After the Hawkeyes' latest stultifying loss, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta would like you to know he likes what he's seen from the team this season. "We have a young team," Iowa's athletic director said. "I like where we're headed with the players that we have.
"We have to win some games, and we all know that."
Yes. We also know that water is wet, feet are useful, and the Large Hadron Collider has not yet destroyed the universe.
Okay, to be fair, losing three games by a total of nine points isn't the most shameful fate a team can endure, especially if the losses are to three teams which are no worse than slightly above average, which aptly describes Pitt, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Yet it seems to irk some fans, as Barta knows:
"I continue to have great confidence," Barta said. "When you lose close games, people tend to get upset, and I understand that."Call me crazy, but I don't understand that. I can live with a Hawkeye loss so long as I got to see a good football game.
Case in point: the 2005 Iowa-Northwestern game, which I had the good fortune to see in person. Iowa dominated that game until the Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the last 2 minutes and 10 seconds to squeak past the Hawkeyes. Then it started pouring down rain and small hail on the walk back to the car. As my friends and I huddled under the overhang of some random building on the NU campus, I turned to my friends and said, "You know, we just saw a really good football game," and none of them disagreed. I realize that puts me in a group of about 0.01% of all college football fans, but I digress. Losing 52-10 would upset me much more than losing 21-20, 22-17, and 16-13 does.
At any rate, if you're wondering if this will be Kirk Ferentz's last season in Iowa City, the Magic 8 Ball says "doubtful":
"I think Kirk is a tremendous football coach and a terrific person," Barta said of Ferentz, who is under contract through the 2012 season after being granted a one-year extension last February.
I can't argue much with that. Ferentz is a terrific person, and I don't think he's as awful a coach as many Hawkeye fans are starting to think. Still, the key to understanding the situation is in the second half of that sentence, not the first. They can't afford to buy him out.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-06-2008 @ 11:27PM
Aaron said...
I think that a lot of Hawkeye fans still have some faith in Captain Kirk, but have for years had no faith in Ken O'Keefe. If this season continues as it has begun, O'Keefe has to go.
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