Ex-Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz gives Maryland ‘championship pedigree’ at ‘discounted price’

INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Locksley seemed to sense the Brian Ferentz questions were coming.

“Here we go, Dustin, they’re going to ask me a million questions about Brian Ferentz,” Locksley said in jest to his sports information director. “Never happened with — I’m not even going there.”

In all seriousness, the Maryland head football coach said Brian Ferentz has been a “great addition” as an analyst with the Terrapins.

“He brings an expertise in running the football, offensive line play,” Locksley told The Gazette. “They are the gold standard for what O-linemen, tight ends look like. Why wouldn't I take him and add him to my team to bring a skill that we need to get better at?”

Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz dismissed Brian Ferentz after last season, his seventh as offensive coordinator and 12th on the Iowa staff. His opportunity at Maryland comes as the NCAA opens the door for analysts to be more involved in coaching responsibilities.

“For us to compete in the Big Ten, we got to run the ball,” Locksley said. “Well, I’ve got three guys that’s working with my O-line now.”

Brian Ferentz “brings a new perspective” to Maryland’s staff and has “great ideas.”

“How do you want to block the outside zone?” Locksley said. “Why? He makes you ask the question, ‘Why are you blocking it that way?’”

Locksley himself has “lived that life” that Brian Ferentz is now living. After going 1-5 as interim head coach at Maryland in 2015 (and not getting the permanent head coach job), Nick Saban hired him as an offensive analyst at Alabama.

“It’s a short distance from the penthouse to the crap house,” Locksley said. “They ride in the same car.”

Locksley said his experience as an analyst at Alabama was “almost like an episode of Undercover Boss.”

“You sit in these cubicles, and you hear some of the young analysts who think they’re ready to be coordinators,” Locksley said. “And half of them didn’t know who I was sitting in there. … It gave me a fresh perspective.”

Kirk Ferentz is “appreciative of Coach Locksley” for giving Brian the opportunity at Maryland, he said a day earlier in Indianapolis.

“As a dad, on the dad side of things, I want all my kids to be around good people professionally, so I feel good about that,” the longtime Iowa head coach said. “And it’s a good opportunity for him. Excited to see where it all goes.”

Locksley, likewise, holds Kirk Ferentz in high esteem.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kirk, for the Iowa program,” Locksley said. “You talk about a program that people get mad because they win 10 games every year. That’s a great problem to have.”

With Brian Ferentz, Locksley has a “heart for coaches’ kids.”

“I have kids, and I know the sacrifice,” Locksley said. “Imagine being the head coach and having people just talk about your son, your child. Mama Bear doesn’t like it. Daddy Bear doesn’t like it. And so coaches’ kids go through a lot of stuff.”

The sacrifice component aside, coaches’ kids “understand it and they get it,” Locksley said. In the case of Brian Ferentz, he “brings a championship pedigree” at a “discounted price.”

This is not entirely a first for Locksley.

He had Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s son, Dino, on his roster as a wide receiver. The same goes for Robert Smith, who is the son of former Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith.

Brian Ferentz’s search for work followed a lackluster season in which his offense ranked dead-last in the FBS in yards per game and yards per play. Iowa had been 120th or worse nationally in both metrics in three consecutive seasons.

The Maryland analyst will face his former team as the Hawkeyes come to town on Nov. 23 for their penultimate game of the regular season.

Maryland was not the only Big Ten school to show interest in the ex-Iowa offensive coordinator. Brian Ferentz visited Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska when he was searching for his next job.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” Rhule said. “I think when you think back to what Brian did last year, knowing that he was fired and continuing to work, scratch and claw to the end speaks volumes about who he is.”

The visit to Lincoln did not result in a job opportunity, but things still seemed to have worked out for Kirk Ferentz’s oldest son.

“We’re pretty set in that area, on the offensive line type area,” Rhule said, noting the personnel he already has on the staff. “So it wasn’t the right time or place for us, and he ended up finding a job at Maryland.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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