Why James Ferentz Should Or Should Not Be Dismissed

by Oops Pow Surprise on Apr 7, 2009 9:30 AM CDT in Football Comment 15 comments

This is a slightly edited* conversation between Hawkeye State and Oops Pow Surprise about the fate of James Ferentz, who was one of three ludicrously overserved football players nailed for public intox Sunday night. Specifically, we discuss whether Ferentz will (or ought to) be dismissed. There are no easy answers.

"Unfortunately for Kirk Ferentz, there's a history of problems here, and it's not helping his cause.
It's hard to say you have control of the team when a player who shares your last name keeps getting in trouble with the law. James Ferentz is an adult who should know how to make good choices, but he clearly has some problems and continues to hurt himself and his dad.

You have to feel for Kirk Ferentz, who now must dismiss his son from the team. He really has no other choice."

OPS: Who said that?

HS: That's Rittenberg. That's no putz.

OPS: I don't think he has to dismiss him, though. It's not like we're talking about DUIs or even multiple arrests

HS: 3 years ago I agree. Now I think TWWL might be right. KF has an image to fight. He can't have his kid running around starting fights with cops like he's Burt Reynolds circa 1977

OPS: I think we're looking at a de facto dismissal followed by a transfer. I don't think KF would embarrass his kid if he didn't have to.

HS: I don't know if he doesn't have to now.

OPS: He didn't kick those kids off after they [allegedly, guys, c'mon.--ed] gangraped a girl. A PAULA and a public intox doesn't quite meet that level of runafoulery.

HS: Yeah, and look at the shit he got for not immediately dismissing them.

OPS: all I'm saying is, Ferentz almost never gives into the hysterical emotional overreactions that fans routinely engage in. I don't think he starts now.

HS: Look, when Swindle is holding your program up as the example of lawlessness, you've got a problem. And when your own fucking son gets picked up twice in six months, there's no better example

OPS: But he doesn't care that much.

HS: When you have an epidemic, hammering the person closest to you is the best way of showing you aren't fucking around.

OPS: But that's never been Ferentz's style, ever. Even fucking Barry Switzer is less "in-house."

HS: He's never been that way, though, because he's never had the opportunity to pull the trigger on that "YOU THINK I'M FUCKING AROUND?" Kaiser Soze moment.

OPS: Again, I think you're ascribing personality traits to Ferentz that I think evidence doesn't support.

HS: OK, I honestly don't know, has anyone on a KF team ever survived two alcohol-related citations/arrests?

OPS: Has anyone ever even had two?

HS: Siaka Massaquoi.

OPS: Well, those were DUIs. Those are way worse.

HS: Sure.

OPS: Two minor alcohol offenses... I don't know.

HS: But I think Rittenberg is right. If you don't pull the trigger here, don't your players think they've got 3 strikes, and doesn't that play into the lawlessness meme at Iowa? And, when your team is predicted about 3rd in the conference after losing 2 4-year starters at DT and the best single season by a back in school history, don't you want to keep any possible heat off your chair?

OPS: He basically put them on indefinite suspension and he's probably going to have a "I can help you transfer" talk with all of them. It's not like he gave them a high five. I don't think your last point enters into KF's equation.

HS: Sure, but it's the Trump moment that everyone wants (everyone, that is, but James Ferentz).

OPS: Fuck 'em.

HS: Well, you die by the sword.

OPS: KF isn't The Apprentice. KF is the finale of the Sopranos.

HS: The more I think about it, the less I think that plays OK with the people who really make the decision on his fate.

OPS: You just wait and see how many headlines KF goes out of his way to make. I'll bet you one firm handshake [bullshit, you said "blowjob" last night.--ed] [I did not!--OPS] [whatevs.--ed.] that James Ferentz doesn't get dismissed without doing something else wrong.

HS: I hate to say it because I think he got picked up on two generally bullshit offenses, but I have to take that bet.

OPS: It's a deal.

