Raw Chicago: Kirk Ferentz Part 6

This one has range.

It starts with Ferentz's feelings on Thanksgiving and players being away from home for the holidays. Then, it veers into some of the issues of the day, including recruiting websites, 7-on-7 in high schools and mentoring. It finishes with some general thoughts on the Big Ten title game, the where and the why.

INTERVIEWER: This kind of goes along with that question. I know that Thanksgiving was a huge deal for you. ….You had no choice. But I'm sure you're conscious of that with the team. I mean, I know you guys last year kind of, I don't know if made sure they had a little bit of a Thanksgiving. Can you talk about that a little bit. Did you do that last year?

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, we did. We tried to get the day over as quickly as we could. Help the guys go and help every guy find a home. You know, get absorbed and what have you. After that, I'm not sure I was comfortable with that. I'm not saying that's why we performed the way we did in Minnesota, but it entered my mind, at least the thought entered my mind. A little bit like where we let the guys go for five days or whatever it was, and then we all met in Miami. Somewhere we lost our, we had a disconnect in there and we certainly had a disconnect at the end of the year last year, so you know, the way it's mapped out now, we'll all be together on Thanksgiving. And a lot of times we're all together, too, on Christmas, for Bowl games. And that's part of being a college football player. So we'll all be together. There's no decisions about what to do any more. And hopefully the guys can have Thanksgiving now on Saturday. That will be the deal. And we'll branch off with their friends and the guys from far away will be able to go with their friends and have Thanksgiving on Saturday.

INTERVIEWER: How fresh is your radar up for guys who are first time away from home, a long way from home, and you probably see a look in their eyes like, they want to be home.

COACH FERENTZ: And that goes back to the whole Thanksgiving deal. I think it's healthy for all students to get off campus for that week. For a while there, for whatever reason we went to school Monday, Tuesday, and was it Wednesday, too? The other two regional schools weren't. I was trying to figure that one out. That's ancient history, but. It's good for everybody to get home. It's good for everybody to have that little break in there. And then so, you have to adjust. And what we did last year, we had a short week after the Minnesota game and let the guys, you know, normally we practice that first weekend in December, but last year we finished up Thursday and everybody had a chance to get their classes done Friday and just not see any football guys for a while.

And just somehow, someway you gotta structure those things in. And if we'd be fortunate enough to play in the Big Ten Championship game, then that's another thing. Because now you're talking about 13 straight weeks or 14 weeks, 13 games in 14 weeks. So somehow, someway, you gotta get that, the guys need some downtime before you start thinking about full game strings like that. It's just made it a little different thought process in terms of how we get the guys away from things.

INTERVIEWER: There's a little bit of a trend, and I'm not sure if there's anybody this year or not, some families by houses –

COACH FERENTZ: …Adrian's mom moved to town.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Do you think there's something to say ….

COACH FERENTZ: It's not uncommon. Yeah, people buy houses. It makes more sense, yeah, instead of paying rent.

INTERVIEWER: Is it good to have? If the player, the kid, wants it that way and it works like that. Then I can imagine that there's a little more of a break for you. I mean it could be --

COACH FERENTZ: I think it's a good thing. And going back to the holidays, I can't imagine anybody that wouldn't want to be with their family on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But when we talk to players, you know, I'm not the Commissioner playing on Thanksgiving. That wasn't my idea. So you know, that's part of college football. And you know so there's a four or five year window for all of our players, so we just explain it to them. We're probably going to be together on Thanksgiving and we're going to be together on Christmas for the next four years, five years. That's gonna be the way it is. It could be worse. The flip side is we get to play in a pretty exciting game on Friday and that's pretty neat. And in Bowls. I mean, how many Bowl trips do you get to make as a person. So there's a trade-off there. You just gotta look at it that way and have that family time at another time. It's a lot better than being in Afghanistan, I know that A lot better than that.

INTERVIEWER: Talk about some of the, I remember … I was there that time when you all drove down from California. …

COACH FERENTZ: He had a sister that reminded me a lot of one of my daughters so I always call her the …

INTERVIEWER: Some of the families you get to meet. Just the three guys here in the middle of Iowa. New Jersey, St. Louis, I mean, that's --

COACH FERENTZ: You know, what I don't like about recruiting is traveling and you know, being away from home. And I can contradict that. The neatest thing about recruiting is meeting a lot of new people and going beyond just meeting the players. Meeting people that have been influences on their lives. Coaches, obviously families. That's the most important thing. And you get just superior kids. Mike Daniels. Anyway, his granddad is one of the great stories. Just talking to that guy was like unbelievable. I was sold right then. I mean, he was walking a beat as a cop in Camden and in his 40's and I can't remember if he and his wife were raising 5 kids or 6 kids. Mike's dad, plus his siblings, and going to law school at night. So, you know, that's a great story. That's a great story. So that kind of sold me right there on Mike. This guy, he's got a pretty good blood line right there.

INTERVIEWER: I know you guys have Saturday dinner with the families. And I'm not sure how you --

COACH FERENTZ: Like spring game you mean?

INTERVIEWER: Don't you have dinners or something like that after every game?

COACH FERENTZ: Well, no. We're not allowed to. We do a senior tailgater day at the end of the year, after the last game. And then in the spring, we have a barbeque. We invite parents. That's our training table and the parents have to buy tickets and all that stuff. And we do things that way.

INTERVIEWER: Do you try to have those things for parents?

COACH FERENTZ: Oh, definitely. The spring is nice, too, because we try to get as many incoming freshmen and their families on campus so it really kind of gives them their first chance to integrate a little bit with the existing team. And I think that's something that, if you ever had a kid play Little League, you know it's, if you get with good parents, it's great. It's a lot of fun. You know, I think the banquet typically in December, you know, the players are like, they're all sitting up there in front of the team and it's like how did this happen this fast. But I think usually more reflective are the parents. They're typically like, this is our last game. Because they have a ball. I think they really have a lot of fun at Bowl games. You know, at the various sites and tailgate together and those type of things. So that's part of the fun of this whole thing that goes well beyond the football.

INTERVIEWER: [Question on the rise of 7-on-7 in high schools.]

COACH FERENTZ: It's dangerous, yeah. I'm all for 7 on 7. I'm all for it. That type of thing. I'm just trying to think. I'm not sure if I was a high school coach, I'd want our players playing with their teammates and focusing on that. If I deemed it important. I know some high school coaches don't deem it as being important. But it's a nice opportunity for them to be together and do things together and get beyond the tournaments. And they have a good time planned. It's fun to travel and just being with each other, that's all good. And I think all of us were concerned about there's potential for us to be AAU-ized, if that's a word, but anyway, I think we all worry about the potential for outside people to come in. I don't think any high school coach would want that and I don't think, I do have a kid in high school. And it's not like he's a marquee tight-end or anything like that, but if he were, I would not allow him to do that. I just don't think it's what a high school player needs to be doing. That's just my, I don't know, maybe I'm a cave man. But when they're 13, it's important.

INTERVIEWER: Does it make your job harder …

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, potentially. And I've already had just very limited exposure. I'm thinking of one individual in mind that was a mentor of a prospect and I can also tell you the player we had probably about five years ago, who also had a mentor, who was very legitimate and was a mentor. He was there for all the right reasons and very close with the family. And all of his intentions and his actions were what they should be as a mentor. I would say that's a very accurate description. That was a very positive thing and remains a very positive thing for this player as he plays today.

And I was also exposed recently to a mentor that coincidentally seemed to mentor players that really had great size and athleticism. So I haven't seen a list of all the players that he mentored, so you know, when you start mentoring a select group, that's an interesting circumstance, I guess. You know, we had one conversation and that was enough.

INTERVIEWER: What is your, do you guys use a recruiting service and is that something you guys pay for?

COACH FERENTZ: I think we all have to. I mean, although it's evolving right now where we can pretty much, I think, get what we want from X's and O's. They're grabbing the tapes now. But it was very typical for us, for instance, you know, have someone in Ohio that furnished us with high school video, and Florida, and what have you. I can't say that we really worked to make any financial arrangements with anybody that's a trainer, per se. I can't, if we have, I sure am not aware of it, I guess. But our hope is to get more … or get written information or reports and I trust we're paying market prices for those things, and so if we're not-- And this mentoring thing is interesting. It's interesting.

INTERVIEWER: Do you have any wild stories that really surprised you?

COACH FERENTZ: No, no. It concerns me but it doesn't surprise me.

INTERVIEWER: …also really kind of clamping down on just every day recruiting services that are available … sites and … Have you guys had to make a … change the way to go about …interpretations of the rules …

COACH FERENTZ: Well, I think when this whole industry began, the thing that was apparent to me was that if you had a, you know, we're not allowed to contact players, call players, and what have you but there are no restrictions on outside parties. So obviously there's a very broad opportunity there for a school to hire such an individual to be the guy. Okay, ask him this, this and this. Where it's so much gray area out there. I don't really know how we're going to get our hands around it totally. And at the end of the day, just kind of get …of all individuals involved.

