The message board and twitter blew up after Iowa announced that Phil Parker would become Iowa's defensive coordinator, Darrell Wilson would move from linebackers to defensive backs and Reese Morgan would move from offensive line to defensive line.
At least in these two worlds, the reactions were more negative than positive, and I think that is a shame.
Phil Parker has more than paid his dues and is a good hire for the Iowa football program. *He knows the drill and maintaining continuity isn't a bad thing at all...except to those folks who were thinking an outside the program hire was going to come in and 'shake things up'.
Quite frankly, I don't know that things needed to be 'shaken up' all that much at all.
Let me repost a few graphics I worked up back in December as part of our 'Hawk Stock' series.
And then this one:
As you can clearly see, the Iowa defense has been THE constant through the Kirk Ferentz era. Iowa's scoring defense for 2011 wound up 46th after the bowl game, as these numbers were compiled in early December. No one is going to sit here and say last year's defense was anything but average, on the whole. That being said, there are a great number of people on the message boards and on twitter who are acting like any sort of retention of what Iowa has been the last decade is a bad thing, and they see the hiring of Phil Parker as the embodiment of such.
Psst...the defense hasn't been the problem. The 'problem' has been an offense that has let the defense down far too often.
Will Phil Parker be allowed to do a few things differently? Maybe, but I didn't expect much change regardless of who Ferentz brought in. I felt that whoever he brought it was going to know that the base philosophy of Iowa defense would remain the same, which is a pretty good idea actually.
I have seen more than a few people throwing the 2010 defense under the bus, as if the 2011 downfall began with the 2010 unit.
That 2010 group was 7th in the nation in scoring defense. I realize that there were late leads that slipped away, which was disappointing to watch. That being said, let me remind you of Iowa's losses that year and what happened.
ARIZONA: The Wildcats won 34-27. Iowa's offense scored 21 points, as Broderick Binns scored on a pick six and the PAT was missed. Iowas defense gave up three touchdowns, as the Wildcats returned a kick for a score and a Ricky Stanzi tipped pass for a score. That's enough to win on the road, or should have been.
WISCONSIN: The Badgers were one of the highest scoring teams in Big Ten history and needed a fake punt deep in Iowa territory on 4th and 4 to have a shot at winning that game. They won it 31-30, and Iowa missed a PAT in that game, too.
NORTHWESTERN: Iowa's defense gave up 21 points that day, while the offense scored just 17 against one of the worst defenses in the nation and was just 2-14 (1-7 each half) on third downs. That led to the defense being on the field a great deal of time, including for 50 plays in the second half. Still, the offense scoring just 17 points against the Cats, that isn't on the defense.
OHIO STATE: 20-17 was the final in Iowa City, and it took a play that only Terrelle Pryor could make to keep the final Buckeye drive alive; a playground scramble on fourth and long. A great player made a great play. It happens. The Buckeyes won their 6th straight Big Ten title; a pretty good team.
MINNESOTA: The defense didn't play well in this game. Adrian Clayborn said afterwards that they had lost their will to win. They lost 27-24 to Minnesota. That was too many points to give up, but the offense scored just 17 against one of the worst defenses in the nation (DJK scored on a kick return).
That wasn't a bad defense. It wasn't a below average defense. It was one of the better defenses in school history, statistically with one of the best defensive lines in school history. Some folks are STILL having a tough time separating emotion from football facts and fundamentals.
In 2011, Iowa blitzed more than it had in a decade, because it had to. They threw a lot of looks out there they had not normally had to try, in order to do their best to get the job done. We'll see more of that in 2012 and I can tell you right now, you should expect more growing pains. If I could take the 2011 team's defensive production, sight unseen, for 2012? I'd take it in a heartbeat.
2012 is going to be all about a young and inexperienced defensive line taking some lumps, which will help set them up for a better 2013 & 2014.
That won't be on Phil Parker, by the way. So again, I think this is a solid hire for Iowa and the continuity in philosophy will likely pay dividends in 2013 and beyond.