*Specifically, we edited out dialogue about David Letterman. Trust me, you're missing nothing.

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I see two options

I could see a dismissal with an opportunity to come back next year or a season long suspension. At the end of the day, these are two relatively minor offenses. He wasn’t driving, he didn’t actually punch anyone, he got “mildly” toasted. I honestly think the worse punishment would be season long suspension with a zero tolerance policy for everything (grades, meetings, the shit ton of public service he will have to do). However, under either scenario, KF has tolled out a severe punishment, but retains creditability to kick someone off the team for a single worse offense.

Iowa Basketball: We don't rebuild, we implode.

by three and out the kok story on Apr 7, 2009 10:35 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

HAHAHAHA You said that Rittenberg is no putz. BHGP, you always bring the funny.

by sullivti on Apr 7, 2009 10:39 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Part of me thinks James Ferentz is just one really unlucky motherfucker...

because the two charges he’s gotten busted for are seriously weaksauce.

On the other hand, he also shows signs of being really stupid, too. You’d think after the shitstorm that erupted after his first run-in with the po-po, he would be a little bit more discreet. But getting in trouble again, less than six months after the first offense? That’s some bad judgment. I understand being 19 and wanting to get your drink on, but being downtown at 2AM on a Sunday? That’s just dumb, especially when you’re already on thin ice.

And, yeah, the UI rent-a-cops can be assholes and the University Heights cops really are assholes, but still… it’s not like James shouldn’t already know these facts. I mean, he can’t even use the out-of-towner excuse — he grew up in Iowa City. He should know exactly what the deal is.

As far as dismissal… I guess it comes down to how important the name value of the perp and quantity of the crimes are, because the severity of the crimes hasn’t been there in the recent offenses (aside from Prater’s DUI). I could see him dismissing him to make a point, even though the offenses themselves don’t really warrant it. I wonder if he would consider taking away his scholarship for a year or so, but keeping him on the team as a walk-on – in addition to the lengthy suspension and shit-ton of community service he’s certainly going to have to deal with.

by RossWB on Apr 7, 2009 10:49 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It’s 2 relatively minor offenses – although the 2x impaired that he blew (as a minor) early on a Monday morning would be troubling if he was my kid. If I was KF, I’d find a gentleman Iowa farmer that needs a hand, and James would be hip deep in liquid cow shit, trying to keep the rats out of the confinement sheds, and castrating hogs on the side 16 hours / 7 days from May – August to get him to better appreciate his life (I know from this when my dad got me a similar job at 16 – fun times). Does he deserve to be permanently dismissed? Not for the offenses, necessarily, but maybe for following up a stupid and unlucky thing with a really fucking unnecessary one. I’m thinking maybe he shouldn’t drink.

by txhawkeye on Apr 7, 2009 11:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The timing sure is weird.

I mean, there are some big bars that aren’t even open on Sunday, if memory serves me right. If these guys are getting THAT blitzed to start the week off, well, there’s probably some super-routine drink to excess going on (like 5+ days a week), which is most definitely not what you want players doing, on- or off-season.

I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks

by Oops Pow Surprise on Apr 7, 2009 11:24 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In a related story...

…WELCOME TO BROTHERS! WOO 2 FOR 1 JAGER BOMBS WOO!

storminspank: "Or we could join you can take our pants off."

by Hawkeye State on Apr 7, 2009 11:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Further, I’m concerned that his Sunday Funday ends with him angrily shouting at parked cars at 2am. I, for one, like to get drunk on Sundays. I have fun. For this guy to get so angry on a Sunday Funday speaks to what I think is a problem with anger, which is amplified by alcohol.

For the record, he has to be thrown off the team. It sucks, but it’s the only option in my opinion.

by jebushchrist on Apr 7, 2009 2:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

See the other thread about my thoughts on this, but

I’m not really willing to take the police report at face value on this, since it seems like such wildly aberrant behavior. If that’s actually what he was doing, then I probably agree with you. That part just doesn’t make any sense, though.

