Change is coming in Iowa for two wildly different reasons. On Sunday, Caitlin Clark concluded her time with the program, tallying an NCAA-record 1,204 points this season. She is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
On the gridiron, the Hawkeyes will be led by a new offensive coordinator. In Clark’s four years at Iowa, the football team scored a combined 1,028 points, 176 less points than Caitlin Clark scored in this season alone. Consequently, the team parted ways with longtime OC Brian Ferentz at the end of the 2023 campaign.
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Despite belonging to the same school, the two programs utilized contrasting styles. Iowa’s women’s basketball is known for its relentless pace. The team averaged 91 points per game this season, the most in the country.
Meanwhile, Iowa football is synonymous with defense. The team averaged a mere 15.4 points per game this past season, the second-least in the nation. Unlike the women’s basketball team, Iowa football is happy to move the program in a new direction.
Iowa OC Tim Lester promises new direction for program
In January, the program named Tim Lester its next offensive coordinator. Lester spent the 2023 season as a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers. He previously spent six seasons as Western Michigan’s head coach, amassing a 37-32 record.
Lester hasn’t been shy in promising a more exciting offensive scheme ahead for Iowa.
“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,” Tim Lester said. “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.”
The Broncos were .500 or better in MAC conference play in each of Lester’s six seasons as coach, including a 4-4 record in conference action in 2022. WMU started this past year 3-7 before winning its final two games, but still fell one game short of bowl eligibility.
“One thing I’ve learned in my time as a former quarterback, quarterback coach, offensive coordinator, head coach at pretty much every level, it’s about putting your players in the best position to succeed,” Lester said in early February.
“Unfortunately, I’ve only been here a couple days and haven’t had a chance to meet all the players other than a couple that were in the hallway in the last couple days, but I’m excited to get to work with those guys and to figure out their strengths, their weaknesses, figure out where we can put them in positions to have success to help our football team win.”
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