For a time, Kirk Ferentz was one of the best coaches in the country.

That time has passed.

The leader of the Iowa Hawkeyes has clearly lost whatever it was that helped him turn his program into a regular Big Ten contender in the early 2000s. Back then, you may recall, Ferentz led his team to 31 wins and two conference titles between 2002 and 2004. Iowa was legit, and Ferentz was one of the hottest names in the business.


But since then?

Well, since then, it’s been a whole lot of boring in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have reached double digits in wins only once in the past 10 years, and there is a sense in Big Ten country that the program has grown stagnant.

Can Ferentz possibly get this program back on track? We answer that question and more here in Part 3 of our Big Ten edition of Three Questions for 2015.

(Read Part 1 of our Big Ten Preview here, and Part 2 here.)

What’s up with Iowa? And what’s up with Kirk Ferentz?

What’s up with Iowa is that Iowa is growing increasingly irrelevant. And Ferentz is squarely to blame. Like Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Ferentz these days looks like a guy whose passion for the game has been lost. He may say all the right things, and he can certainly point to his past successes as evidence of the fact that, yeah, he knows what he’s doing. But the simple fact of the matter is that the Ferentz of today is the guy we came to know in the early 2000s. Back then, Ferentz was recruiting with the big boys and putting out teams that were as physical, and as exciting, as any in the Big Ten.

Remember Brad Banks? How about Dallas Clark? Or Robert Gallery? These were great college players, and they helped make those early-2000s Hawkeyes great college teams. Those teams had gamebreakers. Today’s Iowa teams? Well, they don’t. There’s a serious lack of elite talent in Iowa City these days, and that falls squarely on the coach. Take Iowa’s most recent recruiting class as evidence. Rivals.com rated that group as the 58^th best class in the country, exactly one spot higher than the class that signed up for San Jose State. Northwestern’s class was ranked higher than Iowa’s. As was Maryland’s. And Minnesota’s. And Rutgers’. Ferentz should be doing better. He’s shown that he’s capable of doing better. He’s just not. From the outside, it simply looks like he doesn’t care as much as he used to.

How will Maryland and Rutgers fare in Year 2 of their Big Ten adventure?

First, let me say this: I was duly impressed with how each of these programs transitioned into the league last season. Though both teams took some beatings from the league’s big boys, they also each scored signature wins (Maryland knocking off Penn State, Rutgers toppling Michigan) and proved, at the very least, that they’re not going to be pushovers, even in an improving Big Ten. Heading into 2015, there’s no reason to think that the Terps and Knights can’t replicate their 2014 successes (Maryland went 7-6, Rutgers 8-5). Rutgers still has serious questions at quarterback, but has plenty of talent in the backfield and at wideout and some key cogs back on defense as well (including talented defensive end Kemoko Turay). Maryland, meanwhile, needs to replace its top two wideouts—including the spectacularly talented Stefon Diggs—but otherwise should field a team similar in talent to last year’s. If nothing else, they might have the best kicker in the nation in Brad Craddock. And yeah, that matters.

Is there any hope for Indiana? Like, ever?

I’m beginning to think the answer to that question is “no.” Kevin Wilson is a very good coach. I really believe that. And as he enters the fifth year of his tenure in Bloomington, I think he actually had made some decent progress. The Hoosiers are entertaining to watch, and routinely field one of the league’s best offenses. And yet, for all of the good Wilson has done with that program, he still hasn’t gotten them to a bowl game, and he still hasn’t been able to field a defense that is anywhere near competitive. Until that problem is solved—and quite honestly, I’m not sure it can be solved—the Hoosiers will remain what they are: an also-ran.