CFB coaching carousel

Pixels are cheap.

The problems facing Iowa include: 1, they're already paying for a top- tier coach, and 2, Ferentz has remained competitive enough it's possible to argue he's only one or two bombshell recruiting classes (or maybe even one or two impact players) from being a top-10 team again. With the huge buyout there's a strong incentive to see if he can straighten things out.

 

Ferentz was supposedly one of the candidates when the Packers hired McCarthy in Jan. 2006.

 

Coincidentally, given yesterday's results...Ferentz was also mentioned for the UT job that went to Lane Kiffin.

 

If the Hawkeyes did decide to cut bait on Ferentz, now, Butch Jones would probably be a very logical pick for Iowa, except they'd have to outbid Tennessee to get him.

 

There are quite a few good NFL coaches who have jobs that Ferentz either turned down, or would have been the favorite to get.

I never understood it.

 

Unless you're leaving Vanderbilt, I cannot think of an SEC head coach leaving to join any Big Ten program, unless it's Ohio State.

 

It's kind of a sliding scale. Of course all offers would be contingent on meeting or beating the pay rate.

Vandy -- yeah. There are probably only 3-4 B1G teams (NW, IU, Purdue, Rutgers) a coach WOULDN'T leave Vandy for (on strictly football grounds)

A football coach at Kentucky or Miss State would probably leave for 6-8 B1G programs. Iowa would probably be on the borderline of that grouping.

OSU, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska and possibly Wisconsin are probably more attractive than Missouri, Arkansas or South Carolina.

But if Iowa wanted to pry a coach away from Tennessee, they would have to beat the money by a big margin.

 

Tennessee will arrive next season. Butch Jones ain't going anywhere.

 

If Iowa's smart, its next coach will come from the upper echelon of FCS coaches. In fact, there's a pretty damn good FCS school just north of Iowa City.

 

With the money they'll have sunk in the Ferentz buyout, they won't be able to go and hijack another Big Five coach, at least not one anybody wants.

 

Isn't Bielema widely believed to be the replacement when Ferentz leaves?

 

I'm not in Iowa so I don't keep up on all the rumors; I have seen the name of current Iowa DC Phil Parker dropped as a more or less unofficial heir apparent/ coach in waiting -- but that probably goes out the window if Ferentz is shoved out rather than leaves by his own volition.

Bielema makes sense on its face but Iowa would still have to come up to the neighborhood of what Arkansas is paying him, which is a lot -- or, in other words, about what they're paying Ferentz already.