As for the other moves....
Darrell Wilson moving from Linebackers to Defensive Backs seems to pave the way for LeVar Woods being hired at the linebacker slot. If that happens I am not sure why Kirk Ferentz didn't make that announcement on Tuesday, but I am sure he has his reasons. I will be surprised if Woods doesn't land a full time position job with Iowa before the smoke clears. You have to wonder about Wilson's disappointment level in not getting the DC job, as you had to know he applied for it.
Reese Morgan moving from the Offensive Line to Defensive Line was the biggest surprise of the announcements. I thought there was a chance he would retire this offseason, but that doesn't see to be the case. I doubt Iowa's defensive line philosophy will change at all or miss a beat; maintaining gap integrity and pocket containment will continue to be the two 'demandments' of Iowa's defensive line thinking.
The open offensive line position is very intriguing. Given Iowa waited so long to make these announcement (until after the Superbowl), many of us speculated that one of Iowa's new hires would come from either the Giants or Patriots. Otherwise, why wait so long to make these announcements public? Instead of Jim Herrmann as Defensive Coordinator, as was speculated on at great length this weekend and early in the week, Iowa hires Phil Parker from in house.
Perhaps Iowa's offensive line coach currently resides in an NFL organization? Would Kirk Ferentz hire his son Brian to take over that position? It makes sense.
Some might say Brian is 'too young' or doesn't have enough experience, but he is on an identical career path to that of Josh McDaniel. McDaniel was coffee fetcher for the Patriots early on, just as Brian was. McDaniel was then promoted to a positon coach, just as Brian was this year (tight ends). McDaniel became the Patriots official offensive coordinator at the age of 30, although he was likely calling the plays for the Patriots at the age of 29, the year after Charlie Weiss left New Englad for Notre Dame and a year when the Patriots didn't officially have an offensive coordinator.
Brian Ferentz will be 29 in March. There had been a bit of speculation the past two months from folks in Boston and throughout the Northeast that Brian could be in line for play calling duties with the Patriots; he is well thought of out there.
So for some to say that he would not be qualified to be an offensive line coach in the Big Ten, I just flatly disagree. What was on Reese Morgan's resume before he became Iowa's offensive line coach? He was a high school football head coach in the state of Iowa.
Brian Ferentz was a three-year starter on the offensive line for the University of Iowa and has been exposed to one of the preeminent football minds of this generation, Bill Belichick, for the past four years. I'd be more than fine with Brian Ferentz being Iowa's offensive line coach.
There will be some people who would view such a hire with skepticism due to the family tie. If Kirk hires Brian, nobody would be more sensitive to such a move than Kirk. Brian would be hired on merit; if his name were Brian Smith and Iowa hired him from the Patriots with a similar resume as a coach and player, I doubt people would object. All of this could prove to be mental situps, as Kirk could go in a different direction.
As for the Offensive Coordinator position, as you can see from the numbers above, the offense is what needs the biggest boost, or the most retooling. Again, I doubt we see many fundamental shifts away from the offensive philosophy we have witnessed during the Kirk Ferentz era because it's the kind of offense he wants to run.
If Iowa makes an in house hire here, it would likely be Erik Campbell. He doesn't have any coordinating experience on his resume, as he was a position assistant with Navy and Ball State after graduating from Michigan in 1987 where he played mostly defensive back. He had starts on both sides of the ball and is the only Michigan player to get starts at all four defensive back positions. He was a wide receivers coach for them and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2003. He is extremely well liked by his current and former players.
One last thought; does Iowa add a quarterbacks coach to the mix? If they did that, they'd likely cut out a tight ends coach designation, or have the quarterbacks coach or offensive line coach work with tight ends, too. If that happens, David Raih could fill the bill.
I don't know if Ferentz will announce his offensive coordinator or additional position coaching hires at Wednesday's 4pm press conference, but we'll be live blogging that event here on the site, beginning around 3:50.
PS: Congratulations to Phil Parker. This has to be a fulfillment of a lifetime of hard work and loyalty.
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