Kirk Ferentz gets into heated exchange with reporter over questions about son Brian's job performance

Through seven games this season, Iowa only has seven touchdowns and its passing offense ranks last in the Big Ten. That’s led to questions about offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s job status, and that was the subject of an interesting exchange on Saturday with Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz.

Ferentz took questions after his Hawkeyes fell to Ohio State 54-10 in Columbus — a game in which Iowa totaled 158 total yards of offense and scored its only touchdown from a scoop-and-score on defense. During the game, Iowa made a quarterback switch, removing Spencer Petras and putting backup Alex Padilla in to start the second half.

But Ferentz made one thing clear after the game: He’s not considering any staff changes until after the season. That’s when the reporter asked him why he’d make a quarterback change but won’t think about the staff during the season.

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“I think you’re talking about two separate job descriptions and two separate areas of responsibility,” Ferentz said. “I know people do it, I know it’s been done this year. Again, it’s just not my preference. My preference has been [to] play it out, and there’s evidence to show that it’s worked pretty well in the past.

“We’ll play it out and then we’ll do our assessments and our evaluations when everything’s over. The season’s not over. When the season’s over, we’ll make an evaluation on what’s best for our program.”

Kirk Ferentz on potential OC change amid struggles on offense: ‘It’s got no bearing on who the person is’

When the reporter mentioned the Hawkeyes’ offensive struggles — calling them “one of the least productive offenses in the country” — Ferentz said he noticed and thanked him for pointing it out.

The reporter then asked what that sluggish performance by a unit run by a family member does to a program, and Ferentz said he considers everyone on the staff qualified for their jobs.

“It’s got no bearing on who the person is,” Ferentz responded. “It’s just a matter of who is coaching our football team. The guys on our staff are guys that I think have demonstrated success. They’re good people. We’re going to keep pushing forward.”

In the last question of the press conference, the reporter asked if evaluating Brian Ferentz’s performance would be different than other coaches. Kirk Ferentz refuted that idea, saying he wants to treat everyone on the staff the same and cited other times he’s had to do so.

“We’ve, at least I’ve tried to treat everybody with consistency on our staff, past and present,” Ferentz said. “Same with players. Got three family members play, as well, in our program. They’ve got to earn everything they get, just like coaches do.”