Big Ten could easily have had 2 Coach of the Year honorees in football

Two things:

First, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz could easily have been the Big Ten’s football Coach of the Year.

I didn’t have a vote this year, but if I had I would have chopped it in half for Ferentz and Northwestern’s David Braun, the consensus honoree. I don’t know how you distinguish who did a better job since their circumstances were so wildly different.

The media and coaches both selected Braun. So be it.

What 38-year-old Braun did is something no one expected, which is always catnip for voters. The Wildcats’ preseason over/under wins number was 3.

On late notice, Braun became interim head coach of a team that not only went 1-11 last season, but had longtime head coach Pat Fitzgerald fired in the summer.

The Wildcats went 7-5. This was after starting the season with a 24-7 loss to Rutgers. In their third game, they lost to Duke, 38-14. They also looked every bit the 1-11 team of 2022 in Game 5 when they squeezed by FCS Howard, 23-20.

They were 4-5 when they lost 10-7 to Iowa at Wrigley Field. Then they won at Wisconsin, beat Purdue at home, and triumphed at Illinois for a winning season.

It’s good to be in the Big Ten West. It was good, I should say now that the divisions are kaput.

The expectations placed on Iowa in August weren’t oversized. Wisconsin, for reasons that didn’t make total sense then and don’t at all now, was the popular pick to win the West.

It was no secret Iowa’s schedule wasn’t overwhelming. But to lose starting defensive lineman Noah Shannon for the year because of the NCAA’s macabre decision-making? To lose great tight end Luke Lachey early in the year to injury?

To lose starting QB Cade McNamara to a torn ACL in the fifth game of the season, to lose another great tight end in Erick All, and to lose Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Cooper DeJean after Game 10?

Those things easily could have been felt in the won-lost department. Especially when backup quarterback Deacon Hill had never made a collegiate start.

Throw in the midseason dismissal of offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz effective at season’s end, and you had quite the recipe for how to make a team come unglued. Especially when its offense looked nothing like that of a 10-game winner or division champion.

The Braun story was irresistible to voters. Iowa’s offense was not. But Kirk Ferentz somehow kept the trains running on time despite so much debris on the tracks.

The reality is the Hawkeyes know how to win. They may have little chance to prove that Saturday against Michigan, but they’ll give some second-place team from an SEC division a headache in Orlando on New Year’s.

The second thing: Iowa hosts North Florida Wednesday night in men’s basketball and Carver-Hawkeye Arena is more than half-full, it would be a bigger upset than the Ospreys beating the Hawkeyes.

The 8 p.m., midweek start has become a staple of Big Ten men’s hoops. At least this game is on television, BTN. But the long-term effect of these start times over the last several years has to be taking a toll on the interest in the Hawkeye men, and others in the conference.

“You know what, you're either going to come to the game or not,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Monday. “Complaining about what time it starts, that's over. The games start when they start. That's the way it is.

“Now, we do make it easy for you to watch it on TV. So we have a lot of loyal fans that don't come, but they're incredibly loyal, and we appreciate that.

“But the complaint about the start time, at some point it's got to go away. The games start when they start. It's not every game is at 7 o’clock and you play Thursday-Saturday. That was 1978.”

McCaffery noted when you sign a $7 billion media rights deal (for seven years) as the Big Ten did last year, “it’s not changing.”

However, here’s something you may not realize and may find very pleasing:

Iowa has just two other 8 p.m. home games left this season and has — get this! — five weekend Big Ten home games that start between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Who screwed up and made those games so accessible to fans?

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com