Brian Ferentz apologizes for past comments

The last time we saw Brian Ferentz was before we knew what Covid-19 was and it was before the death of a man in Minnesota in late May led to a conversation on-line about racial issues within the Iowa football program.

Iowa's offensive coordinator met with the media this week to discuss his involvement in the conversation about race within the program and how he offered to leave his position if the players felt he was part of the problem and couldn't be part of the solution. He also talks football, including the actual potential starting offensive line.

OPENING STATEMENT

It’s good to see you guys.

It’s been over nine months since we last saw you guys in San Diego.

I am excited, thankful, and grateful.

Before we get to the 2020 season, I want to talk about the events that transpired over the summer. Starting back in early June when a lot of our former players shared their experiences within our program and their thoughts about our program. It was surprising, difficult, and at time, very painful to hear those things. I wanted to make sure to say how appreciative and how much I admire and respect the courage of those players to come forward and tell their truth and be as thoughtful, open, and honest as they were.

Our goal is very simple. To have every player gradate with a degree from the University of Iowa. To have personal success and grow and mature as a human being and to have success on the football field and be success as a team and have a good individual career.

That should be a positive experience for everyone who comes through our program. They should never feel anything but respected and valued as a human being. If anyone had a negative experience in our program, or did not feel valued or respected at a human level, I am deeply sorry and offer a sincere apology.

My personal goal as a coach is to have a positive impact on young people and it’s painful to learn that I may have fallen short in that department. But, I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow and to improve. Growth is difficult, as everyone knows. It requires introspection and a lot of reflection.

Upon a lot of reflection, I want to offer a few final thoughts that I have. I love this program. I was born across the street and every one of my 37 years as far as I can remember, Iowa football has been a part of my life. I referenced this three years ago when I was introduced as the offensive coordinator, I think it’s a tremendous privilege to coach here. I think with great privilege comes great responsibility. That responsibility is to the program. When I say the program, I mean the players, both current and former, all of our support staff, and the entire coaching staff. I feel like I have an added responsibility because my father is the head coach. I must be the very best coach and person that I can be and I have been and continue to be a work in progress. I once had teach tell me, “Be aware of how little you know and that is the most important thing in life.” I agree. It takes the ability to listen to be aware of how little you know. Although this summer was difficult and painful at times, I feel like it has led to tremendous discovery and growth.

With that I will turn to our 2020 offense before opening it up for questions.

We have to start with the quarterback position. We named Spencer the starting quarterback after the bowl game and we have been very pleased with his development and growth throughout the course of the year.

I would also like to mention the good job that Alex Padilla has done. He has continued to grow and mature and get better.

As far as our success at Iowa it starts with the offensive line. It starts with Alaric, Tyler, who have done a tremendous job and are practicing at a very high level right now. It is also good to have Cole Banwart back out there and Kyler Schott, who was in and out of the lineup. They are healthy now and practicing at a high level. We have good depth on the interior of the offensive line, which is extremely valuable as the season progresses.

Another player I wanted to single out is Coy Cronk. It has been very good to have him on our football team and we feel very fortunate to have him join us. He has been exactly what we exacted a savvy veteran presence and a guy with the ability to play at a high level. I have been much more impressed with how he has integrated into the program, which I think is difficult to do as a fifth year guy.

I think we have a solid group of tight ends with Beyer and LaPorta leading the way there. I thought they improved as the season progressed and I am excited to see what they can do. I think we have two fulbacks that can help us and grow in that role in Pottebaum and Pallissard.

The depth at running back makes me cautiously optimistic about that position. I think you have to be knowing our history. You start out with Mekhi Sargent, who is in his third year with us. He has been productive and played a lot of roles. I am impressed with his leadership. Tyler Goodson improved as the season went along last year and became an important part of the offense. I don’t want to forget Ivory, who redshirted last year. Last time we saw him was in Ames. I think he adds a dynamic player and I am excited to get him back in the fold.

