Coffee’s for closers only.
– Alec Baldwin, Glengarry Glen Ross
In the 2023 off-season, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz placed a clause into his offensive coordinator’s contract. Through this clause, Ferentz stipulated that the Hawkeyes must score an average of 25 points per game by the end of the 2023 season, or the OC would be fired. The OC, Brian Ferentz—who is Kirk Ferentz’s son—failed to meet the conditions of such obligation to retain his employment and was subsequently let go.
Shortly thereafter, a slick businessman from downtown, Tim Lester, was brought in to turn the fledgling offensive branch of the program around. On his first day, Lester parked his BMW in the Kinnick stadium parking lot and found Brian Ferentz clearing out his office.
“Your name’s Brian?”
“Yeah.”
“You call yourself an offensive coordinator, you son of a bitch?”
This, of course, upset Brian, but he knew what Lester was saying was true. He was not worthy of calling himself an offensive coordinator. Not after he’d squandered some of the best defenses the B1G had seen in the better half of the last decade. Not after his offense failed to score even one point vs. Penn State on September 23rd, 2023.
Amidst the animosity, Lester also noticed Brian’s computer screen was still on, with a VolumePigs article open. Lester—with lightning speed—revoked Ferentz’s subscription on the website, leaping across the office floor to do so.
“VP’s for closers only,” He confirms to Ferentz.
At this point, Brian’s father, Kirk, is standing behind Lester with an updated offensive playbook in his hands; he nods in agreement.
Brian is reaching his boiling point. He attempts to save some face by replying: “the players I had were weak— ” Before he can even finish, Lester cuts him off:
“The players are weak? Fucking players are weak? You’re weak. I’ve been in this business fifteen years.”
“Oh yeah? What’s your name?”
“I’m a two-time recipient of VP’s Stuffed Pigs and a 2019 Premium IHOP member, that’s my name.”
Brian may have had that coming to him, but he did raise a good point amongst the heated exchange: who exactly is this mystery man sent from downtown to turn the program around?
New Iowa OC Tim Lester
RB1 PPG AVERAGE: 16.94 (half ppr)
Lester isn’t lying about being a two-time recipient of my prestigious stuffed pigs; we’ll get to the specifics shortly.
He spent this past season as a ‘senior analyst’ with the Green Bay Packers. Before that, he spent six seasons as the head coach at the MAC program Western Michigan (2017-22), one season as quarterbacks coach at Purdue (2016), and three seasons as the OC for Syracuse from 2013-2015. He also spent five seasons as the head coach of Elmhurst, a Division III school, from 2008-2012.
Here’s a fun fact for you: Western Michigan (WMU) is a program that is currently on a nine(!!!) season 1,000-yard rusher streak (excluding the COVID season). It’s true; they’ve had at least one runner break 1,000 yards from 2014-2023. Lester was only a part of that (17-22), but he was a part of it nonetheless.
His aforementioned stuffed pigs were received in 2017 and 2019, when his lead pig, Jarvion Franklin, rushed 235 times for 1,228 yards and 11 scores in ‘17 (I was feeling generous that season), and Levante Bellamy rushed 266 times for 1,472 yards and 23 scores in 2019. However, as mentioned above, every season he was at WMU featured a 1,000-yard runner, minus 2020.
That’s not to say he funneled a massive amount of carries to his RB1s every year. Two runners were heavily involved in multiple seasons, including even that 2017 season with Jarvion Franklin.
Indeed, that streak of 1,000-yard runners might have been more of a WMU thing than a Lester thing, as he failed to produce even one 1,000-yard rusher during his three seasons calling plays at Syracuse.
Elmhurst, being a Div. III school, is hard to get data on. On their team website, their stats only track back to 2012, which was Lester’s last season there. Ironically, this was a monster season for his RB. I’m unsure if this is a clerical error on the games played part, as it makes little sense compared to how many GPs the other players have. As you can see below, Scottie Williams rushed 379 times for 2,308 yards and 25 scores over 23 (I think it’s supposed to be 13) games played. I have confirmed the output numbers, as Williams currently owns Elmhurst’s rushing records.
