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Settling nothing

steve — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:56:37 +0000

At the conclusion of Big Ten meetings in Chicago today, Michigan director of athletics Dave Brandon said he doesn’t necessarily consider the proposed four-team playoff in college football to be a true playoff.
He’s even less convinced that what is currently on the table will end controversy about which teams should or should not play for the sport’s national championship.
“I’m fully convincend there is no way in the world we can come up with a way that will end controversy,” Brandon told the Chicago Tribune. “In fact, we may be creating more, and that’s OK.”
He’s right.
Administrators have long seen lingering offseason debates about the existing BCS title game as a welcome byproduct of the current set up.
Most view the debates and conversations as one way to keep college football on the frontburner during the offseason.
As former Iowa coach Hayden Fry would say, it makes for great coffee shop talk.
Brandon did call the current proposal to create a four-team postseason bracket in football as the only “practical model” he has seen.
He would like to see conference champions recognized in that small bracket and joins other Big Ten administrators in supporting the idea that a selection committee be used to choose the four teams that will vye for the title.
Brandon told the Tribune that he doesn’t view the current four-team concept as a true playoff.
“When I think of a playoff, I think eight teams, 16 teams, something that takes a large number of teams where you truly try to identify who is the champion,” Brandon told the publication.
“So, what we’re doing now, we’re coming up with a way to play an extra football game. That’s great.”
That’s also dead-on accurate.
While administrators hope to have a format determined by mid-summer, the results will only likely create a new round of debate.
Administrators from some conferences, the Big Ten included, want conference championships to be among the requirements for qualification.
Brandon said what administrators don’t want is a push to water down schedules any further simply for the sake of an extra win.
He nailed that one as well. Games that matter has kept the regular season in college football meaningful and helped retained high interest.
To cheapen that would not be in the best interest of the game or of the spectators who are being asked to pay increased dollars for tickets on a regular basis.

Strong credentials

steve — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:54:52 +0000

If you are looking for a reason why the Iowa football program has been been bowl eligible for the past 11 years, one of the places to look is the strength and conditioning room at the Iowa football complex.
It is there were Chris Doyle, the Hawkeyes’ strength and conditioning coach throughout Kirk Ferentz’ 14 seasons at Iowa, has consistently helped create athletes who allow the Hawkeyes to be regarded among the most physical teams in the Big Ten.
His work isn’t going unnoticed.
Next Thursday, Doyle will be named a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach, the highest honor presented to those in the profession by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.
Jerry Schmidt, previously named a Master coach by the organization, will present Doyle with the blue MSCC jacket next week at a ceremony in Orlando.
To be considered, the strength and conditioning coach must hold at least a bachelor’s degree, be a currently practicing full-time strength and conditioning coach at the collegiate or professional level, hold membership and be certified by the CSCCa and have a minimum of 12 years experience.
Doyle will be one of 15 strength and conditioning coaches to be honored at the event.

“Things work in weird ways”

steve — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:00:59 +0000

The NFL Draft did not go as expected for Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt.
Projected as a middle-round selection in the receiver-heavy draft, the Big Ten receiver of the year waited until the sixth round before getting the call from the Philadelphia Eagles.
McNutt told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his wait was longer than expected.
“I definitely dropped a lot farther than expected, but things work in weird ways,” McNutt told the Post-Dispatch.
“So, I’ll go out there and show them that I’ll work.”
McNutt, the 26th receiver chosen, was the only receiver selected by Philadelphia.
The converted quarterback didn’t let his late selection spoil his opportunity.
“Even before I came to college, I’d only been playing football three years,” McNutt said. “Looking back, the move to receiver was definitely a blessing. Not many players can say they change positions and reach the expectations they wanted.”

Blue-collar fit

steve — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:57:08 +0000

The Detroit Lions’ first-round draft pick spent some time Friday at a meet-and-greet with fans at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Motor City.
He probably would have been more comfortable breaking into a bucket of chicken from a nearby KFC with that group, but the sixth first-round NFL draft choice from Iowa during Kirk Ferentz’ head coaching tenure made a favorable first impression throughout his first day on the job in the NFL.
His Hard Rock appearance came after the Lions stuffed Reiff in a sport coat for a question-and-answer session with the Detroit media.
“I’m a blue-collar guy. I wouldn’t be wearing this, but they told me to wear it,” Reiff told detroitlions.com. “I come to work every day and lead by example. That’s what I like to do, bring your lunch pail and go to work every day.”
Those words mirrored the actions of Reiff during his time in a Hawkeye uniform and they mirror the gritty, roll-up-your-sleeves, blue-collar image that symbolizes Detroit.
Reiff spent draft night at his family’s home near Parkston, S.D., sharing the experience with only a handful of relatives.
He then joined friends and well wishers in a local restaurant and bar for a celebration before hopping a plane in Sioux Falls at 6:30 this morning for a flight to Detroit.
He said he wanted to spend draft night with the people who he had known since he was a child.
“I had a bunch of family and friends up and it was a fun time,” he told the Lions’ website.
During today’s news conference, Lions general manager Martin Mayhew described Reiff as big, smart, tough and versatile.
He said Reiff is expected to come in and compete for one of the Lions’ starting tackle positions right away.
Reiff expects the same, but also plans to learn from players who have a little more on-the-job experience at the NFL level.
“Wherever the team needs help and I can help the team, that’s what I’ll do,” Reiff said. “It starts off by coming in here and working hard and that’s all I can guarantee.”
Living up to those ideals has served Reiff well over time.

Smart decision

steve — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:58:06 +0000

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz has seen it work both ways, and as the start of the 2012 NFL draft approaches, he believes Hawkeye offensive lineman Riley Reiff made a good decision to bypass his senior season and turn professional.
Ferentz said today that the lack of available offesnive tackles in this year’s draft class probably works in Reiff’s favor.
“Everything I read sounds like he’s got a shot to be a top-15 guy. It’s hard to predict, but with not so many offensive tackles out there maybe a team or two will get antsy. I do know that he’s going to be a really good football player,” Ferentz said.
Buffalo, which picks 10th, and Arizona, which picks 13th, are among teams most likely projected to take a long hard look at Reiff.
Ferentz describes why he likes the South Dakota native’s chances at the next level.
“The first thing that comes to my mind is his aggressiveness. He’s durable. It’s hard to get Riley off the field,” Ferentz said. “The other thing is he’s just a very aggressive player. I feel a little bit like I did about Bryan Bulaga with Riley. Clearly, his best football is ahead of him,” the 14th-year Iowa coach said.
Ferentz compares him to another former Hawkeye still working in the NFL, Marshal Yanda.
“Marshal was here for two years. Riley could have come back for another year. I fully understand why he chose to go out. Looks like a real smart decision at this point,” Ferentz said.
“The real plus is whoever gets him is going to see better football from him with each month in the future.”
Ferentz expects all three seniors who started in the Hawkeye offensive line a year ago – a group that includes Adam Gettis and Markus Zusevics in addition to Reiff – to be drafted.
He sees Gettis as a “sleeper pick,” someone who will reward whatever team selects him with a good return on their investment.
Ferentz doesn’t believe that the injury that shortened Zusevics’ stay at the NFL Combine will impact how teams view him.
Zusevics underwent surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, a procedure that Ferentz compared to one Broderick Binns underwent a year ago.
He said that will the rehab period may prevent Zusevics from participating in mini-camps held shortly after the draft, he would expect him to be healthy and ready to go when preseason camps begin later this summer.

The Bubble bursts

steve — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:20:53 +0000

On Friday, one part of Hayden Fry’s legacy on the University of Iowa campus will no longer be part of the skyline in the vicinity of Kinnick Stadium.
As work continues on a new indoor practice facility west of the UI Recreation Building, the university is preparing to deflate and remove “the bubble,” the indoor practice facility that has been used by Hawkeye athletes since 1985.
The area where the bubble sits will become a parking lot as room is cleared for a new University of Iowa Children’s Hospital which will be built on the location of a current parking ramp east of Kinnick Stadium.
The air-inflated bubble is scheduled to be deflated at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, according to a university release.
The facility has served a number of Iowa programs over the years, and while current football coach Kirk Ferentz prefers to conduct most of his workouts outdoors, the bubble has provided a safe haven from inclement weather and helped in bowl preparations.
The Hawkeyes have Fry to thank for the warmth and dry conditions it has provided for more than 25 years.
Fry had been promised an indoor facility of some sort when he agreed to coach at Iowa but five years into his tenure, no progress had been made and institutional funds were tight.
Fry never officially told an administrator that he would leave if a facility was not constructed, but the savvy Texan wasn’t bashful about mentioning that the thought had crossed his mind.
His name popped up for a couple of coaching vacancies, including one in sunny Southern California.
At the time, Iowa was beginning a long run of postseason bowl berths and the thought of losing a coach who had awakened a program which had been dormant for more than two decades was enough to energize the fan base.
University administrators were equally determined that it wasn’t time to be spending money on a practice facility when the rest of the university was coping with budget problems, even if outside dollars were raised to pay for it.
Then-UI President James O. Freedman eventually reversed his initial decision and in 1984, the Iowa Board of Regents approved plans for “the bubble.”
Before its construction, Iowa’s football team had prepared for a couple of bowl trips on borrowed artificial turf that was placed over tennis courts at the UI Recreation Building, leaving Iowa City weeks in advance of the game for the bowl site and more traditional practice fields.
The fabric on the bubble that will come down on Friday is not original. It has been replaced twice because of weather-related situation.s
A heavy snow collapsed the facility in December, 1990, forcing the Hawkeyes to leave earlier than scheduled for the Rose Bowl.
In June of 2008, a wind storm ripped part of the facility’s fabric and brought it to the ground.
The facility was repaired in time to be reflated for fall practices in Fry’s final season on the job in Iowa City.
“There have been times when it has been a good benefit for us and it served this program well for a long time,” Ferentz said. “It was money well spent and we feel that way about the facility that is going up next door right now, too.”

Common-sense approach

steve — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:14:52 +0000

Any of the three trophies that Iowa and Iowa State football fans can now choose between as the replacement for the Cy-Hawk Trophy are better than the cornball idea that fans quickly and loudly rejected after it was unveiled at last year’s Iowa State Fair by officials with Iowa Corn, the title sponsor for the Cy-Hawk Series.
While a quality piece of art, the initial proposed trophy that featured folks holding a bountiful basket of goods while surrounded by a field of corn failed to represent the spirit of the rivalry between the state’s two FBS programs on nearly every level.
Realizing their error, the trophy was quickly scuttled and a temporary trophy was presented to the Cyclones following their triple-overtime win over the Hawkeyes at Jack Trice Stadium last fall.
The thing fell apart before Iowa State players could cart it off the field but by then organizers had set up a way for fans to suggest a replacement.
More than 500 people did, including a number which fell into themes and three of those concepts have been selected as finalists.
One features the mascots of the two schools, one features a football coming out of a corn husk and the third features a football on top of a base filled with corn stalks.
Drawings of all three can be found through a link at iowacorncyhawkseries.com, where fans can also cast their vote through April 30.
All three choices present a more common-sense approach to what a college football trophy should be compared to the predecessor that was loudly rejected by fans last fall.

On the line

steve — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:11:24 +0000

Growth has been the objective for a young Iowa defensive line throughout spring practices and the most recent depth chart continues to show a blend of fresh faces with some experience.
As Dominic Alvis and Carl Davis continue to rehab with an eye toward returns to full activity in June, the current depth chart is topped by two seniors and two redshirt freshmen.
Senior tackle Steve Bigach and end Joe Gaglione are joined by redshirt freshmen Darian Cooper at tackle and Riley McMinn at end at the top of the chart.
Back-ups listed today include sophomore Mike Hardy and redshirt freshman Melvin Spears at the end positions and redshirt freshman Dean Tsopanides and sophomore Louis Trinca-Pasat at tackle.
Both line coach Reese Morgan and defensive coordinator Phil Parker have said positions remain fluid and indicate that Iowa is likely to rotate as many as eight defensive linemen when the dust settles this fall.
Parker said today that Iowa has made progress on the front four during the first half of its spring drills.
“First couple of days, they were just learning. I think right now they’re starting to understand the defense a little better,” Parker said.
Parker indicated that Gaglione has been solid at left end and he likes the progress Spears has made over the past 10 days.
“There are some other guys inside who are doing a good job, too,” Parker said. “Louis is doing an excellent job. Cooper has really improved. It’s a learning process just getting out there. A lot of them are young, and trying to understand the footwork and their assignments right now. A lot of them are showing everybody that they’re willing to learn and giving great effort so we’re happy with that.”

Making strides

steve — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:16:08 +0000

Iowa receivers coach Erik Campbell likes what he is seeing from several Hawkeyes as they work their way toward the open spring practice one week from today.
Campbell said that sophomore Kevonte Martin-Manley is playing more like a veteran and that Keenan Davis continues to embrace more a leadership role as the Hawkeyes work to replace record-setting Marvin McNutt.
“The guy who is really starting to emerge right now is Kevonte,” Campbell said. “He got his feet wet last year as a redshirt freshman, but now you can see that experience start to pay off. You see him starting to look like a veteran receiver, doing things that a guy with that kind of experience has shown.”
Campbell said that expectations for Davis are higher this season because of his starting experience from a year ago and because he is one of few seniors in the receiving corps.
“He’s a veteran guy and because he is the most experienced guy, you expect more from him,” Campbell said. “At the same time, he’s learning the new system and that slows you down a bit, but I think by the end of spring, going into training camp, he’ll be full speed ahead and we’ll start to see the finished product.”

Profitable venture

steve — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:30:46 +0000

The outcome wasn’t exactly what Iowa desired – the Hawkeyes lost 31-14 to Oklahoma – but everything wasn’t a loss for Iowa at the 2011 Insight Bowl.
The Hawkeyes made a slim profit over expenses for the game, spending a total of $3,808 less than the $1,825,000 the Big Ten allowed the Hawkeyes to spend on the bowl trip.
Documents released today by the university indicate that Iowa spent $1,821,192 on its 10-day trip in December to Arizona.
The majority of that money went to cover transportation, meals and lodging costs.
Iowa spent $650,689 for transportation on its bowl trip and it took $649,550 to house and feed the Hawkeye bowl entourage during its stay in the Phoenix area.
Iowa also spent $376,992 to cover the cost of 5,589 unsold tickets from its allotment of 11,000 tickets the bowl required Iowa to purchase.
The total number of tickets purchased through the Iowa athletic ticket office was still 1,156 higher than the 4,433 tickets purchased through Iowa a year earlier when the Hawkeyes played Missouri in the 2010 Insight Bowl.