Joe Moorhead info.

[BlkNGld71]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Erial_Lion]

He’d be a good hire…he left for an SEC Head Coaching job, so tough to compete with that. He’s not what you’d traditionally think of as an offensive coordinator, as he’s more about shotgun, RPO, etc.

 

[voltz99]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

He was good but not great. Did score points but also had stretches where offense struggled. Barkley disappeared in games. He won't have the firepower at Iowa. Had Barkley, Godwin, gesecki, and trace.

He was not fired. He got the hc job at miss state and was fired there.

 

[Zone-Blitz]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

Refuses to have the qb go under center no matter what the situation. So 4th and inches will always be 4th and 4 with Moorhead. Drove us nuts. Can’t see that going over well with Ferentz. Overall he will install good passing game concepts but he’s rigid in his ways which can be a detriment

 

[NittanyLionRoar]

The fact of the matter is he was by far our best offensive coordinator. He makes the offense simple for the players players but complicated for the defense, which allows players to maximize their talents. Having said that, offense hasn’t been elite at PSU since Franklin got here and the McSorley, Barkley, Godwin era was the closest with him at the helm. Those offenses weren’t perfect and had offensive line issues as well as short yardage being an Achilles heel.

 

[Obliviax]

A- hire. He had a lot of talent at PSU including a generational RB, Barkley, who was instrumental in beating Iowa in some tough games. He won't have that offensive talent at Iowa. He likes to run a lot of plays off of a single personnel package so that the defense can't key on personnel to know where the play is going. That is very effective. He also uses tempo, which is something Iowa will have to get used to. In other words, the offense doesn't chew up time of possession which helps the defense because they don't have to defend as long or for that many plays.

As someone else said, he didn't install any plays under center. As such, our short offense suffered. We were awful on third or fourth and short. Perhaps with the brotherly shove that has changed. I watched some of his games with Akron and he hasn't changed much.

 

[Zone-Blitz]

A- hire. He had a lot of talent at PSU including a generational RB, Barkley, who was instrumental in beating Iowa in some tough games. He won't have that offensive talent at Iowa. He likes to run a lot of plays off of a single personnel package so that the defense can't key on personnel to know where the play is going. That is very effective. He also uses tempo, which is something Iowa will have to get used to. In other words, the offense doesn't chew up time of possession which helps the defense because they don't have to defend as long or for that many plays.

As someone else said, he didn't install any plays under center. As such, our short offense suffered. We were awful on third or fourth and short. Perhaps with the brotherly shove that has changed. I watched some of his games with Akron and he hasn't changed much.

Not only that but the constant “check with me” was annoying. Our offense would get lined up, then all skill players would get out of their stance and stare at the sideline and then get back in their stance for the play. I just felt it killed momentum. Defense would be on their heels and our offense is just standing around looking at the sideline

 

[NC2017]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

He was innovative and will make your offense fun. An Irish guy from the Bronx? What's not to like

 

[fairfaxlion2]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

he was very good, Penn State won the Big Ten in his first year after he turned around the offense.

However, as others have mentioned, he seems to refuse to put the QB under center. He would run these really slow handoff plays even on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1. There were key points during his tenure when PSU could not get an easy first down or TD because of it. I would go as far as saying it cost PSU a chance to go to the playoff in 2017.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Like all guys he has his pluses and minuses, which were all discussed here.

I would add that hiring him would be about as drastic a change in offensive philosophies as one could get. It would likely take three years of recruiting to get the personal to play his schemes. Does everyone have that patience to allow him time to develop a team? The portal could accelerate things but it’s already getting late for this year.

Further, will Ferentz give him a free hand to run the offense? Will there be tension if there isn’t quick success? And no offense intended, but can Iowa attack the right talent since they are historically a defensive team with a very conservative offense?

Would be very interesting to see him hired and how,it plays out. With the B2G adding in the PAC powerhouses, Ferentz just may be ready for a drastic change.

 

[voltz99]

The fact of the matter is he was by far our best offensive coordinator. He makes the offense simple for the players players but complicated for the defense, which allows players to maximize their talents. Having said that, offense hasn’t been elite at PSU since Franklin got here and the McSorley, Barkley, Godwin era was the closest with him at the helm. Those offenses weren’t perfect and had offensive line issues as well as short yardage being an Achilles heel.

So the offense was not elite with Moorhead even though he had elite talent?

 

[voltz99]

If Moorhead was a great oc would his best opportunity be Iowa?

