Hawkeye Football: Did Beth Goetz Get Timing Right on Brian Ferentz Announcement?

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What’s done is done. That was the take of head coach Kirk Ferentz during Tuesday’s press availability. Ferentz was quick to try to put the past in the past and dodge any questions about decision-making, process or impacts related to the Monday announcement that offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz would be done in Iowa City after the season.

It’s difficult to question the decision of interim athletic director Beth Goetz to fire Brian Ferentz. Iowa’s offense has been in steady decline the last several seasons. That’s a tough thing to do in a year like 2023 when the Hawkeyes are off one of the worst offensive outputs of any power five program in the last two decades. But here we are.

Anywhere else and likely with any other name, Brian Ferentz would have likely been unemployed after last season. But again, here we are. Brian was retained after being rumored to be looking on his own accord to depart Iowa City.

The result in 2023 has been not only abysmal, but also humiliating for all involved with the Iowa Hawkeyes. The program is a national punchline whether Iowa is involved in a game or not. The Drive to 325 has been a national talking point since former athletic director Gary Barta amended Brians contract last offseason.

Now, that punchline is dead. But did Goetz introduce a new one with the timing of this announcement?

Iowa now enters the home stretch with a lame duck OC calling plays for a terrible offense mired by injury. Was it necessary to make the announcement public at this point? Kirk Ferentz certainly didn’t seem to think so in his press availability and in fact seemed to really only take issue with the timing rather than the outcome of Brian’s firing.

And if it was necessary to fire Brian now, why allow him to hang around? The Hawkeyes have not one, but two former offensive coordinators on their staff alongside Brian. Offensive line coach George Barnett was previously co-offensive coordinator at Miami (OH) and running game coordinator at Illinois State while offensive analyst Jon Budmayr was previously OC at Colorado State. Why not name one of them as interim if Brian was to be terminated now?

Which is to say, did Beth Goetz get the handling of this situation right? Not, ‘was it right to fire Brian?’ It seems pretty obvious based on the on-field results that Brian Ferentz was not the solution at Iowa and his time was coming to an end. But was this done properly? Or does Kirk have something to be upset about?

That’s what we want to know in this week’s Reacts poll. Oh, and of course, can the Hawkeyes block out all the noise and get back in the win column when they head to Chicago to take on Northwestern this weekend?

Let us know your thoughts below!