Desire for a title drives Farley, UNI into the future

CEDAR FALLS — Another season has come and gone for Northern Iowa football, and it's another season in which a national championship seemed realistic, yet wasn't meant to be.

That a title was in the cards at all seemed nearly impossible after the Panthers lost three games in a row to begin Missouri Valley Football Conference play — but there they were, in the FCS quarterfinals again. For Coach Mark Farley, seeing the prize snatched away again doesn't get harder the more it happens.

For him, it crystallizes what level of commitment it will take to win it all. He expects more from everyone if it's ever going to happen.

'It should tell everyone that unless everyone is on board to win a national championship, it gets much harder,' Farley said. 'As long as I coach, they will expect to win. But to win a national championship, and to play all the way to January, it takes a huge commitment from a lot of people and we have to do a better job at UNI to go to that level. We're doing a good job. If that's your ultimate goal, fine. But it's not mine.

'We will push the envelope to attain those things because we have the people here to do it. We have the fans to do it, we have the support to do it. We just have to make sure we go out there and do the things in the off-season to make our whole department better.'

The 2015 football season was another in which UNI crossed paths with multiple national championship-level programs, and that speaks to why Farley had program and university commitment on the brain when discussing how the Panthers will reach the pinnacle.

He pointed to facilities improvements at North Dakota State, Illinois State, South Dakota State and others around the MVFC — and thus, the commitment of those schools — for how those programs have flourished.

The intersection of facilities, university commitment, coaching and performance of the players has always been what tells the tale of title worthiness. Not having every aspect in unison generally disallows the ability to win a title. With new athletic department leadership coming, Farley's comments at Monday's weekly press luncheon suggest he's eager to find out if that next Director of Athletics is on the same page.

On the field this season, Farley believes they held up that end of the bargain.

'What will stick out to me is it will be the defense and how well the defense played to keep us alive the whole season — all the way to the last game. We held teams under 20 points per game — I think 19.2 points per game — and in this day and age, that doesn't happen in this league,' Farley said. 'The second thing that went along with that, with the maturity as our offense came along, was Aaron Bailey. He stands out there as what resembles what happened with our offense. A lot had to do with how he came around, which in turn brought the offensive line around, which in turn brought Tyvis Smith around and all of a sudden we started recognizing these names we knew nothing of on August 1.'

For the team specifically, now is about the next step. Farley and his staff will immediately hit the road recruiting, in search of pieces to fill the holes left behind.

Any staff changes may or may not happen in the next few months. Farley didn't specify whether suspended offensive line coach Ben Barkema would be back, saying only that he was suspended for the rest of this season after an arrest for suspicion of OWI on Nov. 19. Other than that, he said any possible turnover would be because of a young staff with eagerness for big-time opportunities.

Regardless of who stays or leaves on his staff, the goal is to rebuild the defense quickly and hit the ground running in 2016 — literally and figuratively.

'We just have to make sure we come back and get on the recruiting trail. We lost a lot of great senior players,' Farley said. 'If we can reload our defense, there's no question our offense can swing the pendulum because of what Aaron is and what Tyvis is, and they're coming back with a senior offensive line. We have a lot of work to do to line this defense back up, because that's essentially what will carry you further than anything else.'

Farley has a high bar set for UNI and his football program, but he's not about to let that bar blur anyone's vision of what they have done already.

What he hopes — for himself, his players and anyone who supports UNI — is everyone can take joy in it all while still striving for more.

'I went back and looked at it, and here's the deal: you've got to enjoy your successes. What you do have to do — me in particular — you better step back and enjoy what you've accomplished,' Farley said. 'I think the players need to do that, too. I get to come back next year, some of these guys don't. So you need to step back and enjoy what you've accomplished. They will probably end up No. 6, 7 or 8 in the country in the final poll. Last year they finished 10th in the country in the final poll. I think since we've been here, we've been top 10 seven or eight time in the 15 years, and four or five of those top five in the country.

'Go celebrate that, but find a way to find your other two or three spots — which is hard to do for anybody. There's not many teams in FCS that have won national championships. Enjoy your success, and you bet, expect more.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com