 

[LandoComando]

So the offense was not elite with Moorhead even though he had elite talent?

This
He's still an upgrade for Iowa but he's highly overrated as an OC IMO

 

[Ct. Lion]

I think Moorhead has to find out how flexible Kirk Ferentz will be with a new OC. Brian Ferentz did exactly what his Dad wanted him to do and they won a lot of low scoring games but did not have the flexibility to be multi-dimensional when playing top teams. I doubt Kirk Ferentz is going to change his thinking about how an offense should operate at this stage of his career. An established coach like Moorhead is going to want to put in his system. I think he would be unhappy at Iowa though if given enough latitude he could really be a big improvement over the Ferentz efforts.
What Kirk Ferentz would be comfortable with is an unknown OC from a low profile program who could be molded into a Brian Ferentz clone and then Iowa will be the same old Iowa. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

 

[m.knox]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

He had good results, but he had some really solid players to work with. Barkley, McSorley, a couple good receivers - Hamilton, Godwin...., Gesicki.......

 

[voltz99]

I think Moorhead has to find out how flexible Kirk Ferentz will be with a new OC. Brian Ferentz did exactly what his Dad wanted him to do and they won a lot of low scoring games but did not have the flexibility to be multi-dimensional when playing top teams. I doubt Kirk Ferentz is going to change his thinking about how an offense should operate at this stage of his career. An established coach like Moorhead is going to want to put in his system. I think he would be unhappy at Iowa though if given enough latitude he could really be a big improvement over the Ferentz efforts.
What Kirk Ferentz would be comfortable with is an unknown OC from a low profile program who could be molded into a Brian Ferentz clone and then Iowa will be the same old Iowa. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Do you think Iowa has the talent to be multi dimensional?

 

[Sullivan]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

He was a good offensive coordinator. He’d be a good hire.

 

[voltz99]

He had good results, but he had some really solid players to work with. Barkley, McSorley, a couple good receivers - Hamilton, Godwin...., Gesicki.......

Mcsorley, Barkley, Hamilton, Godwin, gesicki, ,miles sanders, DeAndre thompkins, Saeed blacknall, juwan Johnson, nick bowers, irv Charles +.

He will never have that talent at Iowa.

 

[voltz99]

Refuses to have the qb go under center no matter what the situation. So 4th and inches will always be 4th and 4 with Moorhead. Drove us nuts. Can’t see that going over well with Ferentz. Overall he will install good passing game concepts but he’s rigid in his ways which can be a detriment

If you are Iowa or a Wisconsin do you want an innovative passing game or a consistent running game? In a perfect world you want both but we are talking Iowa. Iowa can't consistently recruit WRs. I think their best cb is a white guy. They need speed but they are in Iowa. They can recruit OL. Wisconsin always had a great OL and a running game. They would find a good rb out of NJ and run him into the ground for two years. That plan worked for them.

Wasn't one of iowas big problem this year the o-line?

 

[BlkNGld71]

Refuses to have the qb go under center no matter what the situation. So 4th and inches will always be 4th and 4 with Moorhead. Drove us nuts. Can’t see that going over well with Ferentz. Overall he will install good passing game concepts but he’s rigid in his ways which can be a detriment

Thanks, Zone. If there's one thing Hawk fans know about it's rigid coaching. *insert eyeroll here* Ferentz has the market cornered on that concept.

 

[BlkNGld71]

A- hire. He had a lot of talent at PSU including a generational RB, Barkley, who was instrumental in beating Iowa in some tough games. He won't have that offensive talent at Iowa. He likes to run a lot of plays off of a single personnel package so that the defense can't key on personnel to know where the play is going. That is very effective. He also uses tempo, which is something Iowa will have to get used to. In other words, the offense doesn't chew up time of possession which helps the defense because they don't have to defend as long or for that many plays.

As someone else said, he didn't install any plays under center. As such, our short offense suffered. We were awful on third or fourth and short. Perhaps with the brotherly shove that has changed. I watched some of his games with Akron and he hasn't changed much.

Thanks! I don't remember the last time Ferentz went up-tempo, so he would have to seriously step out of his 1'x1' box. I wouldn't bet on that happening. Stubborn SOB...

 

[BlkNGld71]

Like all guys he has his pluses and minuses, which were all discussed here.

I would add that hiring him would be about as drastic a change in offensive philosophies as one could get. It would likely take three years of recruiting to get the personal to play his schemes. Does everyone have that patience to allow him time to develop a team? The portal could accelerate things but it’s already getting late for this year.

Further, will Ferentz give him a free hand to run the offense? Will there be tension if there isn’t quick success? And no offense intended, but can Iowa attack the right talent since they are historically a defensive team with a very conservative offense?

Would be very interesting to see him hired and how,it plays out. With the B2G adding in the PAC powerhouses, Ferentz just may be ready for a drastic change.

Ferentz is an arrogant, spiteful SOB, so he will probably coach until Mary (his wife) or his health shuts him down. With that said, I don't see him retooling his philosophy much (at all) while he's still around. He's not taking 3-5 years to recruit for a new scheme.

Ferentz will not give the new OC free reign to run his stuff. Never has, never will...not happening. As such, we will continue to repel top offensive skill players.

Bottom line: the university fired his son, so he is salty. Factor in his age and severe disdain for change, we're basically f*cked until he leaves. Again, harsh, but true.

 

[BlkNGld71]

This
He's still an upgrade for Iowa but he's highly overrated as an OC IMO

ANYBODY is an upgrade for us.

 

[CJFisJoePaII]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

He's a Pittsburgh-area native like Ferentz, so it's certainly possible. Has very good recruiting ties to Pennsy, which has always been important to Iowa's success, so it would make sense.

 

[BlkNGld71]

I think Moorhead has to find out how flexible Kirk Ferentz will be with a new OC. Brian Ferentz did exactly what his Dad wanted him to do and they won a lot of low scoring games but did not have the flexibility to be multi-dimensional when playing top teams. I doubt Kirk Ferentz is going to change his thinking about how an offense should operate at this stage of his career. An established coach like Moorhead is going to want to put in his system. I think he would be unhappy at Iowa though if given enough latitude he could really be a big improvement over the Ferentz efforts.
What Kirk Ferentz would be comfortable with is an unknown OC from a low profile program who could be molded into a Brian Ferentz clone and then Iowa will be the same old Iowa. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Pretty much spot on.

 

[BlkNGld71]

Do you think Iowa has the talent to be multi dimensional?

Not currently. The O-line is suspect at best, our WRs are too short and can't get separation and their route trees have been horrendous. And QB play...well...a hot mess, although a healthy Cade next year would help.

We can't attract quality skill players -- outside of TE -- because of Kirk's vanilla, 1985 offensive philosophy. It's frustrating, man.

 

[BlkNGld71]

Mcsorley, Barkley, Hamilton, Godwin, gesicki, ,miles sanders, DeAndre thompkins, Saeed blacknall, juwan Johnson, nick bowers, irv Charles +.

He will never have that talent at Iowa.

I can't argue with you there...although we do alright in the TE department. 😁

 

[BlkNGld71]

If you are Iowa or a Wisconsin do you want an innovative passing game or a consistent running game? In a perfect world you want both but we are talking Iowa. Iowa can't consistently recruit WRs. I think their best cb is a white guy. They need speed but they are in Iowa. They can recruit OL. Wisconsin always had a great OL and a running game. They would find a good rb out of NJ and run him into the ground for two years. That plan worked for them.

Wasn't one of iowas big problem this year the o-line?

Yes, you are correct. They don't have to be mutually exclusive, but in our case, we need a change in offensive philosophy for that to happen. Ferentz isn't changing his scheme anytime soon, if ever.

Yeah, the o-line was brutal again this year despite Ferentz being an "offensive line guru" and his son being a former o-lineman and coach. Crazy.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

Yes, you are corrent. They don't have to be mutually exclusive, but in our case, we need a change in offensive philosophy for that to happen. Ferentz isn't changing his anytime soon if ever.

Yeah, the o-line was brutal again this year despite the Ferentz, "the offensive line guru", and his son, the former o-lineman and coach. Crazy.

Sounds like the clown car PSU offense in the 2000s with Joe and Jay

 

[The Spin Meister]

Ferentz is an arrogant, spiteful SOB, so he will probably coach until Mary (his wife) or his health shuts him down. With that said, I don't see him retooling his philosophy much (at all) while he's still around. He's not taking 3-5 years to recruit for a new scheme.

Ferentz will not give the new OC free reign to run his stuff. Never has, never will...not happening. As such, we will continue to repel top offensive skill players.

Bottom line: the university fired his son, so he is salty. Factor in his age and severe disdain for change, we're basically f*cked until he leaves. Again, harsh, but true.

That’s why I posted what I did. Don’t see anyway that Moorehead would get enough control to take the job even if he is offered.

 

[lazydave841]

That’s why I ousted what I did. Don’t see anyway that Moorehead would get enough control to take the job even if he is offered.

$$$ talks. Akron is a dead end gig, and he hasn't even been average there.

I'd like to see Moorhead at Iowa just to see what his chops are. Our offensive skill talent in his time frame all got drafted. Being OC at Oregon means having the same, some years better, some worse in talent.

Miss St didn't give him a good turn IMO. They fired him for what Mullen averaged there.

 

[The Spin Meister]

$$$ talks. Akron is a dead end gig, and he hasn't even been average there.

I'd like to see Moorhead at Iowa just to see what his chops are. Our offensive skill talent in his time frame all got drafted. Being OC at Oregon means having the same, some years better, some worse in talent.

Miss St didn't give him a good turn IMO. They fired him for what Mullen averaged there.

The $$$ won’t cut it here. It’s a terrible fit for both . Ferrntx won’t change, won’t relinquish any power, won’t recruit right.

Moorehead would be a duck out of water with little chance of succeeding. Going there would hurt his career, not help it.

 

[voltz99]

Mostly speculation on Iowa boards. Lots of names thrown out. Paul chryst seems to get the most mentions.

 

[blair10]

There's a rumor on our board (Iowa) that Joe Moorhead might be the "mystery" OC candidate Ferentz is talking to. I know he used to be your OC and the HC at Mississippi State, but not much more than that.

How would you describe his tenure in Happy Valley? What were the circumstances surrounding his departure (e.g., fired, left for another gig, etc.)? How would you describe his offensive philosophy?

Thanks in advance.

Moorhead was without a doubt the best offensive coordinator in Penn State history. He was at Penn State for only 2 years but during his tenure the offense was explosive as hell, won the B1G championship, and beat Ohio State. Penn State’s offense has not been anywhere near explosive since.

At Oregon, Moorhead was the OC who took a mediocre QB and traveled to Columbus Ohio and made the buckeyes defense look silly. His 2nd win against Ohio State.

 

[voltz99]

Moorhead was without a doubt the best offensive coordinator in Penn State history. He was at Penn State for only 2 years but during his tenure the offense was explosive as hell, won the B1G championship, and beat Ohio State. Penn State’s offense has not been anywhere near explosive since.

At Oregon, Moorhead was the OC who took a mediocre QB and traveled to Columbus Ohio and made the buckeyes defense look silly. His 2nd win against Ohio State.

His offense also disappeared for stretches. Even Barkley disappeared for games. Our offense actually did not do much in the Ohio state win. His offense won that game via a blocked punt for 6.

Was Franklin was the head coach while Penn state had the best offensive coordinator in psu history?

 

[psuno1]

Mcsorley, Barkley, Hamilton, Godwin, gesicki, ,miles sanders, DeAndre thompkins, Saeed blacknall, juwan Johnson, nick bowers, irv Charles +.

He will never have that talent at Iowa.

Yeah and PSU lost 3 games the year the won the BIG10. What a waist of talent.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

Moorhead was without a doubt the best offensive coordinator in Penn State history.

his two years overlapped with the best PsU offensive player in about 30 years, probably even longer. I would have liked to see what Moorhead did with the 2018 and 2019 teams before concluding he was the best ever

 

[PSUSignore]

His offense also disappeared for stretches. Even Barkley disappeared for games. Our offense actually did not do much in the Ohio state win. His offense win that game via a blocked punt for 6.

Was Franklin was the head coach while Penn state had the best offensive coordinator in psu history?

Agreed. I liked Moorhead, wouldn't be upset if he were back at PSU but also wouldn't be over the moon with him either. We had a good, but very inconsistent offense under him. The inconsistency was maddening, couldn't pick up short yardage conversions with regularity despite having a ton of talent and one of the most physically gifted RBs of all time on the field. I consider him a good but not great OC.

 

[voltz99]

his two years overlapped with the best PsU offensive player in about 30 years, probably even longer. I would have liked to see what Moorhead did with the 2018 and 2019 teams before concluding he was the best ever

What did his offense do at miss state?

 

[hoflane]

His offense also disappeared for stretches. Even Barkley disappeared for games. Our offense actually did not do much in the Ohio state win. His offense won that game via a blocked punt for 6.

Was Franklin was the head coach while Penn state had the best offensive coordinator in psu history?

Yeah, but his halftime adjustments were legendary.