IOWA MAKES FOOTBALL HIRINGS OFFICIAL

Yesterday we posted Iowa was bringing in former NDSU offensive coordinator Tim Polasek to probably coach running backs. It turns out he’s coaching the offensive line. And earlier today Max posted that former NIU receivers/running backs coach Kelton Copeland will come in to the coach receivers.

Now the football program has made it official with its patented late-afternoon news dump:

The release doesn’t add much, other than clearing up that Polasek will assume offensive line duties and not coach running backs as we anticipated.

Ferentz, from the release:

We are excited to add two extremely successful individuals who have worked in highly competitive programs to our staff. Tim has been involved in programs that have won at a very high level, earning a reputation as a great teacher, and as an individual who has established great relationships with his co-workers and players.

Kelton, much like Tim, has been an assistant coach who has played a key role in the success of the programs he has been involved with. His players and special teams units have posted great accomplishments, and he is very well respected as an up-and-coming assistant coach. Both Tim and Kelton add vibrant personalities to our staff. We expect both will be a great fit for our entire program, the university, and the community.

These aren’t the sexiest hires, but how sexy of a hire can you get at a position coach? More surprising to me is the fact that here we have two guys with no ties to the Iowa football program. I honestly thought Marvin McNutt had a shot at the receivers job, but I’m also an idiot with a keyboard.

It will be interesting to see what these two do on the recruiting front. I see them both thriving; what with it not being all that hard to get offensive line recruits to Iowa in the first place and Polasek has credentials to boot. Copeland coached running backs from 2013-15 and switched over to wide receivers and special teams while he was at Northern Illinois last year. That program has always put up yards and points, and Copeland is from the Miami area, so he might have some roots there.

Anyway, if these two guys are to stick at offensive line and receivers, then Iowa still has openings for running backs and special teams coaches. Historically one person has coached those two positions at Iowa (Chris White did, and Lester Erb before him) but there’s also Twitter rumblings that Brian Ferentz may coach running backs too.

It is expected that football teams will have the luxury of adding another coach to its staff once a rule is passed by the NCAA later in the spring, but I imagine we get at least one more hire before then so that’s probably the next time we’ll talk coaching search.

So there you go.

Welcome to the program, Mr. Polasek, Mr. Copeland. We wish you the greatest success while at Iowa.