INTERVIEWER: [Continuation of the recruiting web sites question]

COACH FERENTZ: Oh, no question. That's what I'm referring to. So you know, if bulldog.com, or whatever, and if that bulldog.com guy is best friends with one of the coaches on this staff, because bulldog.com can call any kid and I'm not suggesting them. I'm trying to think of a generic name, but. But something general. What are they the New Jersey Rams? We'll take General. General.com. There's no football team in the country named the Generals, right? So General.com. Probably. I'll get in trouble with somebody. So, general.com. But you know, the opportunity's there. And this stuff is all hard to control. It's hard to control. A lot of things are hard to control, too. And again, it gets back to, you just can't do things that are wrong. We all pretty much know what's right and wrong.

INTERVIEWER: Absolutely. Do you remind people of that …Have you had to instruct your staff?

COACH FERENTZ: Years ago. Years ago.

INTERVIEWER: … and things like that. Have you had to … because of any interpretation of the rules?

COACH FERENTZ: I guess I'm not as knowledgeable about that. I guess what I would say is don't pay an individual, you know, $100,000 for something that, you know, should cost $5. I guess, it's just common sense. There are just things you can't do. If it's too good to be true, it's kind of like all these houses, the real estate markets that fell apart. You know, if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is not a good deal. But people make those mistakes every day.

INTERVIEWER: Does your staff still … have as many of those introductions. You probably …. Or does that change all the time?

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah. Yeah, so somehow you have to get the tape. That's still the --

INTERVIEWER: That's still a commodity.

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, and I was just talking to Eric about this a couple of days ago. It sounds like, X's and O's, that's part of their, see they've got into recruiting, as well as our technology. So it's kind of like one-stop shopping. I guess the good news is it keeps us, you know, but they're getting a monopoly. With monopolies come, you know, there's a cost increase. And I know they're not training guys or you know, in bed with anybody. At least I hope they're not.

INTERVIEWER: How do you vet those things? How do you know what you're getting?

COACH FERENTZ: You know, I'm no expert here, but to me it's common sense. You know, if somebody offers you a deal that's not a … then -- Maybe ask a couple of questions about it.

INTERVIEWER: Have you ever found yourself asking those types of questions?

COACH FERENTZ: No, I haven't. Again, the closest thing I had was a conversation with a mentor last winter. And it was very, very played at his end. Nothing was suggested at all. And again, when I hung up the phone, I was like looking at a list of this guy's mentors and where they've gone to school. It's interesting.

INTERVIEWER: What is your initial reaction to being placed in the Legends Division?

COACH FERENTZ: I think all that discussion took place at the administrative level. Probably where it belongs, quite frankly. And you know, they announced it in late September or whatever. I know we were playing so I didn't even look at it. It literally sat up on my assistant's desk for a couple weeks. I think they did a great job. And there's no way, I mean, how can you make it all make sense. It's impossible. But I think they did a wonderful job. Everybody that was involved. And I think it's gonna prove to be a. in fact, and I'm not really paying attention. I asked if there were a lot of teams .. And I can think of one in particular, where they didn't maybe put some of that thought into it and you could say it's top-heavy or one side's a little off balance. And I don't want to suggest geographic. Whereas, I think there's some balance in our thought process and I think that's … That was pretty intentional …

INTERVIEWER: The other big decision was choosing ….at Soldier's Field or Indianapolis.

COACH FERENTZ: I don't think so. I mean, we've played Bowl games indoors and you know, probably would have minimized the opportunity for whether to be a factor. If you're in the NFL you earn the right to play … and so, you know, if you're a cold weather team that gets to host a game in January or December and the weather becomes real bad, you can suggest an advantage as the home team, cause you've earned that right. Whereas in this situation, it's two teams that should be on equal footing. So, you know, it probably makes sense to have an environment that's going to be sterile that way, and Indianapolis is fantastic city to host anything. So, it's first-class. Not to suggest that another place wouldn't be first-class. So it will be good for fans and the teams.

INTERVIEWER: Does it help from a recruiting standpoint, too?

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, that could be a factor. But you know we recruit kids from the south. We tell them, you know, if you have an opportunity to play in the NFL, you don't have a choice where you're gonna get drafted. You're gonna have to … and playing in Green Bay right now is not a bad deal. So, you know, that's kind of, it's not a big deal. For some players it is. They're not coming to Iowa anyhow.