Iowa Offensive Coordinator Ken O’Keefe Leaves Hawkeyes for NFL

Some Iowa fans rejoice, but some are left confused and disappointed as the news of offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe leaving the program rolled in on Friday.

O’Keefe will join Joe Philbin’s staff with the Miami Dolphins as the wide receivers coach after serving as the play caller for the Hawkeyes for the last 13 years. This marks the first time in Kirk Ferentz’s Iowa tenure that he will have to replace both of his coordinators in the same year.

A lot of fans didn’t like Ken O’Keefe because of his overly conservative offensive approach. You could almost bet that any time the Hawkeyes had the ball with a two-minute drill opportunity at the end of the first half, that O’Keefe was going to simply run a dive right up the middle.

But, there’s no denying the Hawkeyes’ success in recent years, and when O’Keefe opened up the playbook, the Iowa offense could be flat out dominant.

This is an interesting development for James Vandenberg and some of the other young quarterbacks at Iowa, like RS Freshman Jake Rudock, who has high expectations across the board because of his reputation in high school. Iowa also just added two more quarterbacks in their new recruiting class.

Despite the fact that he may have been frustrating calling plays, O’Keefe was a huge part of Iowa’s recruiting and player development over the last 13 years, and he will be missed. The good news is that Kirk Ferentz has a good enough reputation that he will be able to hire the best of the best still available for hire.