Ferentz: It's Time To Listen, And Change
Change, Kirk Ferentz said, “is really needed right now.”
And the Iowa football coach knows he has to be a part of that change.
In the wake of national anger and unrest following the death of George Floyd, Ferentz realized he had to speak up, and even learned from the way he addressed his team.
“I think all of us would have hoped we would have come a little further than maybe what we’ve witnessed and been exposed to,” Ferentz said. “That’s certainly disappointing.
“Part of coaching is really being a teacher. And football is prominent for us on game days, during the week, all those types of things. But what we do goes well beyond that, in any program that’s done right. It’s all about players being educated, whether it’s with their course work, and real-life events. This is certainly part of that topic, for sure.”
Ferentz sent a voicemail to players and staff over the weekend, then had a video conference with his players on Monday night.
Ferentz said he “debated back and forth” about releasing a statement on Saturday morning as protests and anger grew around the nation. He doesn’t have any social media accounts, but he found out from some of his players in one-on-one discussions on Monday that they thought he should have said something sooner.
“One thing I’ve learned from my players is the value of maybe putting something out there on social media to show support,” he said “In retrospect, a lesson I’ve learned is how important that is to our players.
“Sometimes it’s too easy to just put something on paper and throw it out there. To me it’s more important to deliver the message face-to-face, if you will. But we’re learning. That’s one thing I heard loud and clear.”
What Ferentz wants is a unified team, and that was clear when he was asked if he had any thoughts about players protesting by taking a knee during the national anthem the way San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players did in 2016.
Iowa players have always stood together on the sidelines during the national anthem, something Ferentz stressed when asked about Kaepernick four years ago.
On Wednesday, Ferentz said whatever the Hawkeyes do, he would want it done as a team.
“We want them to be uniform, whether it is their uniform, or the way they do things, the way they conduct themselves. To me, there’s a certain game-day protocol, if you will,” he said. “In conjunction with that, I’ve always kind of felt like the sports arena is not a time to shine a light on an individual cause or an individual thing. No matter what the topic might be, that’s kind of been my approach.
“As we move forward right now, I think it’s important that we’re all together. But, whether it’s appropriate or not in a sports venue, that’s a discussion to be had. And certainly when we come back, we’ll talk about that as a team as well. I guess if I were to frame it out, I guess my goal, or my hopes, as a coach, is whatever we decide to do, and if it’s pertaining to that particular thing, I would just like to see our team to be together. Everybody’s taking a knee, or everybody’s at attention. Either way. The big thing is to be together, to me, on game day and present a uniform appearance as a football team.”
Ferentz said during a position-group meeting this week, one of the assistant coaches asked players what they were told by their parents to do if they were stopped by police.
“There were two very different perspectives on it, as you might very well imagine,” he said. “But it was a really good exercise for all of our players to realize that there are different sets of rules. … There’s something inherently wrong with that.”
Ferentz returned to Iowa’s football facility this week after 10 weeks of being away during the closure of the campus and its facilities because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time away, Ferentz said, he watched more television than he had in years.
What he saw, he said, was “a lot of shouting.”
Now, he says, it’s time to listen.
“Football is important to us, but what’s going on in real life certainly impacts all of us,” he said. “I think the important thing is everybody in our program — every one of our coaches, our support staff, our players, even our fans realize that change is really needed right now, and it’s in our hands to try to do something with it. I think, certainly, if anybody has been paying attention over the last several days, I’m guessing a lot of perspectives have changed, and that’s really the first step to changing mindsets.
“And that clearly has to be done right now.”