So Lester boasts a nice track record at the RB position, but I think there’s an element of smoke and mirrors. There was a lot of production at low levels of Football, and even in the MAC, his pigs were splitting work a lot. His teams ran the ball effectively enough to where it didn’t matter. The one good thing I took away from his background was that he likes to run the ball. That’s probably what attracted Kirk Ferentz to Lester in the first place.
Plan for 2024 & Current Personnel
Lester recently offered some comments on what the Hawkeyes’ offensive philosophy will be in 2024 but did not get into specifics:
The one thing I know everybody wants to know is what we’re going to be about, and I can tell you right now that we’re going to be a physical football team. We’re going to be disciplined, and we’re going to be aggressive in everything we do, from run game to pass game to keepers to RPOs to tempos.
He said a lot there without really saying anything. I’m pretty sure every coach says, ‘We’re going to be physical’ at some point or another (maybe minus Lincoln Riley), so there’s not much to take from that.
One of the Iowa beat writers provided some additional color regarding the skill positions:
- WR — The wide receiver group has been ‘fired up’ about how the offense looks. It’s safe to say that Kaleb Brown will be a focal point in this offense— at least among the wide receivers.
- QB — It’s going to be difficult to get a true grasp of what the offense will look like in spring. Numerous things are being implemented, and Cade McNamara will not be 100 percent. The good news is that he is throwing, which is a step in the right direction. It’s still a bit of a mystery about what this offense is going to look like, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see different pre-snap motions, different cadences, and a few new-look plays. It will still fundamentally be a Kirk Ferentz offense, but it will have a distinct look compared to the previous three offensive coordinators.
- TE — Luke Lachey has an excellent working relationship with Lester in the early going. There’s a lot of excitement from the tight ends because they will still be a big point of the Iowa offense. Lester is ecstatic about his size, athleticism, and all-around skill set. He feels that Lachey and Ostrenga have the talent to do exactly what he’s always wanted to do with tight ends.
Unfortunately, this writer did not mention the RB position, my primary point of interest in Iowa for 2024. I think the TEs will always be a feature in the offense as long as there’s at least one Ferentz in the building. I refuse to trust anything I hear about the Iowa WR and QB rooms. But the RB position is less clear.
Third-year player Kaleb Johnson stirred excitement amongst the CFF crowd last offseason after a solid freshman campaign in 2022. He ultimately disappointed in 2023. Leshon Williams, the fifth-year player out of Illinois, led the team in carries. It was an RB1A/B type of situation under the previous OC, and we’ve seen through Lester’s history that he is somewhat amicable to the idea of two runners handling the bulk of the workload.
This would be a great situation if only one veteran RB were returning who was expected to be atop the depth chart. It’s not even clear who RB1 is on this team, which is usually a bad sign for the production of that position in the upcoming season.
Closing
While there are some intriguing ingredients here, it’s hard to justify drafting any of the Iowa RBs with anything earlier than a late, late-round dart throw. I have a hard time seeing myself acquiring any shares in a standard draft format (i.e., less than 20 rounds).
For context, I recently completed a Bestball draft with the Campus2Canton guys for 30 rounds, and neither Johnson nor Williams were drafted. I think that’s a shame, given Lester’s background. There’s definitely a path to where one of Iowa’s RBs (doesn’t necessarily have to be Johnson or Williams) is productive in spots in 2024, but the uncertainty on who that is is likely what’s driving people away.
Unfortunately, the Hawkeyes’ schedule is not very easy in 2024, due to their OOC opponents being Iowa State, Illinois State, and Troy. So, if there’s going to be a pig in this offense, it’s a fairly narrow path to CFF relevancy.
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