The Iowa Hawkeyes have appointed Tim Lester, a former senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers, as their new offensive coordinator, according to a story published on Sunday by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. After head coach Kirk Ferentz had to split from his son Brian Ferentz due to subpar offensive performances and allegations of nepotism, the position of offensive coordinator at Iowa has been vacant for months.
Nepotism is a sensitive topic here because of Lester’s connections to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. One may say that Lester’s decision to finally make the transition to the professional ranks last year was motivated by nepotism, given that the two played quarterback together throughout their undergraduate careers at Western Michigan in 1998 and 1999.
Before he joined the Packers, Lester had previously been the offensive coordinator at Syracuse (2014-2015) and the head coach of his alma mater Western Michigan (2017-2022). At WMU, his Broncos — off of P.J. Fleck’s run at the program — went 37-32 overall and 26-20 in MAC play. In six years, his Western Michigan teams made three bowl games with one bowl win in the 2021 Quick Lane Bowl over Nevada, a team coached by interim head coach Vai Taua following Jay Norvell’s departure for Colorado State.
Lowa supporters appear to be annoyed by Ferentz’s Iowa offense’s adherence to tradition. Lester shouldn’t have changed if he had learnt anything from his time in Green Bay. In terms of formation width, the Packers’ offense has always been among the league’s most compacted. Furthermore, the Packers’ offense played under center 63 percent of the time in their playoff victory over the Dallas Cowboys, which was the highest percentage of any team in any game throughout the 2023 season.
Hawkeye supporters are in for another surprise if they believed that Ferentz would have a change of heart and bring on an Air Raid offensive coordinator in 2024.
