Video & Transcript: Kirk Ferentz Discusses Past, Future of Advisory Committee

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa Football coach Kirk Ferentz spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time since announcing last month that he was moving on from his first advisory committee of former players to a reshaped model.

Here's what he had to say:

Kirk Ferentz

I'll take a minute just to touch on the advisory group. A lot has been said and written on that.

I think all of you are aware, 18 months ago we went through some turbulent times. My first response was to reach out to former players, Black and White, and former coaches here, people that coached in the program, just to get a better feel what our situation was and the areas that we need to address.

One big takeaway from the whole thing was that there's an opportunity. That's one benefit of being somewhere 20 plus years. There are a lot of downsides to it, but one benefit is we've got pretty good continuity in this program. It really made me aware that there's another resource out there available, and that's really my rationality for forming that committee, that advisory group.

The bottom line was they were a resource, period, and will continue to be, so that was my goal and purpose, and that's really what they've been.

As you may have noticed, I didn't publicly announce all the members, haven't shared all the names in the group, and that's just the way I choose to operate. Same thing can be said about conversations I've had with members. Not unlike any conversations I had with our players internally here. I just don't think that's necessarily best for public consumption.

When I do talk to folks, I try to give them the confidence that they're going to be speaking confidentially, and it's hopefully a two-way street.

Basically in a nutshell, we met very frequently at the onset and then scaled back the meetings. Over the course of 2020 we did meet frequently, I think it was weekly I believe or every other week in 2020, and then by last summer really cut the number of meetings back.

As the path has moved forward, we've just kind of cut back on that, and the bottom line is this: As the season went on, it became clear to me that it was really time that maybe we reshape the committee, the people involved. They've given a lot of time and a lot of their efforts to the program, cutting time out of their schedules, so in my mind it was time to reshape things a little bit, and I'm not quite sure what that's going to look like. I'm still formulating some thoughts on that, but we'll get that to where we need to.

It's going to continue to be a resource for me. That's just something that is going to be very valuable, very helpful. The bottom line is this: I'm extremely appreciative to each and every one of the guys, and there were 10 members, for their contributions, their time. Like I said, it was really significant time. A lot of really positive feedback and helpful things.

I think one thing about when you're in charge of things, if you're in a leadership position, one thing you're very fearful of or leery of is the possibility for blind spots, so the more people that you can talk to, the more areas to probe of the program and things that we do on a daily basis, I think the better, and there's no better group in my mind than players that have been through the program, people that have been through the program.

Again, a high percentage of them played in the last 20 plus years, but there are those or there was at least one key member that played here years ago but has a real good unique perspective on what it is we do on a daily basis.

All information is really helpful, and again, I'm just very, very appreciative of that group.

Q. Regarding the advisory committee, might as well ask these early. There was maybe some inconsistencies on an email versus a letter that you sent regarding whether it's disbanded or changed, altered. Can you kind of address what maybe you meant in the email that you sent, that it was going to be disbanding and what changed to make you want to reform it and adapt it to a different type of committee?

KIRK FERENTZ: We've been in existence, whatever it is, 16, 18 months, and a lot of hours spent. Probably in fairness to the guys on the committee, maybe a chance to give them a reprieve and get some fresh faces. I'm not quite sure where we'll go, and there may be some repeat members if they volunteer and they're open to it. But I think it's like anything, sometimes a little change is good, and I want guys that are willing and not tired or fatigued.

We'll go from there, but just some thoughts I have right now are perhaps some guys a little bit more recent vintage, a little bit closer to it. I think Jordan Lomax was the most recent graduate on the committee. Maybe some guys that have more direct ties to this profession, be it college football, pro foot-ball. It's a little bit of a challenge for pro football players, and we had one or two active guys on it initially, but their time commitment just didn't allow them to stay with it.

Those are some things I want to explore. This is a time right now to think about football, time to think about a lot of things, and this is one we'll give thought to before we really kind of formulate things. I want to get some opinions. There's one person I reached out to back in December who was on the committee, just let them know in December that I'd really like to have a chance to sit down with him and really have a thorough discussion with him and get some of his perspectives, takeaways from the last 16, 18 months and maybe some of his advice, too, about moving forward because he's a guy that I really have tremendous respect for and he's got a wealth of knowledge in this arena on a lot of levels.

That's kind of my thought process, and I pretty much in December had a little bit of time to think about things.

Q. Could you see any Hayden Fry era players on this committee?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, and like I said, one of the members was pre-Coach Fry actually. I'm open to any-body. We did have one of Coach Fry's better players on, and he had some issues, too, just with time commitment.

But I don't think we're in that stage, and that's also part of my thought is I don't know if it's going to be quarterly or whatever, but still want to do those -- keep those guys close to the program and maybe make it a little smaller so those guys can be a little bit more mobile, too, and be on campus a little bit more actively.

Q. Do you have a timeline for when you'd like to have this all figured out?

KIRK FERENTZ: When I've got it in my mind, that's when we're going to do it. There's that funny commercial somebody had about 20 years ago, where the guy takes some time to think and the guy says, what makes you think. None of us think enough, and that's one of our biggest challenges, especially in season, which is part of the reason I held off until January. We've got a lot going on.

My first commitment is still to our players, and that's the work of the committee is to make this a better environment for our players that are here. Those are the guys I'm most committed to.

Our job is to give them a great environment. Hopefully when they leave here, they graduate and have a great experience and maximize their football and then go fly and run, run on your own. We're still here to support them, but that's our goal.

Q. I asked David Porter the same thing: Could this have been communicated better on both ends? Do you think that's fair or do you think that's not fair?

KIRK FERENTZ: Well, everything could probably be communicated better. I don't have any regrets about my communication. I haven't heard any feedback, negative feedback from the people, and I've reached out to a couple guys individually. But I think the guys all kind of knew -- I don't want to say all, but a lot of guys knew where we were heading on this thing. I think they had a good sense of it.

One thing about life, everybody has opinions, and it doesn't make them facts, but everybody has opinions about things. Smart people can decipher through and try to figure out what's factual.

Q. What's your reaction to David's recommendation that after 18 months that he felt like it was best if you stepped down? That's heavy.

KIRK FERENTZ: Well, it's not heavy, it's an opinion, and obviously everybody is entitled to their opinions. I'm not thinking in those terms, if that's what you're asking. Not even remotely.

Q. How do you react to something like that?

KIRK FERENTZ: I didn't have much reaction. I read it and that's his opinion. There's not much to react to other than I have a different opinion. My intention is like long-term and big picture, not short-term. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion.

Q. It's not alarming that he feels that way?

KIRK FERENTZ: No, it's his opinion.

Q. Or why he feels that way?

KIRK FERENTZ: No, it's his opinion.

Q. He also said he considers you still a friend and a mentor.

KIRK FERENTZ: But he thinks I should retire apparently, right? So we have a difference of opinion. I'm not thinking about that right now, but I respect that. I've got no problem with that.

Q. With your assistants and the committee, it seems like things kind of went sideways with that meeting for some people.

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, I was actually slightly late to the meeting because I was at a visitation. It was on a Monday. But I think there were -- let's just say everybody wasn't on the same page. I'll just go back to what I just said a minute ago, we've got a really, I think, talented, really capable group of coaches here in this building right now, and I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about our coaches, and as good as I think they are football wise, I think they're better human beings and people.

I'm not challenging, but I'd encourage you to ask our players about who they work with on a daily basis, and I would also encourage you if you can find out who's on the committee, talk to everybody on the committee, not just an individual, and see what they think. That would be my answer to that. We'll let the record stand where it may.