Report: Iowa's Kirk Ferentz meets with former Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns

A fascinating name is being linked to the Iowa Hawkeyes offensive coordinator job after reportedly meeting with Kirk Ferentz.

According to Scott Dochterman of The Athletic, Ferentz met with Kevin Johns regarding the job. The assistant was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Duke Blue Devils, but he has experience with many other programs, including Texas Tech, Indiana and Northwestern.

Check out the photo below, shared to X (formerly known as Twitter) by Dochterman, revealing the duo met in-person in Iowa. Perhaps a deal is near.

Maybe Kirk Ferentz’s meeting with former Duke OC Kevin Johns this morning will finally produce white smoke from Casa Kinnick.
(Sent from a longtime friend at the Courtyard across from Kinnick) pic.twitter.com/YYueq5qWN9

— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) January 26, 2024

Moreover, the news comes after Iowa finished with a tremendous season in the win-loss column in 2023, earning 10 wins and a trip to the Citrus Bowl vs. Tennessee. In that bowl game, throughout this season and over the last several, though, the Iowa offense just hasn’t found much success, ultimately leading to the firing of its coordinator when the unit failed to reach the 25-point-per-game threshold established at the beginning of the season.

After the bowl loss, Kirk Ferentz had his eyes forward and explained exactly what he’s looking for in the new Iowa OC. 

“First of all, I want a guy who is going to be a really good team player,” he said. “Obviously, they have to have expertise in their area, like all of our coaches, and they have to be good people. They have to be guys that are going to mentor the players they work. They have to be people that understand a team is a team.”

Ferentz then recalled some of his previous coaching experiences, when he once coached NFL legend Dan Marino at Pittsburgh. However, he says that despite superior talent at Pitt, he actually found better success during his early years at Iowa thanks to a better-connected coaching staff.

“I go back to my time in the ’80s. I came from a place where we had ultra talent. We coached a national championship team down to No. 2, and I will go on record saying that one, mainly, because we had phenomenal players. Marino, you go right down the list. Phenomenal players, but a dysfunctional coaching staff. A lot of guys worried about themselves, their professions, their careers, all that stuff.

“I came to Iowa in ’81, literally off the pickle boat, and it is just the opposite. We had talent, but not the kind of talent we had at Pitt. We had a staff that was just unbelievably cohesive. The bottom line is the guys all cared about one thing: the players they coached and the team being successful.”

Perhaps Kevin Johns will check those boxes for Kirk Ferentz. Time will tell if Iowa has found their new offensive coordinator or not.