Hlas: Brian Ferentz’s bad moment not necessarily defining

IOWA CITY - First, moralizing on swearing in general is something I shouldn't do.

I've used bad words. There's a chance you have, too.

Secondly, just this past weekend I was guilty of disturbing the peace in a public place by talking on my phone in close quarters. People near me would have been justified had they told me I was rude. It's not a hanging offense, but my lack of self-awareness wasn't too cool. I guess you never stop being a work-in-progress.

That said, what follows is part of Tuesday's news in Iowa football. It was raised without prompting by Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz at his weekly press conference, though he would have been prompted. As if getting ready to try to compete against Ohio State Saturday weren't enough to fill his plate.

As halftime of last Saturday night's Minnesota-Iowa game at Kinnick Stadium began, Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz shouted angry, obscenity-filled words as he and fellow Hawkeyes coaches went from their coaching booth to the press box elevator.

The comments seemed to be directed at a replay official in the press box, presumably for deciding late in the first half that said Iowa running back James Butler had the ball stripped from him before being ruled down.

Some of the words Ferentz chose were both multi-syllabic and ugly. The tone was full-blown rage. Dozens of people in the press box, from the media and several other walks of life, heard them. This wasn't on the sideline or in a team-only area. This was a place in which the people in it are told before games to maintain decorum or they'll be asked to leave.

It's understandable if you wonder if media mopes like myself are making a mountain out of a molehill. But Kirk Ferentz said the following Tuesday:

'It was really an unprofessional act by Brian, and we have had discussions, as you might well imagine, several discussions about it. Our athletic director, Gary Barta, will visit with Brian later on today.

'The bottom line is what was done up there was inappropriate and it's got to stop. It's not acceptable and Brian is fully aware of that.”

Ferentz said Barta had communicated with the Big Ten about the incident, 'and I think whatever everybody feels is appropriate, that's what we'll abide by, certainly.

'It's just something you can't do. Takes away from your focus on your job, first and foremost, and secondly, it's just not professional. You can't do it.”

The football world is a different world than the ones most of us inhabit. It's rough and earthy. It's physical and violent. It isn't for introverts. Within the white lines, responses are swift and emotional, not measured.

If college teachers said some of the things to their students that college coaches do to their players, it would be headline news. But the environments between a university's classrooms and its football complex are vastly different.

That said, this incident didn't happen on a practice field or a team meeting room. It was public, albeit it a limited public.

Maybe I'm naive, but it's hard to imagine a professor screaming obscenities while walking down a hallway at his workplace without facing repercussions. If a Hawkeyes football player let loud and quite foul language fly in a postgame interview, he'd have hell - er, heck - to pay from his coaches. At best.

This too shall pass. It's not a career-killing moment for Brian Ferentz, nor the demise of what's left of Western civilization. His prospects for one day replacing his father as head coach still hinge mainly on the Hawkeyes' performance during his time as offensive coordinator, not this moment of lousy judgment.

Brian has been a straight-shooter in his six seasons as a coach here. He always seems to have embraced responsibility. It's a safe bet the first public statement he makes about this matter will be remorseful and sincere.

Not that he has a choice. When you sell character as a hallmark of your program, you have to lead by example. Owning up to a mistake and accepting its consequences is a real test of character. We're all works-in-progress.