Brian Ferentz is Heading to MARYLAND! Why?

[Music] yeah we'll be posting I'll be posting a show um kind of giving my reaction to the Brian ference news it was broke a few days ago that he would be added as an analyst to the Maryland turps staff offensive analyst I think it's an intriguing hire given not only what his history is what his last name is but also timing wise it coming out kind of toward the end of spring and um personnel-wise with what Maryland has there this is the first year without a really seasoned guy inia taba um they also have a new OC in Josh Gattis at one point there were rumors that he could be a candidate for the Iowa job of course I don't think those rumors had any Merit and then Michael Loxley who's had a really explosive offense at Maryland so I'll be I'll be posting that show here this evening and then I've got an interview with Iowa offensive lineman Josh Jan II one of two freshmen that enrolled early competed this spring so that'll be coming out here later today yes my initial reaction internally I wouldn't verbalize this in terms of some type of analysis because it's ridiculous but because of the style of play at Iowa Brian seems to fit the mold of going to Minnesota or going to Illinois or going somewhere like that Maryland as you mentioned they've been pretty explosive on offense really good quarterback has moved on they've got a three-way battle for the job we kind of outlined that a couple weeks ago after their spring game right now and uh I don't know if that's Mike loxley's approach if that's the type of program he wants or he just kind of fell into okay this is and and they recruit and develop really good wide receivers uh and have since he's been there Loxley uh so I don't know if that's just more him fitting to the Personnel or if he wants to throw the ball uh more than run it there but that's what they've been well I'll encourage people once I post that to go watch my 10 cents 10 minutes of thoughts on that um but I'll just say this Mark I if I was to grade that higher not that we're gonna spend time grading the hiring of offensive analysts around the country but from a Maryland perspective I would grade that as a be maybe a B minus and as a Brian fen's perspective I would grade it as an A or an A minus and I'll tell you why I know some people think it's ridiculous because of some of the things you just outlined but from a Maryland standpoint what have they not done well on offense ran the ball I mean they they throw the ball a lot right they throw the ball more than any other team in they threw the ball more than any other team in the Big 10 last year so that's obviously been the focus now they don't have Talia so perhaps perhaps we don't know exactly what that quarterback how that quarterback situation is going to pan out but perhaps they look at things and say hey we do need to become a little bit more balanced here's a guy in Brian ference who's a former Center he's coach running backs former tight ends coach um oine coach we're going to bring him in not as a coach not as a full-time coach but as an analyst and he can assist a guy in Josh Gattis who's a wide receivers coach who's a pass first guy we don't need Brian to meddle with this from a Brian Fen perspective why I think it's not only a good job to take but a great job to take he's not going to be getting hired by kin D'Or at Alabama or sarkeesian or he's not GNA get one of these high-profile jobs that's as about a good of a job as you could expect him to get from an analyst perspective if he wanted to go coach offensive line or tight ends or maybe be an offensive coordinator I'm sure he could have found a job out there probably not at the FBS level if he's a coordinator but he he could have went to the high school level and been a head coach and and this may not be what happened but if I'm Brian ference and my goal is still to become a head coach someday and to do that I I do think you need to become a well seasoned play caller and a proven coordinator I know Kirk didn't do that and it worked out but for the most part that that needs to happen GH somewhere and learn go somewhere and learn I know that Josh Gattis from a personal standpoint there have been some there's been some uh I don't want to say scandals but there have there have been talk about character issues when he was at Michigan and I think maybe that was some of the hency from some programs when he was struggling at at Miami not just to bring him in because he was obviously very successful at Michigan won a boals award one year so I guess my my point being is he's able to go learn from a guy like gtis learn from Michael loley who's coached a really good pass offense for quite some time and then from a lockley perspective again may be able to help the Run game a little bit I think it's a win-win on both sides yeah that makes total sense that that really does from that perspective um pretty much inputting a strength into a weakness on both fronts whe and I I made this point clear on the podcast Mark I have been very critical of Brian ference a lot of people have been very critical of Brian ference but what I try to do and I always do a great job of doing it but I think you and I both try to be balanced whether we like an individual we're talking about we don't like them personally like we're talking about sports we're trying to be balanced and give an objective opinion as objective an opinion as we can I've never stated that I think Brian ference is a bad coach I've said that I think he was way in over his head as the offensive coordinator he had no business being a quarterback's coach coordinating a passing game call play calling uh you know on Saturdays but I would have had no issue with him sticking as the running back's coach now at that point when he you know three years into a historically bad offense no he he needed to go we're not going to demote him you know he took the job took the promotions that's how it works you're done by you're not R we're not taking that reputation back so but I'm point being I don't have any doubt that he could coach tight ends well at this level offensive line well at this level running backs well this level so yeah again I don't know why it's not a good thing if you're Maryland I know the first thought from people is oh he coordinated the Iowa offense he must suck I just think that's a shallow way of looking at it and this is coming from someone who was felt very strongly about him not being part of the Iowa program anymore yeah I gotta think that uh he has much to offer in in that way it reminded me of a question that I asked Mike Loxley at Big 10 media days last year because they have consistently not been uh Stout enough up front on both sides of the ball but we're talking offense uh to deal with uh the three powers in that division now of course the dynamic of the League's different but still if they want to ascend in the conference they're going to have to be more than just this team that can throw it around and and they have developed into that a little bit better they were a better defense last year and non just a secondary team meaning their secondary has been good they've produced NFL defensive backs and then offensive players but linebackers defensive line offensive line has not been great uh it's interesting that with Brian's most recent offenses in Iowa and especially his last two quarterbacks are even going back to Nate Stanley that the two guys competing for the job at Maryland are mobile quarterbacks you could almost call them running quarterbacks that's what I'm saying like Brian fen's going to Minnesota or I know Wisconsin's a little different now but your Iowa type of program what does that do for him he needs to go somewhere where he is out of his comfort zone but not put on the front lines that's like that's what should have happened in the first place I'm not saying he should have went from being a tight ends coach at at New England to being an analyst at Maryland but he should have went the route in the first place learning and then it would you know whether it worked out or not the whole NE nepotism claims would have been there because of his last name if he failed in Iowa but at least you could say he completely earned the opportunity you can argue he didn't you know you can argue he did not earn the opportunity to be the offensive coordinator to Iowa certainly the quarterbacks coach so if he ever wants to a chance to call plays again at the high at the highest of levels this this is where what you got to do because he's not going to get a job at Ohio State or Penn State or Miami or Texas or Alabama so uh Maryland's been like you said um they're going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the broken up Big 10 conference I mean you know they've been may maybe number one I mean you could argue either them or Penn State they've been buried with basically no chance of winning a championship or getting to a playoff because they've had to face Ohio State Michigan Penn State every single year and that not that the schedule's going to get easy but it's going to get easier when you look at it in comparison to the rest of the conference