3 and Out: Why Iowa's 'Ferenaissance' is going to continue

1. The Hansen Performance Center — Iowa was in 'The Bubble' not that long ago. It was that white canvas 'indoor facility' that was state of the art 1983. Players also performed workouts in the basement hallways of the Jacobson Athletic Building. It was dank and dark and sometimes had standing water after heavy rains.

The Iowa program clearly lost its way in the facilities race. Publicly, head coach Kirk Ferentz never complained. But if you spent 15 minutes in The Bubble on a warm spring or hot summer day, you broke into a sweat and, sniff, sniff, is that smell chew spit?

This year, Iowa's new $55 million Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center became fully operational. This winter, the average weight gain for Iowa players was six pounds across the board. In November, when the Hawkeyes were playing for a perfect season and a trip to the Rose Bowl, they were still throwing and landing punches.

It wasn't everything in this Kirk Ferenaissance of a season, but as linebacker Josey Jewell put it, 'It was definitely a pretty big piece to the overall puzzle.'

'Players go to other campuses and see fantastic facilities,' strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle said. 'Now, we can compete on that level. Will it have an impact moving forward? We certainly hope so. It's not so much the facility, it's what goes on inside the facility.

'If Tommy and Terry Brands (Iowa's head and assistant wrestling coaches) were coaching in a garage, probably some pretty good wrestlers would come out of that garage.'

There's a garage reference. I will raise you a barn reference.

Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis coached at Texas. He's seen and had an office in that Taj Mahal. He had an office in the Jacobson Building and now has one in the Hansen. He believes you can't put a price on the new facility.

'When I first came here, they asked me to go out to lunch with a donor,' Davis said. 'He asked me a really good question. Those guys who make a lot of money, they're smart. And he said, 'You tell me why you need a new facility.' I said, 'Well, we can coach them in a barn once we get them, but we can't get them to a barn.'

'They need to see commitment. They need to see bricks and mortar. That's part of recruiting now.'

There's also the fact that the Hansen is a home run of form, function and flow. The only thing it's missing is dorm rooms and they're working on that.

2. Players in the system — The offensive line is the spine of good Iowa football teams. This year, you have center Austin Blythe, who O-line coach Brian Ferentz said during Rose Bowl media days was the best center in the B1G, and guard Jordan Walsh as fully formed fifth-year seniors. Walsh was first-team all-Big Ten and Blythe was second-team.

Beyond those two, you have a gaggle of mostly sophomores. Guard Sean Welsh and tackles Boone Myers and Ike Boettger have two years to build their already considerable bodies (Boettger was mentioned as a frontrunner in the competitive eating contest that is the Lawry's Beef Bowl and he's 6-6, 305 pounds).

Beyond that group, there are promising true freshmen in James Daniels, who logged one start this season and seems to be headed for center next season, Brett Waechter, who spent some time working as a No. 2 tackle this season, twins Landan and Levi Paulsen (Levi worked at right tackle; Landan at both guard and tackle) and Jake Newborg, an inside OL whose knees are about a foot wide (huge, powerful legs).

As far as skill players go, there's two QBs in Ryan Boyle and Drew Cook. Boyle got some reps with the No. 2s when C.J. Beathard was limited in practice because of injury. Running back Akrum Wadley is only a sophomore. True freshman Jerminic Smith flashed some skills with a 100-yard effort against Illinois.

On defense, the future is now. Middle linebacker Josey Jewell and outside linebacke Ben Niemann are only sophomores. Tackle Nathan Bazata is only a sophomore. Strong safety Miles Taylor is only a sophomore. Defensive end Parker Hesse is a redshirt freshman.

There are a few questions. Iowa will need to find a microwave to speed the development of some defensive linemen and you never know with skill players, but you could make a strong argument that this roster is sound and could soon be very, very deep.

3. Ferentz — Last January, when the seat heaters were still lit, Kirk Ferentz said that he essentially spent too much time meeting and greeting and not enough time in the football building doing the actual coach thing. It's not like he sat at his desk and watched Netflix or was out on the golf course (Ferentz is an avowed non-golfer). He was out trying to raise the funds to make the Hansen Performance Center what he wanted it to be.

Ferentz had a stake in it and will continue to have one as long as, you know, he wants to be head coach at Iowa. There's massive value in that. He's got 27 years in the UI. His five kids were born in the UIHC. He's now having grandchildren born there. Take two steps back and acknowledge the stake Ferentz has in Iowa and vice versa. This isn't a charity. He does have a contract that pays $4 million a year through the 2019 season, when he would be 64 years old and in his 21st year as Iowa's head coach.

He had the notebook open during his days as an assistant under Hayden Fry. You loved the exotics, you loved the run of fantastic quarterbacks that Fry had under center. But take a step back. Look at those offensive and defensive linemen. Fry's football was as much about blocking, tackling and solid defense as anything.

Ferentz got that. It's the personnel formula he uses today and will continue to use. It's what Iowa can sustain. Julio Jones and Amari Cooper aren't coming to Iowa City. Melvin Gordon almost did. That would've been something.

'We all worked hard and kind of bought into what Coach's vision was for the program,' Ferentz said about the Fry days. 'But that continuity really paid off in recruiting. It paid off with our program. I don't pretend to know much about anything, but I know a little bit about Iowa football and what works for us and what doesn't work, only because I've been there 27 years and you try to pay attention.'

Of course, there's the other Ferentz, offensive line coach/run-game coordinator Brian Ferentz. I'm not going to project. I don't know what Brian's dream job is, but he does love Iowa. He was in the Super Bowl as an assistant with the Patriots and decided he wanted to come back in 2012 and work in Iowa City. That's a strong statement, family connection or not.

Does he want to be the next head coach at Iowa? I don't know if that's his burning desire or life goal. But I do think this could happen. I think the UI political environment is favorable. I don't think he has to go to a MAC school to try on the head coaching hat (probably does have to, however, progress to offensive coordinator at some point).

I don't think you can put a price on the acute institutional knowledge that Kirk and Brian Ferentz bring to the Iowa program. OK, yes, I kind of do know that there is a price on that, valued in the millions, but I also think Iowa in the near future is going to be in the fight because of it.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com