Nebraska football fans who have enjoyed watching Iowa’s offense play abysmal ball might only be treated to those sights for one more season.
Brian Ferentz is living a charmed life. The man doesn’t appear to be a very competent offensive coordinator or quarterback coach. But he has the same last name as Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. That is of course because he’s the Hawkeyes’ coach’s son.
Unfortunately for Nebraska football fans, he might only be Kirk’s son after the 2023 season and may not be referred to as the Iowa offensive coordinator anymore.
I already laid out in a previous article just how bad Brian’s offense has been since he took the job as OC. Despite that, earlier this month Kirk Ferentz made it clear that his son would continue in his current role. At the time it seemed as if the younger Ferentz was getting off scott free. It turns out he’s on borrowed time.
Iowa announces amendments to Brian Ferentz's employment:
— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) February 6, 2023
Salary of $850,000, effective Feb. 1, 2023 (down $50k from 2022)
Designated Performance Objectives for the 2023 season include an average of at least 25 points per game and a minimum of 7 wins
On Monday, Iowa announced some new contract terms for their OC which seem aimed at making sure that the offense will improve greatly, or he’ll likely finally be seeing the firing line.
In addition to taking a $50K pay cut in 2023, he’ll be faced with some “Designated Performance Objectives.” If that sounds like “do this or else” to Nebraska football fans it should. It’s likely the same kind of metrics that Scott Frost faced heading into the 2022 season.
Right at the top of the list is that Iowa must average of at least 25 points scored per game. The Hawkeyes must also win at least seven games.
So basically, Brian Ferentz gets a $50,000 pay cut, and his contract is 1 year instead of its usual 2.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) February 6, 2023
But if Iowa averages 25 ppg and goes 7-6, he'll get a $112,500 bonus, a new 2-year contract and a raise.
Nepotism FTW
That minimum of seven-game thing doesn’t seem all that out of the question. Kirk Ferentz and his staff have made a career out of “making a bowl game,” and no one can argue that Iowa’s defense isn’t usually good enough to get them to that mark. But the 25 points per game seems like a big ole bullseye on the coach’s shirt.
For those wondering, Iowa averaged 17.7 points per game in 2022. They averaged 23.4 in 2021. Not counting the shortened covid season, Iowa hasn’t averaged 25 or more points a game since 2019.
It’s clear that the higher-ups see an offensive attack that is heading in the wrong direction. It’s clear they’re sick and tired of Kirk Ferentz’s making excuses for his son.
And that’s why Nebraska football fans likely only have one more year to enjoy the lack of ingenuity that Brian Ferentz brings to the table.