IOWA CITY -- For the first time since the Brian Ferentz era came to an unceremonious end with a 35-0 loss to Tennessee, Kirk Ferentz and Iowa will play in the same stadium as their infamous former offensive coordinator. The Hawkeyes will travel to College Park, Maryland this weekend to take on the Terrapins, who hired Brian as an offensive analyst this offseason.
"I hope I get to see him pre-game or something, say what's up to Brian," senior center Logan Jones said at Tuesday's media availability. "He means a lot to me, and I know he means a lot to a lot of the guys on this team."
Terps head coach Mike Locksley discussed why he made the hire at Big Ten Media Days this offseason.
"Adding Brian to the staff has been great," Locksley said. "I've always had a lot of respect for Kirk, for the Iowa program. ... Having Brian on my staff, he brings an expertise in running the football and offensive line play. They're the gold standard for what O-line and tight ends look like. Why wouldn't I take him and add him to my team to bring a skill that we need to get better at?"
From Kirk's account, things have been going well for Brian under Locksley.
"I think his experience has been good, what I know about it," he said Tuesday. "As a parent I'm glad he's with good people, and Mike is a guy I've got a lot of respect for."
Looking to Saturday, Jones isn't the only one excited to see Brian on Saturday.
"He's a jokester," added Kaleb Johnson, who's looking forward to reconnecting with his former coach this weekend. "I know he's going to say some jokes and stuff. I'm just preparing now and thinking in my head what he's going to say."
Johnson and Jones both credit their former OC for having faith in them -- even at times when few others did.
"He was a guy that believed in a lot of us when nobody did, especially on that line, right?" Jones said. "Everybody was saying we sucked, and we did at the time, which is fair. But he still continued to believe in us, and he helped us get to where we are. We're not perfect, but we're getting better, and that's all you can ask for, and he saw that in us. So I love Coach Brian."
Around that same time during the 2022 season, Johnson was seeing the field for the first time as a true freshman.
"You can't get better than that, man. Who wouldn't want the ball as a freshman?" Johnson smiled. "I really appreciate him for, you know, believing in me. ...That's the dude that recruited me, so he's played a big part in this, even though he's not here. I appreciate all that he's done for me."
That said, guys on the roster admire Brian for his off-field relationships as well, not solely as a football coach.
"He's just really a great person, someone in the building that really cares about you, more than just a football player," senior tight end Luke Lachey added. "We’ve had a lot of talks and he helped me through a lot of things. He’s a great guy, a great father to his kids, a great husband.”
"All the football stuff out the window, I really love Coach Brian Ferentz," Johnson added. "He's a very good person. On the field it's cool, but off the field, I love that man."
Though it will be a reunion of sorts, Kirk remains adamant that the journey out east is a business trip, and the Hawkeyes will be there to win.
"It's probably not a great time for a family reunion or just even seeing old friends," he said. "Everybody is cordial, but the bottom line is we've all got business to take care of on Saturday."
Iowa's game at Maryland is scheduled to kick off at 11:00 AM CT on Saturday, November 23, with television coverage from BTN.
