It has been about a week since current Iowa Defensive Coordinator Norm Parker has announced that he will retire after the Insight Bowl.
This decision was coming sooner rather than later for the long-time college assistant coach, but it certainly is a different feeling for Iowa fans.
In the college ranks, coordinators on both sides of the ball come and go and can be replaced frequently. But Iowa has kept Parker around throughout Kirk Ferentz's 13 years at the university. What will the program look like without him?
There have been plenty of names dropped during the past week as to who the replacement for Parker will be.
Ferentz could stay in-house and promote Defensive Backs coach Phil Parker, Linebackers Coach Darrell Wilson or Defensive Line coach Rick Kaczenski. Or he could go outside the program, where names like Ron Aiken -- former Iowa assistant -- or current Illinois State head coach Brock Spack have surfaced as potential candidates.
The leader in the clubhouse right now is Phil Parker, who is no relation at all to Norm Parker but has been coaching with him for the past 12 seasons.
Phil Parker played at Michigan State when Norm Parker was coaching there and was a graduate assistant coach in 1987. He then took a defensive coaching job at Toledo where he stayed for 11 years.
At Iowa, Phil Parker has had eight secondary defensive players drafted in the NFL and that list includes Eric Thigpen, Matt Bowen, Bob Sanders, Sean Considine, Charles Godfrey, Bradley Fletcher, Amari Spievey and Tyler Sash. And you can expect Shaun Prater and maybe Jordan Bernstine to join that list this April.
Phil Parker has had chances to leave Iowa for other jobs but has stayed loyal to Ferentz. That is one reason I think he gets promoted. That and Ferentz is as loyal to his coaches as they come.
If he gets the job, you can expect a little bit of Norm Parker and a little bit of Nick Saban wrapped into one final product. Phil Parker coached with Saban at Toledo and will take some of his techniques to the field if he gets the job. The Cover 2 scheme will remain but you should also expect to see Cover 3 and Cover 5 mixed into the gameplan.
The other two in-house promotions would go to Wilson or Kaczenski. But neither of these guys are more of a favorite than Phil Parker.
Wilson and Phil Parker took over the Defensive Coordinator role in 2010 when Parker was sidelined with an illness. Wilson could handle the job as he has been around the program long enough to know what Ferentz expects. But I just don't think he gets the nod at this time.
Kaczenski has been at Iowa the shortest of the three mentioned but is an up-and-coming rising star to the coaching ranks. It is not far-fetched to say that he could get offered bigger jobs this offseason if Ferentz does not promote him now.
Kaczenski is considered a darkhorse candidate by the media and people who are paid to have opinions, but Iowa fans wouldn't mind seeing a young guy take over. Many fans want someone with youth and passion and energy. But again, I just don't think he gets the position. Ferentz is loyal so hopefully Kaczenski doesn't bolt for another job.
The other two names that have floated around the message boards and Twitter lately have been Aiken and Spack.
Aiken, of course, is the man Kaczenski replaced in Iowa City in 2007 when he took the Defensive Line position for the Arizona Cardinals. He has done really well in Arizona with Darnell Dockett and his list of former Iowa players currently in the NFL include Matt Roth, Aaron Kampman and Jonathan Babineaux, among others.
Aiken is well-respected in the coaching world and would be a candidate Ferentz would bring back in a heartbeat. Again, he is as loyal as they come.
Spack is a name most Iowa fans are unfamiliar with. He has had two coaching stints at Purdue and also served as an assistant coach at Wyoming and Eastern Illinois before accepting the head coaching position at Illinois State in 2009.
While at Purdue, his first stint was as the linebackers coach but when he returned to the program in 1997 he became the Defensive Coordinator and remained in that position until leaving for Illinois State in 2009.
Many Iowa fans also want to see Ferentz make a phone call to Mike Stoops to gauge his interest in the position. Stoops of course coached with Ferentz at Iowa and was most recently the head coach at Arizona.
While I think this would be the best possible hire for many reasons, it does not appear to be something Ferentz is going to do. The long-time Iowa coach could throw a curveball and surprise us, but when can you say Ferentz has ever done that?
Right now, the top three candidates for the job appear to be Phil Parker, Aiken and Spack. And the Hawkeyes could do much worse.
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