Kirk Ferentz reacts to son Brian getting job at Maryland

Last season, the Iowa offense was the talk of college football for plenty of reasons. The focus was on Brian Ferentz, the Hawkeyes offensive coordinator and son of head coach Kirk Ferentz who had a clause in his contract stipulating a points-per-game threshold to renew his contract.

As Iowa struggled mightily on that side of the ball – an injury to Cade McNamara didn’t help – the university made a change. Brian Ferentz was let go at season’s end, and the Hawkeyes fell short of the 25 points per game mark.

He left the program after the bowl game, but Ferentz found another job at Maryland as an analyst. Speaking at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday, Kirk Ferentz expressed his appreciation for his son’s new opportunity.

“First of all, I’m appreciative of the opportunity he’s got,” Ferentz told reporters. “And I know he is, too. Appreciative of Coach [Mike] Locksley. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Mike as a person, as a coach.

“As a dad, the dad side of things, I want all my kids to be around good people, professionally. So feel good about that. It’s a good opportunity for him. Just excited to see where it all goes and wish everybody the best there.”

After McNamara’s season-ending injury, Deacon Hill took over under center for Iowa as the offense continued to stall. The Hawkeyes ranked last in the FBS with 234.6 yards of offense per game and second-to-last with 15.4 points on average.

Late in the year, then-interim athletics director Beth Goetz announced Brian Ferentz’s pending departure from the program after the bowl game. Iowa then went and hired Tim Lester to take over as offensive coordinator, and he’ll still have McNamara at quarterback as he enters his final season of college football.

As the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, Iowa could find itself as a potential contender considering Phil Parker’s defense is looking to take another leap forward. But all eyes will be on the offense, and Kirk Ferentz expects Lester to make an instant impact.

“Tim just really stood out,” Ferentz said. “I think he’s a really good fit for us. Whether he talked about his personality, obviously his offensive background, his expertise. Played quarterback, coached quarterbacks, has been a coordinator that had a rare opportunity last year to really almost take a coaching sabbatical, if you will, and worked with the Packers and got great exposure to a lot of people offensively. 

“(He) helped out on the defensive side. So he comes with a wealth of knowledge. One thing I do appreciate you as a former head coach that wasn’t a requisite but … I think he’s got a deep appreciation for how football works and offense can complement defense, special teams.”