IOWA CITY — There was plenty of items to discuss for Kirk Ferentz as he stepped to the podium at Kinnick Stadium on Friday for his 26th Iowa Football Media Day as head coach.
New conference rivals, a new offensive coordinator and how to maintain success in the ever-changing world of college football were among the questions posed to the all-time winningest coach in the history of Hawkeye football.
Ferentz talked about a season that begins with a lot of intrigue as Iowa looks to contend for a third Big Ten west division championship in the past four seasons. While the Hawkeyes will be facing a stiffer challenge to claiming a conference title with four new programs (Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA) joining the chase, Ferentz is leaning on several returning players to bring a sense of stability heading into the 2024-25 season.
“Things haven’t changed much since we last talk. We’re a pretty veteran team,” Ferentz said. “There will be some things that will be different. Obviously, having a new offensive coordinator in with new schemes. We had a couple of different changes to our staff overall that the players at still getting used to.
“The great thing about a new season are there are new opportunities. The consistency in camp has been pretty good. We’re not where we want to be, but I like the effort. The leadership has been really good. The older players have done a good job setting the pace. We are a different team than we were in April. A lot has changed since then, but I feel like we’re on a good path.”
Cade McNamara will certainly be key in determining the expectations for success this season. The Michigan transfer led Iowa to three wins in the first four games of last season at quarterback before suffering a season-ending injury in a 23-16 win over Michigan State, forcing the Hawkeyes to grind out six wins in their final three games as the offense averaged less than 12 points a game after the injury.
“Aside from some of the guys dealing with soft-tissue stuff, this is the healthiest we’ve been going into the season,” Ferentz said. “I feel like we’re at a good place going into the season. We’ve been healthier than we’ve been at this point in the last few seasons. We’ve got a chance to be very cohesive.”
Besides the return of McNamara, Iowa will also be looking to ignite an offensive resurgence under first-year coordinator Tim Lester. The former Western Michigan head coach will be looking to spark a Hawkeye offense that averaged just over 15.4 total points a game, ending last season suffering back-to-back shutout losses to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game and Tennessee in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
“Tim’s done a great job so far. He’s a great coach with a lot of great energy that the players have responded to,” Ferentz said. “I believe a lot in letting the coaches coach. I think it’s important for players to hear that single voice. I think Tim’s been doing a great job being that voice and having the ideas that has brought a lot of enthusiasm to our team.”
Iowa’s defense, while still expected to be among the best in the Big Ten, will be dealing with an infusion of young talent looking to gain experience as the season goes along. Ferentz, however, feels the Hawkeyes could be poised to rise to the new opportunities created by the challenges of not just a growing Big Ten but also a growing College Football Playoff field which triple in size from four teams to 12, opening the door for Iowa to make the most of a potential return to the Big Ten championship game and a 10-win season that could this year lead to a better chance to keep national championship hopes alive deeper into the season.
“If you weren’t in that top 10 going into those first releases of the College Football Playoff poll midway through the season, you were kind of irrelevant when it came to the discussion of the national championship,” Ferentz said. “With a 12-team playoff, there are a lot of teams that have that opportunity to play for that goal deep into the season. I think that creates a lot of excitement.”
“That’s what is great about college football. Nobody knows what is going to happen. None of us know who’s going to be lining up across from us in October and November at this point. We’re not even sure who will be lining up for us. You have to get fortunate with injuries. The one thing we’re always going to focus is being ourselves and being at our best each week.”
