Fire Ken O'Keefe

The University of Iowa has a great football tradition, and has achieved great success under current head coach Kirk Ferentz. Throughout the country they are always known for having a strong, stout defense and one of the best offensive lines year in and year out. The Hawkeyes do not go out and recruit the top high school stars in the country, and put their name in the headlines of all the papers. They draft home state kids, and kids who aren't given a chance by other schools, and coach them into becoming great football players. Every year, the Iowa Hawkeyes are getting players drafted into the NFL, and seeing more and more success once they reach the professional level. Star players such as Bob Sanders, Chad Greenway, Aaron Kampman, Shonn Greene, Robert Gallery, Eric Steinbeck, Dallas Clark, among many, many others, all have come proudly from the University of Iowa.

So with such great tradition and such talented players, some may ask, "Why aren't the Iowa Hawkeyes ever in contention for the National Title?" As a life-long Iowa Hawkeyes fan, I have frequently wondered the same thing. We put just as many players into the NFL as any other school. We have a competitive team every year. Why don't we ever have a team that competes for a National Title? The answer is in a name. Ken O'Keefe.

The fact is, the Iowa Hawkeyes have a great tradition of strong defense and a superb offensive line under head coach Kirk Ferentz and defensive coordinator Norm Parker. Since these two received their stated jobs, we have been good in those departments. Our offense however, has not been. Despite having great players with playmaking ability, our offense comes up short every year. These players get recognition for their talent from college awards to being drafted in the NFL, so why does the offense struggle and hold back the Hawkeyes from championships? Players such as Shonn Greene, Dallas Clark, Fred Russell, Brad Banks, Albert Young, etc., all had NFL talent. The reasoning is Ken O'Keefe. He is the single worst assistant coach in college football. He takes all this talent, and ruins it with horrible play calling.

Let's take this season for instance. All in one moment, Iowa's dream season and national title aspirations were eliminated because of a horrible play call. A play-action bootleg in our own endzone not only led to a touchdown for the opposing team, giving them momentum, but also injured our leader and quarterback in Ricky Stanzi, seriously hurting our chances of even winning the conference.

This is why I am calling on the support of everyone who has ever watched Iowa Hawkeye football in the last 12 years to fire Ken O'Keefe. For too long he has held our program back from becoming a National Title contender. Iowa has too great of players and coaching for one man to continue to hurt our program.

Please, Kirk Ferentz and any other University of Iowa athletic management, for the sake of our wonderful football program and amazing fan base...

Fire offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe.