Pre-Snap Read

A Retrospective

The Year in Review: Iowa (7-6, 4-4)

By Paul Myerberg   //   Feb 8, 2012

The beat goes on and on and on for Iowa, with one running back replacing another due to injury, credit card fraud, academic difficulties and other mind-numbing violations of team rules. They arrive with high rankings, more often than not, and often fulfill those expectations before drifting out of sight, sometimes with a bang, always with head-shaking frequency. Marcus Coker is merely the latest casualty: Coker rushed for 1,384 yards and 15 touchdowns during the regular season, but was suspended for Iowa’s bowl loss to Oklahoma and dismissed from the program altogether in mid-January. Prior to Coker, there was Kalvin Bailey, Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher, among many, many others.

To say Iowa is snake-bitten ignores some of the program’s own culpability. Kirk Ferentz brought in Coker, Robinson, Wegher and the rest; they might have stepped out of line on their own volition, but Iowa pinpointed each as a potential difference-maker on the recruiting trail. But Ferentz merely brought them into the program. Each of the dearly departed made the choices that led to their ouster.

Maybe you can directly blame Ferentz for running a loose ship, but doing so takes an enormous leap in logic. Does Ferentz allow his running backs to have their run of the place while his offensive linemen are kept under lock and key? Hardly. Iowa has had issues in the past with players failing to adhere to team rules, but not more so than another major program — except at running back.

There’s no possible explanation for Iowa’s continued inability to keep a running back in the fold for his entire four-year career, let alone for his first three years. Worse yet, each of the above backs who were dismissed from the program did so just as things were heating up. Coker was a breakout star last fall; only Montee Ball and Rex Burkhead prevented him from being a first-team all-Big Ten pick.

Robinson rushed for 941 yards and 10 scores in 2010, his final season with the program. Wegher looked like a keeper after rushing for 641 yards as a freshman, but his road from local legend to today reads like a cautionary tale for would-be stars everywhere: rookie success, one practice as a sophomore, quit, walk-on, quit, community college, mug shot.

Even Shonn Greene, one of the best college running backs of the last half-decade, wasn’t immune from the off-field woes. After not qualifying coming out of high school, Greene was again sidelined due to academics following the 2006 season; after a year hitting the books, Greene rushed for 1,850 yards as a junior before opting for the N.F.L. Draft.

What are Iowa’s options? One is to recruit a different sort of athlete. Not bigger backs or faster backs, mind you, but rather class valedictorians and science fair champions. That’s not going to happen — this is Iowa, not the Ivy League. The Hawkeyes will begin valuing off-field talents more heavily as on-field exploits on the same day the rest of the program’s rivals do the same; never, in short.

But there has to be a rational explanation for Iowa’s dilemma. Is it the water in Iowa City? Nope, unless the city’s reservoir has a special section specifically for Iowa’s running backs. Is it running backs coach Lester Erb? Nope: Erb’s tenure in that position lasts only three years, meaning the Hawkeyes’ issues predate his move from coaching the wide receivers. It’s the offense — since they play such a central role in Iowa’s success, the backs suffer from swollen egos and an inflated sense of self-worth. Let’s not even touch that idea.

All Iowa can do is hope that its next successful back — perhaps that’s incoming freshman Greg Garmon — doesn’t follow the same trend. Maybe Garmon, or a returning back, steps into a major role in 2012 and holds on to complete his career as the program’s first four-year back since Damian Sims. And if that doesn’t occur? Iowa will simply go back to the recruiting trail, find another gem and hope that the umpteenth time is the charm.

Season grade: C A season of disappointments heaped on disappointments, beginning with a loss to old rival Iowa State and ending with a loss to new rival Nebraska. In between, the Hawkeyes tempered rock-solid victories, like one at home over Michigan to open November, with shield-your-eyes defeats, like one at Minnesota to end October. When did things go wrong? Try last winter, when the Hawkeyes lost three starters off its imposing defensive front. It turned out that replacing Adrian Clayborn, Christian Ballard and Karl Klug was even more difficult than expected. The depleted defensive front led to Iowa’s worst performance against the run of Ferentz’s entire tenure, which in turn led to a fairly striking decline against the pass. The offense was there, even if a tad too inconsistent for Iowa’s tastes.

High point The 24-16 win over Michigan on Nov. 5. The Wolverines won 11 games on the season; Iowa’s five remaining F.B.S. conquests combined for 23 wins. In all, Iowa beat four bowl teams: Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern and Pittsburgh.

Low point Losses to the Cyclones and the Cornhuskers. Iowa State needed overtime to get past the Hawkeyes in Ames; Nebraska controlled the final outcome throughout. Seeing that the Iowa fan base had been hankering for a shot at Nebraska since it joined the Big Ten, I’d say that the Cornhuskers’ 20-7 victory stands as the Hawkeyes’ low point of the season.

Offensive M.V.P. It’s Coker, even if he wasn’t there for Iowa in the Insight Bowl against Oklahoma and won’t be there for the Hawkeyes ever again, thanks to his inability to keep his nose clean. Coker cracked the 100-yard mark seven times during the regular season, led by a 252-yard performance in the loss to the Golden Gophers. Wide receiver Marvin McNutt is neck-and-neck with Coker — I could see him getting the nod, in fact — after making 82 receptions for 1,315 yards and 12 scores; unlike Coker, McNutt was a first-team all-conference selection. Not that you would, but don’t sleep on quarterback James Vandenberg, who is coming off a strong junior season. Should push come to shove, Vandenberg can put this offense on his back as a senior.

Defensive M.V.P. Only Tennessee Tech was foolish enough to really test Shaun Prater; most of the Big Ten shied away from Iowa’s all-conference cornerback. Now that Prater is gone, having exhausted his eligibility, let’s settle the question once and for all: How in the world did Nebraska, which goes after every corn-fed boy within shouting distance, allow him to escape the state’s borders and sign at Iowa?

Stock watch There’ll be a new back doing the heavy lifting, but Iowa’s running game won’t miss a beat — based on history, the Hawkeyes will simply insert a new face into the mix, wind him up and watch him challenge the 1,000-yard mark. It’s not quite that simple, but it seems as if Iowa already has a backup plan in the works. And if the running game does take a step back, there’s every reason to think Vandenberg can help pick up the slack. He’ll need to find a new lead target following McNutt’s departure, but Iowa has some nice talent rising up through the depth chart. The issue facing the Hawkeyes heading into 2012 is the defense, which regressed to early-Ferentz-era form last fall. Can Iowa fix a leaky front four? If it can, there’s no reason why the Hawkeyes can’t make a go of things in the Legends division.

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Tags: Iowa, James Vandenberg, Kirk Ferentz, Lester Erb, Marcus Coker, Marvin McNutt, Shaun Prater

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