Blake’s Take: Hawkeyes fans will come around on Tim Lester hire

For 90 days the rumor mill swirled like an EF5 tornado through Iowa and well beyond. Who would be the successor to Brian Ferentz?

Many candidates circled through the digital ringer. It was once reported that Joe Philbin, Iowa’s former offensive line coach was a lock to take the job. Paul Chryst, the former Wisconsin head coach, was the “front-runner” for the job at one point.

This was all before the Citrus Bowl. Afterwards, there were rumblings of recently fired Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy being in the mix. And last week, Duke OC Kevin Johns was seen in Iowa City for an interview.

Johns quickly became a fan-favorite candidate.

Last week it was reported by 247sports’ David Eickholt that the job was down to two candidates: Johns, and former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester. Sunday morning it was Lester that got the job.

“The belief is that Lester has a modern understanding of the way football is being played, but respects the way that Kirk Ferentz wants to run his football team,” Eickholt wrote.

Some fans quickly scoffed at the hire largely due to his pedestrian 37-32 record over six years with the Broncos. But, a deeper look at Lester’s resume shows that he may be more qualified for the job that he’s been given credit for.

For starters, he’s been a head coach AND has called plays. That’s more than Brian Ferentz did before taking on the role. His offenses weren’t just good, they were consistently in the top 40 in the country in scoring. Iowa hasn’t had one in the top 40 since 2008.

Speaking of things Iowa hasn’t done well, how about developing wide receivers? WR coach Kelton Copeland was just let go after another underwhelming season of production. The leader in yards in 2023 was tight end Erick All, who played 6.5 games and notched just 299 yards.

For a MAC school, Western Michigan was a wide receiver factory. In 2021 Skyy Moore amassed nearly 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was drafted in the second round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.

The year prior, wide receiver D’Wayne Eskridge was taken in the second round by the Seattle Seahawks. Iowa has a potential star in the making in Kaleb Brown. Hhaving an offensive coordinator that knows how to develop receivers is going to be critical in revitalizing the passing game.

But perhaps more importantly the quarterback play needs to improve — and Lester has a history of developing them as well.

In 2016, Lester took over as Purdue’s quarterbacks coach to develop sophomore quarterback David Blough. Blough’s passing yards jumped from 1,574 to 3,352 and touchdowns from 10 to 25.

That season the Boilermakers averaged 294 passing yards per game, which was good for 21st in the country. The following one, Lester took the Western Michigan job.

Iowa has offensive talent, they just need someone to maximize it. Quarterback is a major question mark. Cade McNamara tore his ACL in late September, and it’s not clear yet when he’ll return to full health. Deacon Hill did not look like the answer, and Marco Lainez’s mobility is tantalizing but he’s still unproven.

The running game will once again feature the mix of Leshon Williams, Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson. Tight ends Luke Lachey and Addison Ostrenga look better by the game, and while wide receivers appears mostly obsolete — Kaleb Brown shined at the end of the season.

We have yet to hear from Lester — or Coach Ferentz as to why the hire was made and what the offense may look like in 2024. Here’s what was said last month regarding a potential candidate:

“I’m really not worried about passing yards per game, all the stats stuff,” Ferentz said in December. “Points per game is interesting, but what is important is wins per game and if you want to evaluate in the court of my opinion — check the wins per game column.”

The final word is this: I believe fans are going to come around on Lester because of all the candidates he’s shown he can elevate a passing attack. Isn’t that all fans have wanted for the last three seasons?

He’s 46 years old, on the same page as Kirk Ferentz, and brings in an outside perspective. The bar is low, and a top 100 offense would satisfy a large portion of the fan base.

Ferentz could’ve promoted Jon Budmayr, or hired one of his retreads. Tim Lester has no connection to Iowa — and that’s a good thing for everybody involved.

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