Then the receiver group, this is probably the deepest and most veteran group, which is exciting. It starts with Brandon and Ihmir and they have made tremendous progress in the last three years. I am very proud of them on an individual level and I think they are coming into their own. Last year ended on a high note for Ihmir and this year we need to make sure we get him that touchdown pass at some point. Then Brandon came off the injury and he was playing a high level when he was back with us in San Diego. With Nico and Tyrone, I know their name came up a bunch last year and we were cautiously optimistic, well now they are proven and ended up playing a lot more in the last seven games of the season. I also wanted to mention Max Cooper, who hasn’t seen a ton of time as an offensive guy, but he has been important to us on special teams.

I will finish up in closing by saying I am well aware, but not sure when the first game will be, but I know the clock is ticking. We have had a lot of time together, but not a lot of practice time because it’s been a unique year as far as preparation goes. I think it’s gone well and it’s been a lot of fun.

Q: Coach Wallace was talking about the offense not being traditional as far as Iowa. Is that exciting and challenging for the offense?

FERENTZ: It’s fun, right. It’s fun to make sure certain players are touching the ball. You are not going to hear me complaining about. I’ve talked about this before, the goal is to make the defense defend the entire field, whether it’s run or pass. You could have the best schemes in the world, but without personnel you won’t be very good. I have always been a better coach when we have really good players. When we don’t, I don’t, right? To have players at different positions that we can use at different spots on every down, the idea would be to put as much pressure as possible on the defense and I hope we are getting to that point. Without a guy to distribute the ball, it won’t work, so that will be contingent on Spencer and what he can do. So far, I think he’s handled it well.

Q: You used your receivers to run the ball more against USC. Was that something you saw with them or is that something you think you will use more this season?

FERENTZ: A little bit of both. We have had a little bit of the perimeter stuff in the package and we have used it from time to time. Certainly going into the game, that had been a reoccurring issue for them from time to time, so we wanted to test them and see if we could have the success other teams had with that package. I think with the bowl game, I also had to make an evolution in my mind. Those were always secondary plays in my mind. I am not sure I see it the same way anymore. If you have capable ball handlers who can make plays in space like that you need to put them in a position to do that. I think that needs to be a bigger part of the offense moving forward is to have the ability to stretch the field quickly on the snap. It will also serve to benefit and help the run between the tackles. I think my thinking has been shifted.

Q: Going back to that first team meeting when you guys got back together after all the racial stuff was aired. Kirk has talked about that meeting being really raw. What was it like hearing some of the comments that I think were probably directed towards you?

FERENTZ: It was emotional. Out of respect to those players and the team, I will keep the details private unless they want to share it. What I can say is what I shared and that was how much I love this place and how much I care and feel strongly about it. I don’t mind telling you what I told the team that if I am not part of the solution and not a part of pushing this place forward and making it better than I have no interest in being a part of it and I would be happy to walk away from it. This place it too important. It’s much bigger than any coach or player.

Q: Kirk has said more than once that there is a difference between being demanding and being demeaning. With the introspection, do you feel like you crossed that line at times? If the answer is possibly yes, why was that?

FERENTZ: I won’t share the the actual conversation, but I spoke with a former player and I appreciated his honesty and candor and he said, “Coach, sometimes you are abrasive and sometimes your comments can be flippant and I didn’t know how to take them all the time.” I think when you look at that, in my experience, the basis of any relationship is going to have to be empathy. When I hear something like that, it’s disappointing. I am disappointed in myself. I am disappointed that I couldn’t show more empathy and understand how I was being perceived by that player. Not so much, what did I say, but asking the question, what did you hear? At the end of the day, you want to motivate the players, help them excel, and help them to be successful. That is the ultimate goal of a coach. For any player to feel that it was abrasive, that’s certainly not what you want.

Q: You said you want to help make Iowa football better. What do you need to do or see in a year from now to know you did the right thing?

FERENTZ: I think you need to hear it from the players. You need to hear it from them that this is a more welcoming environment and inclusive environment. I think at a human level we all want to feel safe and feel welcomed. We are all seeking that. That is what I think we are trying to do at Iowa. So a year from now and I would hope two weeks from now that it what we will hear from our players.

Q: Do you feel that you made racially insensitive remarks to your players? That has been said by some of your former players.

FERENTZ: I don’t recall making those comments. I have no recollection of that. As I said in reference to my conversation with the former player, what matters to me is being empathic and having that understanding of others and that is what’s critical moving forward.

Q: At the end of the report there was a suggestion of staff training. What have you done since then to better yourself through training or things like that?

FERENTZ: We have done some things, but I will defer to the head coach to discuss that in more detail. In fact, we did one this morning. The schedule has obviously been challenging, but what you are trying to do is improve upon the very honest conversations amongst our team and staff. We have been having some honest and unvarnished conversations. To me that was the start and now we have the opportunity to discuss them as a staff in a more structured setting and I think that’s been a positive.

Q: What have you seen from Kallenberger?

FERENTZ: It was really good to see him play well in the bowl game. I thought he played really well there. He played well in extended action against what we thought was a pretty good player at defensive tackle. I thought he took a step forward in the bowl game and the bowl prep. He just needs to come to work every day with the focus on improvement. I think he’s reaching the point in his career where tasting success is a real positive thing for him.

Q: How accurate is the two deep for the offensive line listed in the media guide? Have you seen it?

FERENTZ: I’ll be honest, I haven’t even seen it.

Q: If you had to play tomorrow, who would you put out there as your starters on the offensive line?

FERENTZ: Tyler (Linderbaum) would start at center. AJ (Alaric Jackson) would play left tackle. Coy (Cronk) would play right tackle and we have a good competition going on at the guard spots, which is a good thing. I mentioned Cole (Banwart), Shooter (Schott) earlier and they are in the conversation. Cody Ince, Mark Kallenberger, it’s a good problem to have.

Q: How have you see Spencer emerge as a leader?

FERENTZ: They are very different people. The first real characteristic is being yourself. You can’t attempt to be someone that you’re not and you can’t emulate another person’s leadership style. Spencer couldn’t come in and try and be Nate. No one could because Nate is pretty unique. I would say if I was contrasting them as people, Spencer is a little more outgoing. Nate is quiet. That’s how he operates. So they are different. What I have been impressed with and how he is similar to Nate is he actively builds relationship with his teammates, particularly the receivers and making sure the offensive linemen are involved as well.

Q: Last few times the QB job was open there was a pretty active competition. What was it about Spencer that allowed you to say he was the guy early on?

FERENTZ: He had been in the program for two years so we had a lot of exposure to him. He won the backup job last year and we saw him continue to progress during the season. We felt like we had a lot of pieces coming back and have a veteran group and we didn’t feel like we needed to have a competition. But, that puts a little bit of extra pressure on Spencer because he has earned it. He has done it so far and the best thing for the football team was to make a clear decision.

Q: How important will it be to establishing a run game this year?

FERENTZ: Critical. I would take it back to the earlier question, there’s more than one way to run the football, right? You want the backs to be involved, but when you look at the games that we win, we establish the run game and it gives us a chance to be successful. Ultimately if you can run the football and stop the run, you can control the tempo of the game. It’s kind of like special teams, if you cover kicks, you have a chance to win. So if you can run the ball, stop the run, and cover kicks, you have a chance to be a good football team. For us, it’s always going to start with the run game and getting it established.

Q: When you look back to what Nate Stanley walked into as far as a wide receiver group and what Spencer is walking into, it’s night and day. What is the advantage is that and can he do what Nate did last year physically and also at the line of scrimmage putting the team in the best position to win?

FERENTZ: Part of the comfort level with Spencer is we know he can operate the offense. Obviously we feel good about his physical skill set and his ability to throw the ball. That’s how he won the backup job. It does start with a command of the offense and staying out of bad play. It may not always be the best play, but stay away from the bad plays. That is an aspect we think he can do. Can we go out and throw the ball around like we did last year? I don’t know. We are talking about Nate Stanley who is in the NFL. With all due respect to Spencer, I hope one day we are talking about him that way too. He has to go out and prove it. I think he has an advantage over Nate in his first year not even from a personnel standpoint, but from a system standpoint. This is his third year in the system and for Nate it was all new to everyone and I hope I am a better coach today than I was in January of 2017 when we got started with Nate. Part of the reason I am a better coach is the chance I had to work with Nate for three years because I learned a lot from him. Hopefully all of that experience will be a net benefit for Spencer moving forward.