I tried to warn you all. As painful it may be for some, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will be returning in 2023 as offensive coordinator. And on national signing day, this news (or lack thereof) stole the show.

“As I stand here today, I anticipate no changes in our staff moving forward,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I think we do have a terrific staff, and I thought they did a terrific job last year in tough circumstances and navigated us through I think some big challenges. I thought our guys really coached at a high level.”

Here’s some good news: Kirk Ferentz came to the conclusion that the team needs to score more points:

“The bottom line is the offense is about moving the ball consistently, scoring enough points to win, and the numbers bear out that it wasn’t good enough,” Ferentz said. “We’re well aware of that and we own it. Nobody is running from that by any stretch of the imagination. The whole idea right now is to move forward and fix it. That’s where our thoughts are.”

More good news: ‘New school Kirk’ pays attention to statistics. He even shared one with assembled media today. He asked (and even let us guess) what the Hawkeyes record is when the team scores 24 points over the last eight years.

“55-3,” Ferentz shared.

I guess that’s what he and his staff found during the ‘comprehensive study’. This reminds me of the time Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, rebranded himself as an analytics guru.

Speaking of the NFL, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ color scheme is eerily similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As are their coaching philosophies, according to Pittsburgh native Kirk Ferentz.

“The thing you learn from the Steelers is they fix things,” Ferentz said. “They don’t panic, they fix things. As long as you got the right people. It’s like players, too. Good attitude, good work ethic, and you’ve got to be competent to do what you’re going to do.”

“There was never a coordinator fired here during my nine years with Coach Fry, and I don’t think the next 11, or two and eight I guess it would be, I’m not planning on doing it. I haven’t done it.”

One of Kirk’s feature arguments for retaining Brian on his staff was how the team performed on offense from 2017-2020.

“I would also look at the first four years he was coordinator, and we averaged 29 points a game,” Ferentz said. “That puts us in a pretty good position, and we had pretty good success in those four years. I’m looking at the players, I’m looking at everything involved, and we all can get better, starting with me.”

Ultimately, Kirk Ferentz took ownership of last year’s failures. A team that finished dead last in the Big Ten, and close to last in the entire FBS in nearly every major offensive category. But the shortcomings are acknowledged, and the aspirations are high.

“I just want to make sure everybody understands, we’re taking ownership,” Ferentz said. “Nobody is running from this; that would be ridiculous. 17 is not the standard, eight is not the standard. We started work two weeks ago. The idea is to be a championship-level team, and that’s easier to talk about than do, but it takes a lot of things falling right, especially here. It’s not easy. But it’s doable because we’ve done it.”

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