116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz in ‘last season’ with Iowa football, AD Beth Goetz says
Bowl game will be Brian Ferentz’s final game as Iowa offensive coordinator
IOWA CITY — Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will not be retained after the 2023 season, interim athletics director Beth Goetz said in a news release Monday.
“Our intention is for him to be with us through the bowl game, but this is his last season with the program,” Goetz said in the release. “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.”
Brian Ferentz, in a statement to ESPN on Monday, said he has “always considered and will always consider it an honor” to represent Iowa as a player and coach.
“In that time my singular goal has been to contribute to the football team’s success,” Brian Ferentz told ESPN. “As long as I am employed by the University of Iowa my stated goal will not change. My priority will continue to be the well-being of our students and the success of our team.”
The decision to part ways with Brian Ferentz — head coach Kirk Ferentz’s oldest son — is in the midst of another season of futile offensive results.
Iowa ranks dead-last nationally by a wide margin in yards per game with 232.4. (No other team has averaged fewer than 250 yards per game.) The Hawkeyes’ 4.12 yards per play is the worst among Power Five teams, with the next-worst team averaging 4.69 yards per play.
The dire lack of production from Iowa’s offense is not a new problem in Iowa City.
The Hawkeyes finished 110th, or worse nationally, in each of the previous two seasons in completion percentage, yards per play, third-down efficiency and yards per game.
Excluding the COVID-19-affected 2020 season, Iowa’s scoring average decreased every year between 2018 and 2022.
Despite the downward trajectory of the offense, Brian Ferentz said earlier this year the plan was to do the “same things” as in past years, except “do it better.”
“I’m going to approach my job the same way I’ve approached it for the last 11 seasons,” Ferentz told reporters in the spring. “My job is to help us win football games. We have a tried-and-true method. We know how we win. We know who we are.”
At 6-2 going into the final month of the regular season, Iowa is on pace to win at least 70 percent of its games for the fourth time in the last five years. However, Iowa’s defense and special teams — both recognized as among the best in the country — have played an outsized role in that success.
Brian Ferentz has been on the Iowa football staff since 2012, including as offensive coordinator since 2017. He also was the quarterbacks coach since 2022 after previously working with the offensive line (2012-16), running backs (2017) and tight ends (2018-21).
His only other coaching stop was with the NFL’s New England Patriots, where he started as a scouting assistant in 2008 before working his way up to tight ends coach in 2011.
Brian Ferentz has directly reported to Iowa’s athletics director — whether it be Gary Barta or, since August, Goetz — in a workaround of the University of Iowa’s nepotism policy.
The decision not to retain Brian Ferentz is the first major decision for Goetz since taking on the interim athletics director role this summer. Goetz said it usually is not her practice “to be involved in assistant coaching decisions and certainly not to make public such a change during a season.”
“Our priority is to put all our student-athletes in the best position to have both short-term and long-term success, on and off the field,” Goetz said. “Our football team has a group of outstanding young men and talented athletes, who at 6-2, have a lot to play for. As a former athlete, I know every opportunity to put on the jersey is a cherished one.”
Barta, who retired this summer, instituted “designated performance objectives” earlier in the year that required Iowa to win at least seven games and average at least 25 points per game.
If the Hawkeyes do not meet either of the objectives in 2023, Brian Ferentz’s contract would terminate on June 30, 2024. Iowa has averaged 19.5 points per game through the first eight games, so the scoring objective was unlikely to be met.
The addition of the performance objectives to Brian Ferentz’s contract also came with a one-time pay cut from $900,000 to $850,000. If the beleaguered offensive coordinator met the objectives, his contract would have increased to $925,000 along with a $112,500 bonus that would have negated the pay cut.
It is unclear what impact Brian Ferentz’s upcoming departure could have on Kirk Ferentz’s retirement timeline. Kirk Ferentz, now in his 25th season as head coach, is under contract through the 2029 season with a base salary of $7 million per year.
Kirk Ferentz, as usual for game weeks, is scheduled to have a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters