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Greg Davis will find himself dealing with a bit of a different beast when he begins the next chapter in his coaching career.
Officially named Monday as Iowa’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Davis arrives in the construction zone around the Iowa football complex with a glossy resume and the reputation for building effective offenses around available talent.
He’ll need to put those skills to use more effectively at Iowa then in his previous stop.
As coach Kirk Ferentz has said on repeated opportunities, Iowa is a developmental operation, a place where players are built and starting positions are earned through hard work, growth and sweat.
Iowa does not stock its roster with the collection of four- and five-star recruits that typically fill the available scholarships at Davis’ last employer.
Texas has long been a destination spot for top talent and rarely do coaches there have to go beyond the borders of their talent-rich state to land those blue-chip prospects.
There’s no question that those players put in the work that goes on at colleges throughout the country, but the drop off from starter to back-up at a place like Texas is not as large in Austin as it is in Iowa City.
That’s simple fact.
Davis’ new job will test his coaching ability and his skills in developing talent in the same manner that Ken O’Keefe did during his 13 years on the Hawkeye staff.
Ferentz is making his new coordinators available to the media in upcoming days and we’ll share their thoughts with you as they meet the press.
New defensive coordinator Phil Parker is scheduled to talk to the press on Friday and Davis will hold a press conference on Monday.
One week from today, new assistant coaches Brian Ferentz and LeVar Woods are scheduled to answer questions.
The group now on the job is working in a bit of a construction zone.
Steel is being erected this week at Iowa’s new indoor practice facility, where the structure that is scheduled to be available for use in the fall is taking shape.

Former Hawkeye running back Jewel Hampton is among the 300 players at this weekend’s NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that after two years of coping with injuries at Iowa, he needed a change of scenery.
“I definitely needed a fresh start, especially after being hurt two seasons in a row,” Hampton told the Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas. “So, I went to Carbondale and I got that fresh start. I had a full healthy season and so I’m definitely glad with the decision I made.”
Hampton ran for 463 yards and seven scores while backing up Shonn Greene at Iowa in 2008, but ACL tears in each of the next two seasons derailed his career with the Hawkeyes and he opted to transfer to Southern Illinois.
Hampton enjoyed a good junior season with the Salukis last fall, leading the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 17 touchdowns while rushing for 1,121 yards.
He had one year of eligibility remaining, but opted to leave early to take a chance of being drafted.
Because of an ankle injury, Hampton participated only in the bench press during the week-long combine. He’ll leave the rest of the tests for a pro day in Carbondale next month.
Hampton said he will always wonder how his career would have played out if he would have remained healthy with the Hawkeyes.
“I definitely do get sick of being injured, but I had to be resilient because this is my passion. This is something that I want to do with my life. So, I just can’t quit whenever I get an injury. I just keep pushing through and hoping for the best.”

If former Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis is going to become the new offensive coordinator of the Iowa football program, he is in some respects a mirror image of the man he will replace.
Like Ken O’Keefe at Iowa, Davis was on the job at Texas for 13 seasons where he built his reputation around forming offenses which played to the strength of the personnel he had to work with – a hallmark of Iowa offenses under O’Keefe.
When Ricky Williams was in the backfield, the Longhorns ran the football. When Colt McCoy was behind center, Texas threw the ball around a bit.
Davis is a coach whose offenses were known for using the bubble screen and hitch passes to move the ball as a complement to the run, something Iowa fans should be fairly familiar with. The Longhorns were also known to score points by the bushel during his tenure, ranking no worse than 14th in the country in scoring offense from 2003-09.
Davis-coached Texas offenses produced 10 of the top 11 passing offenses in the program’s history and the top nine scoring offenses in Texas history.
Those are among the reasons that Davis may be the coach that Kirk Ferentz has selected as his new offensive coordinator.
The 60-year-old Davis has interviewed for the position, and according to the Austin American-Statesman, has accepted an offer to replace O’Keefe on the Hawkeye staff although Iowa officials say no official hire has been made.
What is clear is that Ferentz talked to experienced offensive minds as he searched to replace the only offensive coordinator that Iowa has had during his first 13 seasons as the Hawkeyes’ head coach.
Tom Moore, a former Hawkeye and long-time friend of the program who is best known for his work with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1980s and more recently as the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, was in Iowa City earlier this month and apparently discussed the offensive staff possibilities with Ferentz although it is not known if the 73-year old was actively pursuing a position on the staff.
In either case, it does appear that Ferentz is pursuing coaches with lengthy resumes of developing consistent, productive offenses.
He doesn’t appear to be looking to make any major changes to the way the Hawkeye offense has been structured, preferring to build on production Iowa has had in the past.
Like O’Keefe, Davis has dealt with an uneasy fan base in the past. He took plenty of heat as the Longhorns played their way to a 5-7 record in 2010 and he was one of three coaches who did not return to Texas in 2011 after Mack Brown – who he first coached for in the 1980s – opted to shuffle several staff positions.
Davis sat out the 2011 season before pursuing new opportunities this offseason, a pursuit that could end with an opportunity in the Big Ten.

With his latest hires, Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz not only added a pair of former Hawkeyes to his staff, he also added both NFL experience and youthful vigor to the collection of coaches who will be preparing the Hawkeyes for competition next fall.
New linebackers coach LeVar Woods is 33 years old, new offensive line coach Brian Ferentz is 28 — two years older than his father was when Hayden Fry took a chance on a young offensive line coach in 1981 who had been working as a graduate assistant at Pitt.
Both new coaches are products of Iowa high schools, Woods from perennial small-school power West Lyon and Brian Ferentz from Iowa City High.
The pair know the state, understand the state and are two of the most personable players who have suited up for the Hawkeyes during Ferentz’ first 13 seasons in Iowa City.
Their shared collegiate experience allows them to know what they’re getting into at Iowa.
Beyond strong personalities which will only help them on the recruiting trail, the bring some NFL cred to the table as well.
Woods as a self-made player, who signed on with the Arizona Cardinals in 2001 as an undrafted free agent and enjoyed a seven-year career in the NFL, and Ferentz as a coach who has spent the past four years working in one of the NFL’s most-respected organizations. His work with rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez over the past season as the tight ends coach of the Patriots illustrates the abilities and potential Brian Ferentz has as a coach.
The announcement of their hirings today add two solid young coaches to the Hawkeye staff, coaches who should only help Iowa compete in a Big Ten recruiting world which underwent an upgrade when Ohio State hired Urban Meyer as its new head coach last November.
Today’s hirings also leave Ferentz with one spot yet to fill.
The offensive coordinator’s role remains open and it likely will remain that way for a bit. Iowa’s coaching staff leaves Sunday on the annual week-long Hawkeye Cruise, a chance for fans to mingle with the coaches in a climate slightly warmer than Iowa at this time of year.
Ferentz said during a news conference on Feb. 8 that it is his preference to have his coordinator coach Iowa’s quarterbacks as O’Keefe did during the last 12 of his 13 seasons as Iowa.
Ferentz did leave the door open to other staff alignments during that news conference, saying that he was keeping an open mind that could lead to additional shuffling of Iowa’s offensive staff.
That could provide avenues for current assistants Lester Erb or Erik Campbell to move into the coordinator spot or Ferentz could opt to bring a coach in from outside to fill the vacancy.
It’s a safe assumption that Ferentz is doing the same thing he did as he re-shaped Iowa’s defensive staff a month ago following the retirement of Norm Parker and the departure of Rick Kaczenski for Nebraska.
In all likelihood, he is mulling over a number of possible scenarios that could involve the reassignment of remaining offensive assistants.
Ferentz has stated that he wants the process completed before the start of spring break.
That begins at Iowa on March 10.
Spring practices start two weeks later on March 24.

Future Iowa football players Mitch Keppy of Riverdale and Reid Sealby of Byron won’t get their wish to meet in the heavyweight championship Saturday at the Illinois Class 1A state wrestling tourney.
Keppy dropped a 7-5 decision to Morgan Supergan of Bismarck-Henning in today’s quarterfinals at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, denying him the change to avenge the only two losses he had on his record this season before the midday loss.
Keppy, the Class 1A runner-up at the weight the past two seasons, bounced back with the type of vigor that his future coaches would like to see in the wrestlebacks.
He pinned his first opponent in 33 seconds and will continue competition on Saturday.
Sealby, who edged Keppy by a point for the sectional crown, will compete for a title tonight.
He won his first two matches at state by pin and defeated one of Keppy’s conference rivals, Jake Walls of Sterling Newman, by an 8-1 score in tonight’s semifinals.
Both Sealby and Keppy entered the meet looking forward to a potential rematch. Before the meet, Sealby referred to his future college teammate as the best competition he has had this season.
Sealby told the Rockford Register-Star after his opening-round win Thursday that he was on a mission in his final prep wrestling competition.
“For my whole life, wrestling has been my primary sport. It’s been a way of life for me,” Sealby told the publication. “And now, it all comes down to this. It’s my ultimate goal and I’m not going to let anything get in my way now.”
It’s a pretty safe assumption that his future coaches don’t mind hearing that type of attitude as well.

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz doesn’t plan any budget-busting hires as he works to fill vacancies on his coaching staff.
“I think there a lot of approaches you can take,” Ferentz said. “We had one school (Ohio State) that just brought a new standard of pay, Southeastern Conference prices move north, and that’s the trend in college sports.”
But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Iowa will be writing checks for $750,000 for coordinators as Ohio State will and Michigan has.
Ken O’Keefe’s salary $313,200 during the current fiscal year as the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator, while defensive coordinator Norm Parker was paid $243,000. Parker’s salary would have been similar to O’Keefe’s but his pay was cut $56,000 per year in 2008 when he stopped recruiting off campus.
By comparison, Michigan paid defensive coordinator Greg Mattison $750,000 to lure him from the NFL to the Big Ten a year ago.
Ohio State will pay co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell the same amount next season as a member of Urban Meyer’s staff, while co-defensive coordinator Everitt Withers will be paid $450,000 and new Buckeyes offensive coordinator Tom Herman received a $100,000 bump to $420,000 when he moved from Iowa State to Ohio State.
Illinois will pay its new offensive and defensive coordinators $400,000 each, the school announced on Thursday.
Despite escalating salaries elsewhere, Ferentz said he does not foresee money becoming an issue as he works to fill the offensive coordinator’s position on his staff.
“I’m really comfortable with the parameters we’ve been working with, and I’m really confident that we’re going to get good coaches to fit those parameters,” he said. “If it becomes an issue, I’ll talk to Gary (Barta, Iowa’s director of athletics) about that, but I really don’t foresee that. If it is an issue, I’m sure he’ll be supportive within reason. I’m not going to go ask for something ridiculous, but I don’t see that being an issue at all.”

Iowa is looking for more than new coordinators and a handful of new assistant coaches this offseason.
Coach Kirk Ferentz also has some graduate assistant spots to fill as the Hawkeyes work toward 2012.
Iowa will have four graduate assistants beginning this fall, twice as many as the Hawkeyes had working with the team in 2011.
One of last year’s graduate assistants, defensive grad assistant Charlie Bullen, will follow Ken O’Keefe to the Miami Dolphins for a position on the staff there.
David Raih has been the Hawkeyes’ offensive graduate assistant the past two years.
“Those GA spots have been in the back of my mind, too, so we’re increasing our ability to abuse guys. Now, we’ll have four to abuse instead of two,” Ferentz said.
“It’s going to help with the workload, because there is a lot of film breakdown, so at least we’ll have a little more manpower now. … We’ve had to GAs who were brilliant. Both of those guys were smarter than everybody on staff maybe with the exception of one or two of our guys. But, Charlie and Dave were just outstanding, so it is nice to see Charlie get a great opportunity.”
Those are among the positions Ferentz hopes to fill before Iowa spring drills begin on March 24.
The Hawkeyes will also host a public practice at Kinnick Stadium on April 14.

The makeover of the Iowa football staff started earlier this evening with three current Hawkeye assistants assuming new roles within the staff.
The promotion of Phil Parker to defensive coordinator is no surprise. He’s delivered as the Hawkeyes’ secondary coach for the past 13 seasons and is a product of the man he follows in the position, Norm Parker. The Michigan State grad earned all-Big Ten honors while playing for a Norm Parker-coached defense during the mid-1980s.
He’s been prepared for the promotion, serving in that capacity in 2010 when Norm Parker missed part of the season because of illness.
Darrell Wilson will have the opportunity to expand his resume, moving from linebackers coach to the secondary spot that Phil Parker has filled.
It’s a position Wilson has coached before. He was the defensive backs coach at Rhode Island in the late 1990s before becoming the running backs coach at Rutgers in 1999.
Since that time, he has coached linebackers and special teams, arriving at Iowa in 2002 following two seasons at Wisconsin.
Like Wilson, the changes Ferentz announced provide Reese Morgan with a chance to work on the other side of the ball.
He has helped build Iowa’s reputation for producing NFL-quality offensive linemen and now, he will taking those teaching methods to the defensive front.
It’s one of the more interesting moves that Ferentz has made since arriving at Iowa.
Today’s moves are just a beginning.
The Hawkeyes have an opening left on the defensive side of the ball at linebacker and have two spots to fill on offense, the coordinator’s spot and the line spot that is being vacated by Morgan.
It seems likely that LeVar Woods will fill one of those assistant’s positions.
If we have learned anything from today’s moves it is that we can expect Ferentz to continue to mold the Hawkeye program in the way he has built it.
That may not appease fans who hoped the changes would lead to a blitz-heavy defense and a wide-open, pass-happy offensive attack.
Iowa football is what it is, rooted in strong fundamentals, a physical approach to the game on both sides of the ball and committed to a formula that has left the Hawkeyes in a place that would make a lot of programs envious – bowl eligible in each of the last 11 years.

The waiting game continues for Iowa football fans on a number of fronts.
Highly-regarded recruit Alex Kozan continues to weigh his options and the search for defensive and offensive coordinators continues.
A reader yesterday asked during a phone conversation why in the world it would take so long for coach Kirk Ferentz to fill the position that opened when Norm Parker retired.
First, Ferentz has had other priorities. Bowl preparations and recruiting demanded his attention in December and January, as they should have.
Ferentz said in December that he had heard from a number of qualified candidates – and probably some who weren’t so qualified – and he knew that he would have a sufficient pool of possibilities to consider when it was time to select a coordinator.
He also promised – and delivered – that the search would be methodical, allowing him to work through possible scenarios.
Things have changed in the coaching game since Ferentz last hired coordinators at Iowa 14 seasons ago.
Many schools have hired co-coordinators or on offense have named running game coordinators or passing game coordinators instead of singling one assistant out for the role.
It’s possible that he could go that route or he could settle on one individual.
There are in-house possibilities on both sides of the ball and there are intriguing options from outside of the Hawkeye program.
Ferentz indicated last week that he felt he was on the right path in filling the vacancies that existed then on his defensive staff.
He hopes to be in a position to fill in some of the blanks during a news conference on Wednesday.
We’ll see.
As for Kozan, that wait continues as well.
He did not attend the signing ceremony for recruits at his Colorado high school last week, and he continues to search for the answer to where he will play at the next level.
From all accounts, Iowa, Auburn and Michigan continue to be on his radar screen.
He just isn’t comfortable signing on the bottom line yet and he does have some time.
While last Wednesday was the start of a signing period, Kozan still has several weeks to reach a decision.
Like Ferentz in his search for assistants, the offensive lineman seems to be taking his time in hopes of reaching the right conclusion and there is nothing wrong with that.

One note you will not see in Iowa football notes in 2013 is the one which ran throughout the 2012 season, pointing out that the Hawkeye coaching staff had a combined 110 years of experience working for coach Kirk Ferentz, a number that ranked fourth in the nation behind the staffs at Missouri, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
The retirement of Norm Parker and the departure of Ken O’Keefe and Rich Kaczenski will reshape the face of the Hawkeye coaching staff.
It opens a pair of coordinator’s positions and allows Ferentz step back and take a look at where his program stands and where he wants to take it in future years.
The hirings he will make provide Ferentz with the same opportunity he found himself with in 1999 when he took over as Iowa’s head coach.
He took his time then in building a staff that worked well together and showed great stability while leading the Hawkeyes to unprecedented heights.
The current vacancies present Ferentz with the same opportunities, one of the reasons he has methodically worked to fill the defensive openings.
He said during Wednesday’s recruiting news conference that he wanted to work through several scenarios before settling on a direction he would take those hires.
There was never a more prudent time to do that.
Iowa’s spring practices are not scheduled to begin this year until Sat., March 24, a little later than normal and something that provides Ferentz with time to give the Hawkeye staff a significant makeover.
He isn’t the first to do that.
Mack Brown did the same thing a year ago at Texas, replacing some long-time assistants with fresh faces and new ideas.
The group he brought in brought a fresh approach to recruiting and coaching and this year’s Longhorn recruiting class is one of the strongest in Brown’s tenure.
Timing has benefitted Ferentz, who said this week he has found good pools of candidates to fill the vacancies that Iowa has on the defensive side of the ball.
The same should prove to be the case on offense, given the resources available that Iowa has traditionally put toward football and the salaries of assistant coaches.
“One of the things I’ve always appreciated about coaching here, and I coached here in the ’80s, was that coach (Hayden) Fry was able to bring great coaches in and we haven’t lost many guys since I’ve been here,” Ferentz said Wednesday.
“We’ve had two retire, one at 68, one at 70, but that’s going to happen. Couple guys go to the NFL, so you know, guys move around on occasion.
“One thing I’ve always known is we’re always going to have good people here and good coaches, so I’m not worried about that, and I think our recruits understood that as well.”