Kirk Ferentz addresses decision to move on from son Brian as offensive coordinator

Iowa will have a new offensive coordinator next season. Brian Ferentz will leave the program after the bowl game, Hawkeyes interim athletics director Beth Goetz announced Monday, and head coach Kirk Ferentz addressed that decision on Tuesday.

During Kirk Ferentz’s time at Iowa, in-season coaching moves have rarely — if ever — happened. He made that point last year when facing question about Brian Ferentz’s performance as offensive coordinator.

But on Monday, the announcement came out about the decision to make a move at offensive coordinator after the season, meaning and Kirk Ferentz said he learned of the decision over the weekend. He also acknowledged the change from his usual practice.

“For 25 years, I tried to operate in the singular focus of doing what I feel’s best for the program, and that’s mainly the players and everybody who works in this building,” Kirk Ferentz told reporters. “That’s my first obligation. Basically, my philosophy, my practice, I think, has been pretty consistent. Typically, we go through the season and then, run an evaluation of the program top to bottom afterwards.

“Yesterday’s announcement was certainly a departure from that practice, but that’s really what we’ve tried to do for the past 24 years. … I’m really proud of our players, proud of our coaches. I think they’ve done a good job over the long time and what we do now move forward, and our focus is on getting ready for this ballgame and then, bigger picture, all four games.”

Kirk Ferentz explains why he usually waits until after the season to consider changes

Iowa’s offense has struggled mightily the last few years, particular in 2022 and through 2023. Last year, the Hawkeyes averaged 17.7 points per game and are averaging 19.5 through eight games this season. Of course, the “Drive for 325” helped amplify that storyline a bit considering the clause in Brian Ferentz’s contract.

But even despite the struggles, Kirk Ferentz wanted to maintain continuity during the season. His reasoning for that stems from all the work that has to be done during the year, and now he’s wanting to see how his team responds.

“My policy has typically been to evaluate everything — players, coaches, all that — post-season because in-season, we’ve got a lot on our plates,” Kirk Ferentz said. “That’s just kind of in the nature of. It’s been that way, probably since I got got started full-time in ’81. There’s just not enough time in the day. That’s where our focus is. Everything you do is precious in terms of time. … To me, it’s a better time. It’s a less emotional time. I give you a lot of reasons why I’ve done it that way. But it really doesn’t matter. It’s really not significant right now because we are dealing with something that we have to deal with and we will, and that’s one of the points I always make to our team at the end of camp.

“There are a lot of factors, usually boil down to about three or four of them. The one that never changes is, how do you handle the bumps that you don’t anticipate? The things that maybe you can’t, can’t see coming? Certainly don’t see coming in August, early September. So part of any season. Just like injuries. Those are parts of seasons. And then how you respond to those things, that’s how you get defined. This is just, it’s one more of those things that you have to try to compartmentalize and put it in the right position. And then, the most important question is, what do we have to do to work forward and be successful [at] to be successful?”