wasn’t qualified for the job after having never played or coached the position.

Beth Goetz probably took all of this into account and said enough.

We have to make a change.

And that’s leadership.

It was widely assumed when Brian Ferentz joined the Iowa staff in 2012 that Kirk Ferentz was grooming his son to be his successor.

That assumption grew when Kirk Ferentz promoted Brian Ferentz to offensive coordinator before the 2017 season.

Brian Ferentz was a fan and media favorite at the time because he had a gift for gab, often spoken without a filter and could get his highly conservative father to think outside the box a little bit.

Remember, New Kirk, the coach who would occasionally go for it on fourth down, and take chances down the field on offense?

Well, Brain Ferentz was largely responsible for his father’s transformation.

Brian Ferentz’s first three seasons as the offensive coordinator certainly had their moments, from Iowa’s 55-24 victory over Ohio State in 2017 to the 49-24 rout of the University of Southern California in the 2019 Holiday Bowl to the 41-21 win at Penn State in 2020, there were some impressive performances by his offense.

Iowa also defeated Indiana 34-6 in the 2021 season opener and then crushed Maryland 51-14 in the fifth game of the 2021 season.

However, the 2021 season ended with a 42-3 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game, and with a 20-17 loss to Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.

And since then, the offense has never been the same.

From the start of the 2022 season until now, the offense under Brian Ferentz has been in a disturbing free fall from being average to pretty good at times to now being horrible most of the time.

The fact that Iowa is 14-7 since the start of last season is a testimony to how well the defense and specials teams have performed and due also partly to a favorable schedule, especially this season.