Amid a plethora of head coach firings throughout the college football landscape over the past month, including big names such as Penn State‘s James Franklin and LSU‘s Brian Kelly, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz weighed in on the situation in a Thursday appearance on the “Rich Eisen Show.”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just really, unfortunately, a sad reflection of the world we’re in right now. And we’re not going to change it, certainly,” Ferentz said. “You know, all of us that follow college sports, and I know you do, and you’re on a couple different levels, pros and what have you, but I spent six years in the NFL. In a lot of ways, we’ve become the NFL…
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“I think it’s a really clear message right now for everybody involved in this, is you better win, and you better win now, at least at most places.”
Ferentz continued by referencing his admiration for the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom he had grown up watching in the Pittsburgh area, and their reputation as one of the NFL’s most stable franchises in terms of head coaching over the past 56 years.
“I’ve referenced this a million times. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I’m kind of a simple-minded person, I guess. I just look at the basics, and, you know, the Steelers have been pretty successful for a long time. They’ve had three coaches since 1969 when Chuck Knoll got hired, and I think the impressive thing about that is that their leadership has changed, obviously, Art Rooney Sr.’s no longer alive or, you know, running the organization, but despite who’s been making the decisions within the Steelers, they’ve remained true to their philosophy. As an outsider looking in, it just seems like, you know, when they run into issues, they don’t have a season that lives up to their expectations, they don’t panic. They address things and they try to solve problems instead of just cleaning house.
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“There’s a lot of ways to approach things. I’m not being judgmental, but I guess my lean would be towards that solution, I think that makes more sense and typically is the best thing for long-term success. But, you know, nobody’s really thinking about long-term stuff right now, that’s not a real popular mode of thinking,” Ferentz said.
The Hawkeye legend then pointed to social media as one of the biggest drivers of change.
“Obviously, NIL, revenue share, all that stuff, it’s a new world for us, but the biggest thing in my mind that’s changed is just the noise from social media. I spend a lot of my time trying to think about what our guys are hearing, and that’s always been true in coaching. Like, you know, you worry about what are parents or family members talking to players about.
“In the old days, it used to be that you had to go to a bar, tavern, or a barber shop to hear all the chatter and what’s wrong in the world, all that stuff. Now, it’s accessible to everybody, so it’s just a different environment than it used to be that way. Not all that’s healthy, unfortunately. A lot of good things on the internet and social media, but it just presents a different challenge, and I think that’s influenced the way a lot of people think, including people making decisions on the futures of programs. I just always go back to Marv Levy. He had a great quote, ‘If you listen to the people in the stands too much, you’re gonna be sitting with them.’ And I think that if you’re in a leadership position, you really need to kind of bear that in mind,” Ferentz said.
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While Ferentz certainly has his relative flaws, as does every other head coach, the Hawkeyes’ leader has successfully built and nurtured an Iowa program into a consistent winner and one that develops NFL-ready talent year after year and is one of the nation’s most respected programs in doing so.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz weighs in on college football firings
