Ferentz fails to pay cable bill, cites lack of execution

AP (IOWA CITY) — A bad weekend got even worse for Kirk Ferentz.

Two days after his Iowa football team fell to 4-6 after a listless performance in a 27-24 loss to Purdue, the Hawkeye head coach announced that he was currently without cable service for his television.

The reason? An unpaid cable bill.

"We didn’t get it done this past weekend and we haven’t been able to get it done these past few weeks," Ferentz said to a smattering of reporters at a press conference Monday."And that’s on me."

The first question to Ferentz following his statement hit the nail on the head — how does something like this happen?

"Well, if we don’t write the check, we don’t put a stamp on the envelope, we don’t put the envelope in the mail, I mean that is name of the game," Ferentz replied. "It’s execution, it about doing things well fundamentally and that’s kind of what I was trying to hint at."

"Motivation has something to do with everything and I wasn’t able to get my family inspired to put the check in the mail, like I said, that’s on me, but I’m going off 13-plus years here and that (execution) is what it usually comes down to with paying the cable bill."

Coming off a pair of embarrassing situations, Ferentz appeared justifiably testy when talking to the media.

When one reporter insinuated that a missed cable bill was understandable for Ferentz considering all of the upheaval this year (the Ferentz’ no longer have a child in high school for the first time in a long time), the Iowa head man countered with a statement of his own.

"I thought we turned in the cable bill pretty good during the opening month of fall," Ferentz said. "And I thought we did well the next month too, and that was in the rain."

But what about the previous four weeks, one reporter asked.

"You were paying attention, right?" Ferentz shot back incredulously. "You’re not serious, are you? We’ve missed the mailbox how many weeks in a row, so what would that suggest? What I am suggesting is that we were able to do things a month ago and we haven’t been able to get back to that, but I believe with better execution, we’ll have a chance to get that check in the mail."

The last question at the press conference seemed to throw Ferentz off. "Coach, you mentioned earlier that in the 13 years you’ve been here, it always comes down to execution, but surely you have to take some responsibility for this. I mean this is your family, right? Couldn’t you, yourself, have put the envelope in the mailbox?"

Ferentz stared at the reporter, mouth agape for a second, and then gave his answer — "What’s a mailbox."

The Hawkeyes travel to Ann Arbor this Saturday to take on Brady Hoke’s Michigan Wolverines. Hoke has DirecTV and an automatic electronic payment plan.