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where are all those "boo birds" whom a couple of years ago were proclaiming hayden's downturn? these same "fans" (disputed by hayden loyalists) were told that they were "boo birds" and incorrect. when we pointed to declining recruiting efforts, poor offensive/defensive schemes, and continued failure to win big games, we were told scoffed at. so now the question is who gets to take the blame for iowa's program?
1) hayden for not leaving sooner, leaving the cupboards bare and the program in a downspiral
2) KF for poor recruiting, poor schemes, poor staff and uninspired play
3) BB for not pushing out hayden sooner and finding a better coach

correct answer: all three

1) hayden staying on- he's his own man. no single person is bigger than the program. he could have left and should have when he saw that he was being outcoached and outworked. while dwight probably had loyalty to hayden, my friends inside the program have never given me any indication that this is in fact true.

2) Poor recruiting: worst in the big 10 for two years. currently only two verbals (michigan has 17 i believe). you may be impressed w/ their athletic ability but i have yet to see a true difference maker recruited by KF. at the division I level, they all should be great athletes. football players is what makes great teams

- Poor schemes: agree that defense hurts us way too much. however, if i'm KF and i have a weak line, i decide to stop playing maximum protection and sending only two WR's out into 2 deep coverage. i send betts out along w/ a 3 wr set and force a mismatch somewhere (preferably getting betts matched up w/ a LB). i spread the field and accept a 3 step drop. let them blitz, at least they'll have to know that more than 2 guys are going out than the usual, blitz us, and worry about 2 WR's. also, when have you seen a formation, play or scheme brought in that confused, bewildered or gave our offense a mismatch? i have not seen originality. when you work w/ less talent, you must create situations to maximize what you have. i don't see that. get betts into space w/ the ball. hit hill w/ a slant and let him muscle a smaller CB, get gallery the damn ball instead of being the 3rd tackle. throw some trips to a side and finally run ONE successful flanker screen. also iowa's execution is still poor. we turn the ball over more, we are penalized more and we have more mental mistakes than our opponents. and that comes down to coaching.

- uninspired play: all you have to do is look at Western Michigan. 2 weeks to prepare, first home game. you figure you're going to hide some stuff that you've been working on all summer b/c you know it's not worth it to spring it on a superior KSU team. we get slammed 24-6 in the first half. that was the season in a nutshell. if iowa had won that, i think things MIGHT have been different.

3) BB- obviously you can't fire fry w/o pissing a whole lot of people off. but i think you can show him what's going on w/ the program, tell him that he brought it to this point and ask him to accept the fact that someone else might be better now. i understand it's a tough call, but that's why you're paid the big $$. (speaking of gable, i wonder if he was AD if he would have done the same.. unsure, just curious)