The son of longtime coach Kirk Ferentz, whose contract received national attention amid the offense’s record troubles, Brian Ferentz, the offensive coordinator for Iowa, will not be back for the 2024 season.
Due to nepotism regulations, interim athletic director Beth Goetz oversees Brian Ferentz. She made the announcement on Monday after speaking with Kirk Ferentz, Brian Ferentz, and Barbara Wilson, the university president. Goetz said in a statement that Ferentz’s contract status and Iowa’s offensive problems this year have made for “a unique situation” for the programme.
The Hawkeyes will take on Northwestern on Saturday at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. They did not play last week.
“Making this known today is in the best interest of the program and its loyal fans; it provides clarity during this pivotal time in the schedule,” Goetz stated in the statement.
As the offensive coordinator of the club since 2017, Ferentz has been a member of his father’s staff since 2012. He is the eldest son of Kirk Ferentz, a former Oklahoma offensive lineman. The club would need to win at least seven games and average 25 points per game in 2023 in order for Ferentz’s two-year rolling contract to be reactivated beyond June 30, 2024. This is an unusual points-per-game stipulation that Iowa stated in February when they modified his deal.
Gary Barta, the longtime athletic director who crafted Ferentz and created the Drive to 325 clause, announced his retirement on August 1. Ferentz, who is seen to be a strong candidate for the permanent athletic director position, has since started reporting to Goetz.
Iowa is 118th in the country in scoring offence (19.5), much below the 25 points per game clause in Ferentz’s contract. With 232.4 yards per game, the Hawkeyes are lowest in the country, far below Eastern Michigan, which has the second-worst offence (258.8). They have suffered multiple setbacks, including the injuries of tight ends Luke Lachey and Erick All and starting quarterback Cade McNamara.
In terms of scoring, Iowa is ranked 98th in the US since 2017 with 25.3 points per game; but, since the 2021 season began, the offence has only averaged 20.4 points.
There have only been three offensive coordinators under Kirk Ferentz, the nation’s longest-tenured coach, who has been in charge of Iowa since the 1999 season: Ken O’Keefe, Greg Davis, and Brian Ferentz. After the 2011 season, O’Keefe willingly left Iowa’s coaching staff to join the Miami Dolphins, and after the 2016 season, Davis announced his retirement from coaching.
Kirk Ferentz will speak to the media in Iowa City on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve been here 34 years now, two different times, and I’ve never witnessed a coordinator being relieved of his duties,” Kirk Ferentz, an Iowa assistant from 1981 to 1989, told ESPN in August. “If you don’t think somebody is getting the job done, then yeah, you have to suggest maybe it’s time to move on or whatever. You just try to evaluate your people, that’s part of your job. We haven’t had much turnover here.”