By Todd Brommelkamp/KGYM Radio
At some point during the 2022 season the Big Ten’s West division devolved into a sportswriter’s fever dream performance of “The Aristocrats.”
Purdue is going to Indianapolis.
“So – Is that all ya’ got?”
Times are changing though, perhaps even in Iowa City where it is seemingly only altered with the switch to and from Daylight Savings.
Matt Rhule and Luke Fickell arrive on the scene at a very opportune time, if only for a season before the conference adopts it’s Ohio State and Michigan-favoring Pangaea.
Rhule, long rumored to be among Trev Alberts’ top choices at Nebraska, flopped like so many college coaches before him when he dove head-first into the NFL waters. Before that he was a winner, quickly turning both Temple and Baylor into forces to be reckoned with.
You think he won’t do the same in Lincoln?
The former Penn State linebacker isn’t like the prodigal carnie who came before him, flashing the Cheshire Cat’s grin and proclaiming perhaps it would be the Big Ten that would be adjusting to his style of play.
Rhule is a serious football coach with defensive chops that will serve him well in a division where scoring points and consistently moving the football sometimes seems like going against the grain.
Then there’s Fickell, who decided he’d rather move his family to Madison, Wisconsin, than stick around to see what life for Cincinnati would be like in the Dollar General version of the Big 12.
Another defensive-minded coach, Fickell will fit right in at Wisconsin even though it looks like no one in his family has so much as touched a cheese curd in their life. His Bearcats rosters were stocked with Ohio and Michigan preps with a sprinkling of players from SEC country.
Say it with me, these are home run hires for two schools who compete in a division that prefers station-to-station baseball.
Are you nervous if you’re a fan of Iowa or any other West entity? You should be.
So let’s get to the Hawkeyes, who just suffered perhaps their worst conference loss of the Kirk Ferentz era, shall we?
Silver is the traditional 25th anniversary present in case you’re looking to get Ferentz something ahead of the 2023 season. I’m not a sure a man who makes $7 million a year truly needs anything material at this point. If you’re reading this, you know exactly what Ferentz needs: a phone call.
You’d think a man with so many connections in the National Football League could get one of those acquaintances to bail him out of a mess no one forced him to make.
If this scenario sounds familiar, it should. I wrote the same thing a year ago. If hindsight is 20/20 my vision stacks up with peak Ted Williams when it comes to dealing with Kirk’s eldest son.
Brian Ferentz, in my honest opinion, is a fine football coach. Fine football coaches are found in abundance these days. Most of them don’t share the same last name as their boss, which was a problem from Day One. Except they got us all on a technicality, didn’t they? Brian Ferentz’s last name is Ferentz and not Barta, as in Iowa director of athletics Gary Barta. If you truly believe Brian Ferentz answers to anyone other than the head coach of the football team’s offense he’s paid to lead, well, you’re beyond help at this point.
Bosses can fire employees. Barta couldn’t fire Brian Ferenz if you spotted him an ‘f’ and both vowels.
No, this is Kirk Ferentz’s program and it (almost) always has been. He has a long memory and he’s gone from working without a contract to having one so iron-clad it makes the U.S.S. Monitor look like balsa wood model. That’s why he sneers when anyone so much as questions the state of his program or suggests a change in course.
Remember, his team won 10 games a year ago.
Remember, Greg Davis wasn’t very popular either and his offense helped Iowa to a Big Ten West championship and Rose Bowl appearance.
Strother Martin’s Joe McGrath summed up such nostalgia when, near the end of “Slap Shot,” he told the Hanson Brothers exactly what to do with their thoughts of Eddie Shore and old-time hockey.
Brian Ferentz needs a fresh start. He’s not going to be the next head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, as many believe was the plan when he was onboarded back into the program in 2012 as the team’s offensive line coach. Fan enmity combined with his ensnarement in a legal battle between former players and the program over alleged racial discrimination has ensured Brian Ferentz has hit his ceiling at his alma mater.
You can’t demote him back to being the team’s offensive line coach. You could if you were a football coach but you can’t as a parent and a football coach. We all want what’s best for our children’s future, whether they’re learning multiplication tables or climbing the professional ladder.
So you hope the phone rings with an NFL job offer for your son, one that allows everyone to save face. Kirk Ferentz doesn’t have to fire his son, Brian Ferentz doesn’t suffer the humiliation of being fired by his father and Gary Barta doesn’t have to attempt to say with a straight face that after consulting with Kirk Ferentz he made the move in the best interest of the program.
Then you look in the mirror and realize that relying on an antiquated offense coupled with all-world level defense and special teams isn’t a recipe for sustained success in a 16-team, division-free Big Ten that will span from California to New Jersey by 2024.
Does the man in the mirror have what it takes to make it in the new-new-new Big Ten?
If the answer is yes, the next couple months should be interesting in Iowa City.
If the answer is no?
Get ready for more of the same. ♦
The host of The Todd Brommelkamp Show with Alex Kuhn, Todd Brommelkamp has covered and commented on Iowa athletics since 1999. The Todd Brommelkamp Show with Alex Kuhn can be heard on KGYM weekdays from 4-6 PM.