I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks

by Oops Pow Surprise on Apr 7, 2009 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Being fired by your father ...

Being fired by your father is not something that anyone overcomes, ever. Go gentle.

A) It’s a BS arrest, and I hope he beats it. B) The kid has alcohol issues that need addressing — as do approx. 10,000 numbnuts and skanks wandering downtown IC on the weekend. C) The father works 100 hours a week in season: any CEO will tell you, he’s an absentee father. D) In this situation, the mother should decide what happens to JF. E) 2 out of 3 commentators here think going to college includes a mandatory flirtation with destructive alcohol consumption.

Well, fuck that. College is about study and self-improvement. Fun is on the margin. I look forward to all these opinionators offering opinions when their boys and girls are going to college, for approximately the cost of one new car, per year of attendance. I don’t think getting bombed at 19 5 nights a week is going to make the top ten list.

Basically, folks, this is Everykid. Everykid has gone off to the SUI and been driven mad by beer and equally beer-deranged chicks. The drinking age is beyond stupid, and stupidity is criminalized, and I do suspect that it’s great sport now to bag oversized youths who do what every youth does when somebody says, “Hey, big guy, want some of this?” I’d really like to interview the ‘off-duty’ cop hanging out in a parking garage in Iowa — in IOWA — at 2 a.m. (Iowa: center of American nightlife.) Give me a break. Parking garages IN NYC are empty at 2 a.m. on Monday morning. Meanwhile the president of the university lacks an opinion because she’s a ‘facilitator’ and a ‘communicator’ and … what else? Unclear.

Beyond that, I feel sorry for these kids. No one needs to graduate from college with an alcohol jones.

If he were my son, he would forfeit the scholarship, eat with the walk-ons, and live at home. He’s a boy and he didn’t hurt anybody. KF shouldn’t have to fire his son because of prior dipshits who stole credit cards or committed alleged gang-rape.

Of course, I don’t really know, and who does?

Mr. Boh Knows ...

by Bellanca on Apr 7, 2009 4:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Apparently I'm one of the 2 out of 3 commentators here that thinks going to college includes flirtation with destructive alcohol consumption

But listen. I’m not encouraging it, I’m not saying it’s right and I’m not saying it’s mandatory…..but it happens. A LOT.

You’re right that college is about study and self-improvement, but don’t deny the fact that when you put several thousand 18 – 22 year-old coeds in a small vicinity, they’re going need non-scholastic creative outlets. The more advanced the mind, the greater the need for recreation, right?

Well, Iowa City doesn’t have all that much to offer in terms of diverse entertainment. I’m not complaining…..i loved Iowa City, but I was a drinker. And so were several thousand other a-holes I went to school with. And I wouldn’t have the slightest clue on how anyone would go about trying to change that. “Stepping Up” sure as fuck isn’t going to do it. (I don’t know if that even exists anymore.)

Anyway, I agree that James shouldn’t be kicked off the team and I think the only reason we’re even discussing that possibility is because of the shitty off-season we had last year. His charges alone, although stupid, aren’t enough to warrant banishment.

No self-respecting man from Iowa goes anywhere without beer

by Hayden Fry's Moustache Ride on Apr 8, 2009 11:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can't argue with that.

And it wasn’t even authentic frontier gibberish…

by Bucketochicken on Apr 8, 2009 11:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Suspension....one year.

Zero tolerance. If we are going into next year with the college football world saying that KF can’t control his players then you have a catastrophe on your hands. We cannot really focus with that shit going on. And he knows it.

"When you don't know that you don't know, it's a lot different than when you do know that you don't know." Bill Parcells

by StoopsMyAss on Apr 7, 2009 1:31 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm with OPS here

These are two relatively minor incidents. Throwing James off the team (or even giving him a particularly lengthy suspension) just to prove a point would be an unbelievable over-reaction.

by NorseHawk on Apr 7, 2009 4:37 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs