Black Heart Gold Pants

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It: Gary Barta Has Some Answers

2012-02-10T18:00:49Z

Iowa's Athletic Director Gary Barta met with members of the media yesterday and took questions on the open coaching positions, Mika'il McCall and the Big Ten's playoff proposal.

Barta says next week is when interviews begin for Iowa's openings on the football coaching staff. The lone opening on the defensive side is linebacker coach and LeVar Woods is thought to be the leader in the clubhouse. An official announcement naming a new LB coach could come next week. The openings on the offensive side could take a little longer.

Per Barta,

"[Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz] decided his best option was to promote on the defensive coordinator [Phil Parker]," Barta said. "Now that's done, he [Ferentz] turns his attention to the two assistant coaches first, not the offensive coordinator. We have a process on campus, and football follows that process just like everyone else does."

About the length of time, Barta adds,

"Whether it's hiring a coach or an administrator, we have a process of approval we have to go through," Barta said. "We have to advertise the position a certain number of days and we work with the campus human resources and have done that throughout."

Marc Morehouse points out that the process is same whether Iowa hires from within or from outside the program.

Some other tidbits from Morehouse's piece:

Barta wants to fight for a post season tournament game for the men's hoops team
Barta wants to fight to retain the Big Ten's connection with the Rose Bowl
Barta is for the seven win minimum for bowl eligibility
Mika'il McCall wasn't suspended for his "strait bullshit" Facebook post

Barta wouldn't disclose why McCall was suspended but added,

"We do not kick off or suspend student-athletes in any sport for a Facebook posting or a Twitter," Barta said. "We have conversations with them about it."

Iowa added that the Athletic Department has "social media guidelines" and that student athlete activity is monitored. Barta concluded with,

"Since I've been here, we have not removed someone from the athletic department or from a team for something they said in social media."

Sally Mason says that Iowa isn't "hiding behind anything." Marcus Coker, like McCall, was suspended and decided to transfer from Iowa. Mason and Iowa officials will not release information about the investigation regarding Coker and cites the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Mason adds,

"One of the things we pride ourselves on is that students have a right to privacy,"

Mason also mentions this,

releasing student information protected by FERPA could result in the school losing all of its federal funding - about $400million.

Long story short, Mason doesn't want to get sued.

After the jump, hoops and more links.

(H/T AustinTxHawk Hawkeye Report Off Topic)

Well, another craptacular performance on the road for the Iowa Men's basketball team is in the books. Northwestern couldn't miss from beyond the arc, same story, different day. The final was Northwester 83, Iowa 64. Aaron White turned in his second double-double of his career finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Hawkeye ladie's hoops team got it done for their fourth win in a row. Iowa defeated Minnesota 75-58 in Carver last night. Morgan Johnson poured in 23 points and joined Iowa's 1,000 career points club.

Iowa announced an increase in football ticket prices for 2012. The increase to general public season ticket prices is $2 per game ($388 per ticket). Student ticket prices remain the same as last season. Each game is individually priced, for the per game breakdown read here. Renewal applications begin in March, single game tickets go on sale in June.

Fran-Graphs, Northwestern

2012-02-10T16:01:20Z

[Video still credit: BTN.com]

The game in brief: Iowa got absolutely murdered, giving up 83 points in a relatively slow 60-possession game, allowing 13 three-pointers and an almost unheard of 70% effective field goal percentage while turning the ball over one out of every three possessions. And all this to a team that only played six players significant minutes. This was Iowa's worst defensive performance of the year in terms of points per possession; worse than Indiana, worse than Michigan State, worse than Creighton. The only bright spots were that Aaron White played another outstanding all-around game, scoring 17 points on just 10 shots and grabbing 12 rebounds, that Matt Gatens had a good shooting game, and that the team as a whole actually shot very well, finishing with a 58.9% eFG%. In a normal game, that kind of shooting would have been more than enough to win, but this was not a normal game.

Northwestern is basically Iowa's kryptonite, an excellent three-point shooting team that spreads the floor, passes intelligently, and moves constantly. They had Iowa both coming and going, generating excellent spacing on the perimeter and then cutting to the basket whenever Iowa overplayed. MVP of the game would probably go to the Wildcats' impressive freshman Dave Sobolewski, who took advantage of the clean looks he was getting and finished with 23 points on just eight shots and put up an astounding 106% eFG% thanks to 3-3 on threes and 4-5 on twos. But really you could give the award to any one of the Wildcat starters. They are a very good shooting team, and their offense worked like a machine to generate open looks. Four players finished with three three-pointers, and 22 of their 27 field goals were assisted. That's mighty impressive.

It was a blood-bath, and most Iowa fans were probably prepared for that (although perhaps not to that insane degree). Northwestern is a very solid team, especially with the addition of Sobolewski. Looking at their schedule, they only have two losses that could really be described as "bad": their 23-point defeat at Minnesota and their 20-point defeat at Wisconsin. Other than that, they've lost to #8 Baylor, #21 Creighton, #2 Ohio State, and then a trio of very close games (they lost to Illinois, Michigan and Purdue by a combined five points). It may be of comfort for Iowa fans to know that this Northwestern team is truly an elite offensive unit: 10th in the country in Ken Pomeroy's offensive efficiency rankings. If the game felt similar to the Creighton, Indiana or Michigan State games, it might be because those are all elite offensive teams (#6, #3 and #17 in KenPom's offensive efficiency ratings).

The only really surprising thing was how much Iowa struggled against Northwestern's 1-3-1 zone. Bryce Cartwright really seemed flustered by the zone, committing five turnovers and struggling to make good decisions all night. Cartwright does best when he can use his speed to get around defenders, but Northwestern's zone negated that strength. He seemed to want to dribble through the zone, when the best approach seemed to be passing quickly around the zone. To be fair to him, though, his small stature made it difficult for him to throw passes over the defenders at the top of the zone, making dribbling through it his best option. The Hawks shot well when they managed to get shots off, but the fact that Northwestern forced them into their highest turnover/possession number of the season meant that they had fewer chances to shoot than they should have.

But enough about this game. I would like to zoom out and look at the question of what, exactly, makes Iowa so prone to these defensive meltdowns. The topic has been on my mind ever since someone brought up the question in the comments about what kind of team gave Iowa the most trouble. The commenter (whose name I apologize for forgetting) suggested that it was teams with dominant centers. My initial reaction was that this wasn't quite right: Ohio State and Michigan State both had quality big men and gave Iowa trouble, but they give everyone trouble. My impression was that Iowa struggled most against teams with excellent three-point shooting, but I wasn't sure, so I decided to do some research.

My basic approach was as follows: calculate the points/possession differential* in each game, then compare that to a variety of team and opponent statistics to see what factors correlate the most with wins and losses. This isn't a conclusive proof of what causes Iowa to win or lose (correlation is not causation and all that), but it does at least give us a few suggestions.

*For example, against Northwestern, Iowa scored 1.07 points per possession and Northwestern scored 1.39 points per possession for a differential (from Iowa's point of view) of -.32 points per possession. The advantage of looking at differential on a possession basis is that it allows us to compare fast-paced games (e.g. Indiana) to slow-paced games (e.g. Northwestern).

So what we are looking at are comparisons like the following:

It looks like there's a fairly strong correlation between efficiency differential (on the y-axis) and opponent thee-point shooting (on the x-axis), and it turns out there is: the two statistics have a correlation coefficient of -.62 over the course of the season. A perfect correlation, where the two statistics were related in some exact linear way, would have a coefficient of 1 (or -1), so -.62 represents a fairly strong relationship. Not perfect, but it appears that the better Iowa's opponents shoots from three, the lower the scoring differential. I didn't have time to put together graphs for all the statistics, but the following table lists the correlation coefficients for a variety of tempo-free statistics for Iowa and their opponents for their games so far this year:

You can see some pretty predictable correlations, at least in terms of direction: the better Iowa shoots (eFG%), the higher the efficiency differential from Iowa's point of view, and vice-versa for their opponents; the better Iowa does on the offensive glass (OR%), the better they do in the game, and the more they turn the ball over (TO%), the worse they do. And so on. But what's interesting is the strength of the relationships. The two statistics most strongly correlated with Iowa's efficiency differential are opponent's effective field goal percentage and opponent's three-point percentage. The relationships are much stronger than that of the various rebounding statistics, block statistics, or even Iowa's own shooting.

It isn't conclusive, but it suggests that my intuitions were correct: Iowa struggles with teams that shoot well, especially from the outside, more than they struggle against teams that rebound well (i.e. teams with strong interior play). It's possible, of course, that opponents shoot well from outside because they have strong interior play, but my impression is that this hasn't been the case. Iowa has had trouble with a few interior players (e.g. Jared Sullinger, Cody Zeller, that guy from Campbell), but those were all games where opponents didn't shoot the three particularly well (Campbell made four threes, Ohio State made eight, Indiana made four). And they arguably have played their best against a team that is very strong inside but weak from the perimeter: Minnesota. Their troubles seem to revolve around teams that can shoot accurately from deep. Iowa just has no idea how to defend them.

Earlier in the year, my theory about Iowa's poor defense was that their lack of interior strength forced them to help more to the interior and thus left the perimeter exposed, but as the season has gone on, that just hasn't seemed to fit the facts. Why did teams not post up against Iowa more, why did they take so few mid-range shots? Then it hit me: it's about the perimeter, it's always been about the perimeter. Iowa's problem is not that they can't defend the post; they're actually not terrible at that. Zach McCabe is a very strong interior defender, Melsahn Basabe is a decent shot-blocker, and Andrew Brommer and Devon Archie can both provide some useful minutes if (and only if) they are matched up against true post players. But on the perimeter, Iowa is filled with very weak defenders. And it all comes down, I think, to two things: short arms and slow feet. I haven't done any measurements, but my impression is that almost all Iowa's perimeter defenders, save for Devyn Marble and Aaron White, have short arms: McCabe, Gatens, Cartwright, Oglesby, May. That means it is very difficult for them to contest shots in any meaningful way without getting very tight on their men. If they do go close enough, they leave themselves open to easy drives to the basket. Combine that with some slow feet (I'm mainly thinking McCabe here, but even Gatens, May and Oglesby don't have the best lateral quickness), and you can see why it's difficult for Iowa to contest shots.

This seems to fit with what I've seen. Many times Iowa seems to be in good position to contest three-pointers, but their contests just seem to have no effect. My theory is that Iowa manages to get their bodies close to shooters, but their short arms don't get anywhere near enough to actually alter shots. This kind of physical measurement-as-destiny argument is, to be sure, a little simplistic, but I think it explains why Iowa seemingly gets torched again and again by three-point shooting, even by teams that aren't usually very good at three-point shooting. Most college players can shoot very well when they have clear looks at the basket, and Iowa seems to specialize in providing unobstructed views.

This theory also explains why Iowa struggled so mightily against Northwestern. The Wildcats do an excellent job of spacing teams out and generating good looks from the perimeter. Without outstanding length and excellent speed to shrink the court and alter some of those shots, any defense is going to struggle to limit a squad with four (and sometimes five) legitimate three-point threats on the court at any time. Note that the only teams that really crushed Northwestern are teams with multiple long defenders: Baylor, Ohio State, and Minnesota.

Anyway, that's my theory for Iowa's defensive struggles. Not interior weakness (all jokes about scare-centers aside), but a lack of length on the perimeter and, to a lesser extent, a lack of lateral quickness. I'm not sure if there's any magical strategic solution to these fundamental weaknesses, unfortunately, apart from really pressing the opponent on the perimeter and hoping that the center (Basabe or White or Archie) can block shots when teams escape contain. That was essentially Iowa's strategy against Indiana, by the way, and we all know how that turned out. The unfortunate fact may be that Iowa just needs to wait until they can recruit a few more perimeter defenders with the necessary length and quickness. That's one reason it's so disappointing that Anthony Hubbard was unable to play for the Hawks this year. He would have provided excellent lateral quickness on defense and had the leaping ability and length to contest shots on the perimeter. He also would have been a great help on the boards, and scoring inside, and penetrating... Sigh... what could have been.

Ken O'Keefe Goes to Florida

2012-02-10T13:50:37Z

The Florida Everglades, yesterday

Thank you for joining me here, Brandon

ya sure coach

Aren't you wondering why we're here?

naw man this is fun

You're having fun?

i like airboats

Well, we're here because I tho--

and turtles

I beg your pardon?

i like turtles

...

OK then. We're here because I'm your new coach, and I feel like your previous training was lacking a certain component.

The receivers on this team lack mental toughness.

you mean like science?

What?

science hurts my brain

I don't think I follow--

are we gonna cut up a turtle? because i don't want to cut up a turtle. i like...

like turtles. Yes, yes, I know. No, Brandon, we are not dissecting a turtle.

Look over there.

/points behind Brandon Marshall

GROWL

Wrestle that crocodile, Brandon.

pretty sure thats a alligator coach

Fine. Whatever. Wrestle it.

um...

no.

/runs away from alligator

You can't outrun a gator in the swamp, Brandon! You have no choice but to...

Brandon?

Aw, damn it.

This was a lot easier with Christensen and Vandenberg.

Okay, replace the ball with another alligator.

AAAAHHHH

/chomps at Brandon Marshall's hand

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

/sits up in bed

/takes a deep breath

aw man what a dream

Are you OK, Brandon?

yah just had a nightmare

Do you need anything?

naw just gonna grab some water

/turns on light

aw hey coach oh keefe

...

Wait, you're not freaked out that I'm here?

naw coach oh keefe

your staying wit me while they find you a house, remember?

silly coach oh keefe

I miss college already.

We're Talkin' Basketball: Iowa vs. Northwestern Basketball LIVEGAMEOPENTHREAD

2012-02-10T01:30:11Z

We previewed this game a few days ago (after a fashion), but now it's time to get down and dirty with the game itself. Iowa's trying for their first three-game winning streak of the Matt Gatens Era, as well as their first win in Evanston since 2008. They've also lost three in a row to our jNW oppressors. The loser of this game also probably has their (already very-thin) NCAA Tournament hopes permanently dashed (barring a miracle run in the Big Ten Tournament, at least). So yeah: there are some stakes here.

The game's on ESPNU at 8pm CT.

The usual rules of open threads apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no politics, no slurs, and no douchebaggery. Go Hawks.

KSG's Recap of Saturday's 86-87 Reunion Festivities

2012-02-09T17:33:00Z

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For those of you who were unable to make it to Saturday's game, it was a pretty special day. Some of you had said things about the commemorative program being sold out, so I scanned the cover. If you haven't read the articles on the history of the players from the 86-87 team, head on over to Hawkcentral http://hawkcentral.com/2012/01/28/iowas-run-to-no-1-where-are-players-on-the-1986-87-team-now/ and Dochterman's page http://thegazette.com/category/blogs/docs-office/ and check them out. It's really great stuff, and some of the Hawkcentral stuff was included in the program.

One of my earliest (and fondest) childhood memories was of a family vacation when I was about 5 years old. My parents, brother, and I went to Iowa City. Dad wanted to take us to Carver, but, being it was the summer, it was locked. A custodian let us in and allowed us to go all the way down onto the floor. Even at that age, I knew it was someplace special. ( I'm sure my brother's enthusiasm might have had something to do with it too). Similarly to what ICHawk had to say in his Fanpost, Iowa Basketball needs to be there for the 5-year old boys (and girls) out there too.

The 86-87 team was the first team I remember watching on TV with my Dad. I was five when they played. My Dad had never been to a game at Carver. It was a spur of the moment trip (we bought tickets on Stubhub on Friday morning), and we decided to make the six hour drive to Iowa City. Seeing my childhood heroes was going to be totally worth it.

We got to the game about an hour early, so we waited in the North concourse to get out of the snow. We weren't the only ones with this idea; Adam Woodbury was waiting out there too. The former players and Dr. Tom were all in the newly renovated banquet area, so we got the pleasure of seeing them talking with the media before they walked into Carver.

At 12:30, the doors opened, and we immediately got in Tom Davis's line. They were giving away reprints of the KRNA "GQ" poster to get signed. Davis signed my poster, and I asked him why he didn't sign it "Dr. Tom"--he said that he's never signed anything "Dr." because people would probably ask him for a prescription! He and Les Jepsen laughed pretty hard about his joke.

Everybody was surprised to see the next man in line... Bruce Pearl! I asked if we would see him in the student section. He answered with, "You might.... but I'm leaving my shirt on." Regardless of what people think of him after the Tennessee ordeal (and the Deon Thomas thing), it was obvious why he's a good recruiter. He makes an instant connection and is very personable. Also of note, he signed the poster with "Go Hawks!" below his name-- being the only one that wrote anything other than his name and number. Also seated at the table was grey-teamer, Sam Schweiger. (Sadly, we missed BJ. After seeing photos online, it looks like he set up shop at Dr. Tom's table after we passed through).

We then moved into the next autograph line. Seated there were Michael Morgan, grey-teamer Pat Roach, Al Lorenzen (the "Vanilla Gorilla"), and "Sir Jamalot" Gerry Wright. Sir Jamalot looks fit, and I believe his claim that he can still windmill dunk. Roy Marble rounded out the table. He didn't seem real thrilled about all the attention, but still smiled as he signed. From accounts from other fans, it sounded like he was reluctant to write the book too (maybe because he wants the attention to be on Roy Devin?). I told him that he was great in "The Journey." He replied with, "It was real. It was all real." We ran out of time before we could get into any other lines.

I thought it was a classy move by Fran and the current Hawkeyes to come out take in the introductions of the 86-87 team. Hopefully, they got a feeling for what Hawkeye Basketball can become again.

As has been mentioned in previous posts, Dr. Tom's ovation was tremendous. It built through his whole introduction and nearly drowned out the PA announcer. Like others have said, it seemed the crowd is (rightfully) trying to make up for the way he was forced out.

Shortly after halftime, I decided to pick up Roy Marble's book, and stopped by the Hawk Shop. Al Lorenzen was up there asking for smaller size Gatens jerseys for his kids. After reading Dochterman's article on the team, it turns out his wife had their second child on Friday, so he's starting them really young! I thought about that... how cool would it be to be Gatens, a life-long Hawk fan, having a Hawkeye great buying your jersey?

The game, while a great result, really was secondary. The current Hawks fed off the atmosphere, got out to a hot start, and coasted through the second half.

We got home about 11:00 and were pretty exhausted. It was a special day for that team, and a special day for my Dad and I. Saturday, Carver-Hawkeye Arena was my Graceland.

Iowa accidentally hires vending machine as quarterbacks coach

2012-02-09T17:30:08Z

IOWA CITY (AP)

Due to what coaches are calling a "communications snafu", Iowa's football team hired a hot drink vending machine as their new quarterback coach yesterday. The machine, a National brand coffee/hot cocoa dispenser model number 633, will take over the position previously held by departing offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz described how the machine got the job:

"I'll be honest with you: I knew months ago that I wanted to keep a lot of the same guys on my staff, it was just a matter of who would do what. So I got out my sharpie, labeled some darts with "tight ends coach", "linebacker coach" and the like, then gathered the assistants in the lounge. I told them to close their eyes and then turned around and started chucking darts over my head. I guess one of the darts went a bit astray. Must not have heard it over all the caterwauling and 'Jesus Christ, was that a dart!?' and so on."

The matter would have been resolved quickly, but a miscommunication between Ferentz and his assistant resulted in the machine being hired at a salary of $225,000 per year.

"I had to take a call, so I told my feather-brained, near-sighted secretary, Miss [Yvette] Bumblepot, to track down all the darts and assign the proper jobs to the people that I had struck. She dutifully found all the darts, including the one in the machine, and made up the contracts."

When asked if he could rescind the offer and find a more suitable, human candidate for the job, Ferentz said it was impossible. "Those were legally binding darts."

"Besides," added Ferentz, "I think Natty will do a fine job as our QB coach. At first I was kicking myself, but the more I thought about it, the more he seemed to fit. We value continuity here at Iowa, and this particular machine has been with us longer than I have -- since 1982. He's here day-in and day-out, never complains, never seeks out the spotlight, just gives and gives. And we've been paying him pocket change for years, so the raise is due."

Ferentz went on to note that he believes the machine is well prepared for the position. "The main responsibility of that particular coaching job is getting our quarterbacks warmed-up and focused, and nothing is better for that, in my humble opinion, than a hot cup of French vanilla-flavored instant jamoke."

National Vending Machine Model 633 Bio:
Born: Westborough, MA, 1981
Flavors: regular, French vanilla, cappuccino, hot cocoa
Cream/sugar Add-ins: No
Drink size: 12 ounces
Dispense time: 32 seconds
Cost per serving: 75 cents

UPDATE: The National vending machine has been let go following a dispute with head coach Kirk Ferentz. The machine, whose digital read-out normally displays a friendly message of "How about some coffee?", reportedly began running an altered message that read "How about that Dana Holgersen? I like the way he thinks" soon after its hire was announced. "The machine had obviously gone mad with power," said a visibly shaken and coffee-bespattered Ferentz late yesterday. "He resisted, of course -- burned me pretty good -- but eventually I was able to fight through the scalding liquid and remove his memory modules. Then, as a precautionary measure, I hacked him to pieces with a safety axe, hauled his components over to the school foundry, and, with my last ounce of strength, threw him into a vat of molten steel. So that position is vacant again. We will take our time with the search and alter our hiring procedures to avoid any more errors of this type. Maybe use a hat or something."

The University of Iowa physical plant announced that the machine will be replaced by National's newest model coffee machine, the N-1000 model, which features eight coffee flavors and enhanced artificial intelligence for "anticipation of the customer's beverage needs."

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It: Ferentz Discusses Coaching Changes, Coker

2012-02-09T15:30:23Z

Ferentz speaks and we learn... what did we learn? Not much other than what was released by Iowa Tuesday night. Ferentz wouldn't announce any new coaching changes besides Phil Parker's promotion and Morgan and Wilson's switch. LeVar Wood's doesn't have an official position yet, but Ferentz says "we'll find a spot." David Raih doesn't either. The best summary can be found in Morehouse's Quick Slants.

Reading those slants we learn Marcus Coker's decision to leave Iowa was his own. Ferentz responded to questions about the departed running back with,

"I think ultimately there was a little frustration there," Ferentz said. "He made the decision that was best for him. I told him I was going to support him no matter what. I think Marcus is a tremendous young man. I wish him all the best moving forward. He'll do well."

Ferentz went on to add,

"There's athletic department policy and there's student code of conduct, which every student on our campus adheres to," Ferentz said. "Then, you have legal issues. Internal conduct is sometimes more stringent than what our athletic department is. I don't know if it's ever been more stringent than what the university would regulate. We're part of the process and we work within the system."

Ferentz isn't in a hurry to announce his new offensive coordinator. The deadline, if you want to call it that, is March 24th, the beginning of spring practice. As far as the other two openings, Ferentz says he has people in mind but don't expect those announcements to come anytime soon.

Kirk didn't rule his son Brian out as a possible candidate for the open offensive line coaching position. When asked if he would call on Brian to return to Iowa City Ferentz said, "you know we're open to anything right now." He added, "I'm really confident we're going to get a good guy or we wouldn't have moved Reese."

There may be more to Reese's move to the defensive line than Ferentz would address. Kirk said this about it,

"Fair to say he was a little surprised on that one," Ferentz said. "But I guess I've got some executive privilege. I exercised it."

Morgan will take over for former coach Rick Kaczenski and by some accounts is the polar opposite in regards to approach. Perhaps a change from an in-your-face "MF this, MF that" coach in Kaczenski is what is in order along the defensive front. If anything, maybe it's an attempt to fix the attrition problems Iowa has had in keeping defensive line recruits on the roster.

After the jump, Iowa hoops vs. Northwestern and more links.

The Iowa men's team travels to Evanston to take on Northwestern tonight. The Hawkeyes have had hard luck in Welsh-Ryan Arena and are seven point dogs in tonight's match-up. Iowa is fighting for sixth spot in the Big Ten and a .500 record in conference play.

Iowa will start Cartwright, Gatens, Marble, White and McCabe. My favorite line-up because as Horace pointed out in Fran Graphs, these guys all have the ability to score from various spots on the floor.

Northwestern could be without starters Luka Mirkovic and JerShon Cobb. Mirkovic averages 5.9 points a game, Cobb 6 ppg in 11 games played.

John Shurna and Drew Crawford will play tonight for jNW. Shurna is averaging 19.8 points a game in Big Ten play, Crawford 16.1.

It's a big game. The Cedar Rapids Gazette's Scott Dochterman calls it "really big." Dochterman writes, believe it or not, that Iowa has an outside chance of an NCAA tournament berth. Obviously, at 13-11, that makes tonight's game a must-win to keep those slim hopes alive.

Reese Morgan shakes foundation of Iowa football, turns heel

2012-02-08T23:00:35Z

Reese Morgan (center) and the future of Iowa defense

IOWA CITY (AP) - In a move that surprised players and fans alike, veteran Iowa offensive line coach Reese Morgan has decided to switch his allegiance to the defensive line.

The move came Tuesday in the Iowa football team's weight room as Morgan helped the defensive line win a weightlifting challenge in a spectacle which has quickly earned the moniker "Bash at the Bench."

The seeds for both the event and Morgan's switch were planted the day after signing day when recent Hawkeye signee Jaleel Johnson showed up unannounced in the middle of a weight lifting session.

"You people... you know who I am, but you don't know why I'm here," Johnson said. "You wanna [sic] go to war? You want a war? You're gonna get one."

Johnson left immediately after his speech, but returned a day later. This time with fellow signee Faith Ekakitie, who proceeded to lambaste the Iowa offensive line.

Rightly frustrated with the mouthy newcomers, Iowa senior-to-be James Ferentz proposed a battle between the new signees for Tuesday - a bench press competition, most reps of 225 earns bragging rights.

That was fine with Johnson and Ekakitie, who told Ferentz to find two other people and have it be a three-on-three encounter.

Rumors ran rampant during the weekend about who the defensive line's third member would be. Lavar Woods was the prevailing choice, but Johnson raised an uproar with a Facebook post citing New York Giants linebacker coach Jim Hermann.

Ekakitie, for his part, remained mum, only promising that it would be a surprise.

Morgan's appearance definitely sufficed as a surprise. The five participants - Johnson, Ferentz, Ekakitie and guards Matt Tobin and Brandon Scherff - alternated rounds and Ferentz, as the final lifter for the offensive linemen, needed just six reps to give the offense the victory.

Ferentz was through three reps when Morgan appeared in the weight room and sauntered to the contest, clapping hands with players and pointing ominously to Johnson and Ekakitie as he did.

Morgan pulled Tobin away behind Ferentz and acted as the center's spotter. Ferentz easily put up rep four with Morgan's encouragement and locked out on rep five.

Morgan, though, quickly grabbed the bar before Ferentz could bring it back down and put it on the standards, ensuring a win by the defensive linemen in the process.

Stunned and puzzled by what just happened, the offensive players that were ready to celebrate quieted to a hush as Morgan stared a moment at Johnson and Ekakitie before breaking into a huge grin and hugging the incoming freshmen.

That gesture appeared to snap the offensive players out of their stupor and many of them showered the trio with athletic tape and Dixie cups as Morgan mockingly raised his new pupils arms in victory.

To cement his switch, Morgan proceeded to give a rambling speech to all players in attendence.

"The first things you need to realize brother is that this right here is the future of Iowa football brother," Morgan said pointing to Johnson and Ekakitie. "Everybody was wondering who the third man was going to be brother, well who knows more about an offensive line's weakness than me?

"In my years with the team, I've become bigger than the program brother and I've gotten bored, so I turned to my new buddies Jaleel and Faith and decided to turn things over. For 12 years, I've done everything for this progam, I've done everything for this team and when I came in here, I get nothing. Well you can all stick it, you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me. This weight room wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me and this entire football program wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. So now I have a question for all you, watcha [sic] gonna do brother when the Iowa defensive line runs right over you."

Morgan then proceeded to rip his shirt off and play his weight belt like a guitar before exiting with Johnson and Ekakitie. He has not been available to the public since, but is rumored to be growing a dark beard and suddenly has a penchant for bandanas.

Morgan is set to make an appearance at Iowa's next big event — Spring ~~Stampede~~ game