History Has Taught Kirk Ferentz an Iowa Quarterback Lesson Before

When you have been around the game as long as Kirk Ferentz, who is truly the longest-tenured head coach in college football, there aren't too many things you haven't seen in your career with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Ferentz has been through quarterback battles before. He knows what it means for the quarterbacks, the rest of the team, and the coaching staff, both physically and, more importantly, mentally.

With Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown both set to play on Saturday, history tells us Kirk Ferentz is looking to settle this situation sooner rather than later and stick with one guy.

Kirk Ferentz relies on past history for current success

Iowa, a school not known for its overly strong quarterback play, has had its quarterback battles in the past. With Ferentz being at the helm for nearly 30 years, it's an inevitability that he has had to decide on quarterbacks before.

Heading into the Week 1 showdown against Northern Illinois, Ferentz reminisced on a previous quarterback competition from the 2008 season, when he let two talents battle it out on the field before sticking with Ricky Stanzi.

"To really say one is this far in front of the other, it's not fair at this point. We'll probably have more evidence after Saturday, but I think we probably want to keep an open mind, too, and let things play out. If it's obvious, it's obvious. If not, we'll just keep riding with it.

"I did look it up. Back in '08, I keep talking about that reference, and both guys had equal number of starts after four games. Then we finally made the decision to go with Ricky. Lo and behold, he lost the next two weeks. We lost, okay, with him starting at quarterback. I think we averaged 15 points a game.

"Nonetheless, we stuck with him, and it worked out. It was as the evidence mounted, we made a decision and went with it," Ferentz said about how he could decide the quarterback battle.

Iowa can't afford to flip-flop on the quarterback for too long

While the plan Ferentz referenced above did work out, the Hawkeyes don't have the luxury of letting this quarterback battle play out through four games.

Week 4 is a road trip to Michigan to open up Big Ten play. Iowa needs its defined starter entering that game to let them play with confidence, command the offense, and have the rest of the roster comfortable with the decision.

Be it Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown, Kirk Ferentz's bigger task is to commit to them and stick with them through the good and bad, both of which are bound to happen.

Fortunately, once Iowa has its guy, Ferentz is faithful, sometimes to a fault, to them, but the proof is in the pudding, and that commitment often breeds success.

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