As Iowa’s offensive coordinator search continues, AD Beth Goetz feels ‘really good about where the process is’

IOWA CITY — Iowa football fans’ concerns and anxiety about the pending offensive coordinator search have made their way to the fourth floor of the administrative offices at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I know there are a lot of people anxious certainly to hear what the final decision is and who is going to be joining that team,” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said on Tuesday.

Goetz herself, though, feels “really good about where the process is.”

“All those puzzle pieces are going to come together here in short order,” Goetz said.

Goetz’s comments came almost exactly three weeks after Iowa’s 2023 season ended with a 35-0 loss to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. Coach Kirk Ferentz, while preparing for the bowl game in Orlando, said he hoped to have a “clear idea” about his offensive coordinator in the “first two, three weeks of January.”

“I'd like to think by the third week of January, we got it done,” Ferentz said at the time.

Ferentz recognized earlier in December the possibility of a scenario where “the bottom falls out” in his search for Iowa’s next offensive coordinator.

“But I’ll promise you too there could be a new market of people out there in January or February,” Ferentz said.

Iowa does not necessarily need to be in a rush to fill the vacancies at offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. The Hawkeyes still have almost two months until they usually start spring practices. The 2024 recruiting class is entirely signed, and Iowa also has a verbal commitment from a quarterback in the 2025 class.

Goetz and Ferentz have been partners “in communication and understanding how we are going to come to making that final decision,” Goetz said.

“Certainly we have a financial blueprint that we work through,” Goetz said, “and then from there we're evaluating each and every current staff member and also those that we may be considering for that role.”

Defensive coordinator Phil Parker received a raise that boosted his base salary from $1.4 million to $1.9 million. It theoretically allows Iowa to offer a competitive salary to its next offensive coordinator without one-upping the widely-acclaimed defensive counterpart.

“We certainly recognize the escalating salaries across the country and want to make sure that we're great stewards of our resources and also want to do our best to support our programs and make sure that we can continue to be competitive,” Goetz said.

Goetz announced on Oct. 30 that Brian Ferentz — Iowa’s struggling offensive coordinator and Kirk Ferentz’s oldest son — would not be retained after the 2023 season. Goetz was officially Brian Ferentz’s supervisor in a setup that usurped the university’s nepotism policy.

“You take the information that you have, you make the best decision that you can in the short and the long term,” Goetz said. “You do that with your values in mind, making sure you're taking into consideration all those that are impacted, and you go from there."

Goetz, when asked about how her decision to fire Brian Ferentz has been received, noted her continued effort to “develop that trust and that respect” with coaches. (Several head coaches attended Goetz’s introductory news conference although Ferentz was not one of them.)

“You work hard to ensure that while you may not agree on every account, that they know that you support them, you care about them,” Goetz said, “and certainly in the case of football, how passionate I am about continuing to support Coach (Kirk) Ferentz and that program moving forward.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com