Kirk Ferentz apologizes for criticizing reporter over question about his son

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per CBS:

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz issued an apology Wednesday night after publicly criticizing a reporter who had asked him a line of questions concerning his decision to keep his son, Brian Ferentz, as the team's offensive coordinator following a 54-10 loss to Ohio State. The apology came a day after after a tense press conference in which Ferentz implied that he had been subject to an "interrogation" by Cleveland.com columnist Doug Lesmerises.

Lesmerises had asked Ferentz if he put Iowa's football program in a bad spot given that its offense has not only performed poorly, but has been run by a member of Ferentz's family. He would later pen a column that called for Brian Ferentz -- the Hawkeyes' offensive coordinator and long a target of nepotism accusations -- to be fired for his performance. According to the Associated Press, Kirk Ferentz responded by going on a thinly-veiled rant about Lesmerises without naming him directly.

"The one good thing about it that dawned on me coming home ... I said, man, as bad as today was, it could have been worse because I could have been that guy," Ferentz said. "I could have been that guy, had his job and had to act like he did. Yeah, it could be ... a lot worse. All things aren't that bad."


www.cbssports.com

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz apologizes for criticizing reporter over question about his son

Ferentz had claimed he was subject to 'interrogation' when asked about his son's performance as the Hawkeyes' offensive coordinator
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!
 


I feel like we are all watching the end of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa unfold this season. Team struggling, questions about his son, taking shots at reporters.....I really won't be shocked if he decides to hang it up at the end of the season.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I honestly respect Ferentz for issuing what sounds like a true apology, as opposed to some weird unpology that includes the word "sorry" but still finds an underhanded way to blame the reporter.
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Kirk has his own PR firm that is seperate from the school entirely. He didn't write any of this.
 


I'm A Maroon 2! said:
Kirk has his own PR firm that is seperate from the school entirely. He didn't write any of this.
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That all may be true, but if it went out under his name, he signed off on it. And plenty of people would have tried into work in some line about how the reporter was going after his family to make the apology some kind of "I apologize for stooping to his level" that criticized the reporter.
 

I'm A Maroon 2! said:
Kirk has his own PR firm that is seperate from the school entirely. He didn't write any of this.
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Maybe, but who doesn't say something with some kind of filter?

A lot of people have someone advising them and etc and they still manage to just say "that's not who I am" more than actually apologize / address their actual actions ...

IMO, it's still something.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I feel like we are all watching the end of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa unfold this season. Team struggling, questions about his son, taking shots at reporters.....I really won't be shocked if he decides to hang it up at the end of the season.
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It feels like he's gone down the old man road where his world is getting narrower ... he has dug in his heels ... and I sometimes I think people doing that end up digging in their heels into things they otherwise might not even do, but they do it because they feel someone is attacking them and etc.

Anyway, time for Iowa to move on to the Brian Ferentz era!
 

And at least he did not say "if I offended anyone".

And I was fine with him saying "I will take Floyd and leave the timeouts, that was pretty funny."
 




MNVCGUY said:
I feel like we are all watching the end of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa unfold this season. Team struggling, questions about his son, taking shots at reporters.....I really won't be shocked if he decides to hang it up at the end of the season.
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I’ve thought the Ferentz era was ending about 5 other times. And then he comes back and they hit a new high. At this point I’m convinced he’ll be there another 15 years or so.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
It feels like he's gone down the old man road where his world is getting narrower ... he has dug in his heels ... and I sometimes I think people doing that end up digging in their heels into things they otherwise might not even do, but they do it because they feel someone is attacking them and etc.

Anyway, time for Iowa to move on to the Brian Ferentz era!
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Ferentz is 67 so he is definitely getting into that "get off my lawn" phase of life. With this new landscape I just don't see older coaches like Ferentz sticking around long to deal with all the NIL deals and transferring that is going to be the norm now.

Some speculation about him retiring on the Iowa boards but with his current contract he holds all the power over there since I believe his buyout is massive meaning they can't/won't fire him.
 

One reason Tubby had to leave KY was having his allegedly incompetent son on the team. The other of course was Tubby was Black and had no margin of error.
Saul was tolerated at MN.
Even if Ferentz Jr. were an ace OC, it is not a good look.
The fact that he is a bad OC and the offense is a national joke makes Ferentz the Elder have a very short fuse on that subject.
If Ferentz the Elder has made appointing JR. as HC a requirement for his retirement both will be there for a long time.
 



