Iowa announced contract amendments for offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz with incentive-based opportunities to reinstate his previous contract after the Hawkeyes had a statistically poor offensive performance in 2022.
In the new contract, Ferentz will make a base salary of $850,000 and will be able to have his contract reinstated to a two-year rolling agreement with a bonus and salary adjustment if the team meets certain requirements. The team needs to score at least 25 points per game and win a minimum of seven games in 2023 for Ferentz to hit his goals.
Ferentz was previously making $900,000. He’ll receive up to $112,500 in bonus money if he hits all the incentives. His current contract ends on June 30, 2024.
The incentive marks are relatively low, as 25 points per game would have placed Iowa at tied for 85th among 131 FBS teams. This past season, the Hawkeyes ranked 123rd, averaging just 17.69 total points scored per game. The offense ranked second to last in yards per game, third to last in yards per play, averaged under 100 yards rushing per game and 156.7 passing yards per game, which was good for No. 123 overall.
The team has brought in some new faces to help the offense, including Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara, who helped the Wolverines beat Iowa in the Big Ten championship game in the 2021 season, as well as Michigan tight end Erick All, Miami (Ohio) offensive lineman Rusty Feth and Saginaw Valley offensive lineman Daijon Parker.
The announcement of Ferentz’s amended contract comes just five days after head coach Kirk Ferentz, Brian’s father, said there will be no changes to the staff.
“As I stand here today, I anticipate no changes in our staff moving forward,” Ferentz said at the time. “That’s my plan. Certainly, I think we do have a terrific staff and I thought they did a terrific job last year in tough circumstances and navigated us through, I think, some big challenges.”
Kirk Ferentz told reporters he didn’t say the team would have the same offensive scheme, but it won’t look radically different if changes are made.
“The thing I’m most focused on would be the points because that is what counts,” Ferentz said Wednesday. “Obviously everything you do offensively goes into that. I look back, we’ve had years like this and it’s not much fun, certainly. To win eight games, that’s no easy trick when you score 17.8 a game — that’s not easy. But I’m optimistic. I think I know the causes, as I’ve covered, for our challenges this year, and we’ve taken steps already in terms of addressing it.”
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