Iowa Hawkeyes football coach Kirk Ferentz is optimistic about the 2024 season, expressing confidence in their offensive potential. “We have the potential to be a good offensive team,” Ferentz remarked on Wednesday at Big Ten media day in Indianapolis.
This comment would be unremarkable coming from other NCAA Division I FBS programs, but Iowa, under Ferentz’s leadership, has built a reputation for being a defensively strong team with difficulties in scoring.
Brian Ferentz, Kirk Ferentz’s son, began his seventh season as the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator in 2023 with a new contract requirement: Iowa needed to average 25 points per game for his contract to be renewed for 2024.
Despite the Hawkeyes finishing the season with a 10–4 record, they fell well short of this target, averaging only 15.4 points per game and ranking second-to-last in college football. As a result, Ferentz was not retained, and Iowa brought in former Western Michigan coach Tim Lester as the new offensive coordinator for 2024.
This led to some light-hearted mockery from the college football community on Wednesday.