Plato said:
One reason Tubby had to leave KY was having his allegedly incompetent son on the team. The other of course was Tubby was Black and had no margin of error.
Saul was tolerated at MN.
Even if Ferentz Jr. were an ace OC, it is not a good look.
The fact that he is a bad OC and the offense is a national joke makes Ferentz the Elder have a very short fuse on that subject.
If Ferentz the Elder has made appointing JR. as HC a requirement for his retirement both will be there for a long time.
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I do find it kind of interesting that the Kirk/Brian dynamic is viewed as toxic and yet you hear little to nothing about the Jeff/Brian Brohm combo at Purdue. Father/Son vs. Brothers which I am sure plays into it some.

Jeff being the play caller in Purdue probably also helps as in general when Purdue's offense is discussed it is attributed to Jeff. Would be interesting to see how the nepotism angle would be handled in Purdue if their offense went sideways and started struggling the way it is in Iowa.
 

Success has many fathers, failure is always a bastard.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I feel like we are all watching the end of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa unfold this season. Team struggling, questions about his son, taking shots at reporters.....I really won't be shocked if he decides to hang it up at the end of the season.
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Someone floated he is trying to get fired

If he retires he loses some of his millions
If he gets fired he gets the millions
 

Some guy said:
Someone floated he is trying to get fired

If he retires he loses some of his millions
If he gets fired he gets the millions
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I mean I guess you couldn't blame him for trying to get them to pay him $40 million not to coach :)
 

ottertail said:
Wait until after we play Iowa to fire him please…
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So you want a coach who has a .739 winning % against the Gophers over nearly a quarter century to coach against the Gophers this year and then fire him after the game?
 

Xerxes_ said:
So you want a coach who has a .739 winning % against the Gophers over nearly a quarter century to coach against the Gophers this year and then fire him after the game?
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If it means no sweeping changes to their offense then yep. I want them to keep their offense exactly as it is right now with no major adjustments of any kind until after we play them.
 

This is the second or third time this year that Ferentz has gone off on a reporter like this. People like to poke fun at PJ's "it's all on me" responses at press conferences, but he's NEVER done anything like this that I can recall. Ferentz is undoubtedly more sensitive because we're talking about his son here, but I hope others see how thick PJ's skin is. Dude takes a LOT of sh!t and handles it like a man.
 

Maybe I’m too old school.

But if you insult someone to their face, in front of their colleagues, then you need to apologize to that person to their face, in front of their colleagues.
 

I’d like to see more coaches and ADs give prickly replies to questions. Sports has become a little boring. Tell me how you really feel.

Maybe just me.
 




Pompous Elitist said:
I’d like to see more coaches and ADs give prickly replies to questions. Sports has become a little boring. Tell me how you really feel.

Maybe just me.
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Right! It's been awhile since someone had a Harold McRae like meltdown with reporters. Those were the good ol'days!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I feel like we are all watching the end of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa unfold this season. Team struggling, questions about his son, taking shots at reporters.....I really won't be shocked if he decides to hang it up at the end of the season.
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Not with his buyout.
 


Some guy said:
Someone floated he is trying to get fired

If he retires he loses some of his millions
If he gets fired he gets the millions
Click to expand...
An interesting thing to think about (regardless of how improbable): what are the reactions if the AD fires Brian?

Kirk would clearly be pissed. Does he keep coaching to win? Mail it in and keep cashing the checks? Quit? I have no idea, but I kind of think he might quit.

Do the fans support the move? Feel bad for Kirk? Is there a big split? I suspect they support the move.

Does the media support it? I suspect they do.
 

matt said:
An interesting thing to think about (regardless of how improbable): what are the reactions if the AD fires Brian?

Kirk would clearly be pissed. Does he keep coaching to win? Mail it in and keep cashing the checks? Quit? I have no idea, but I kind of think he might quit.

Do the fans support the move? Feel bad for Kirk? Is there a big split? I suspect they support the move.

Does the media support it? I suspect they do.
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They could negotiate a buyout/retirement deal
 

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