Kirk Ferentz on Iowa football leadership, how the Hawkeyes respond after close losses

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It has been literal inches and one or two plays that have the Iowa Hawkeyes sitting at 6-3 as opposed to 9-0 or 8-1. Such is life in the Big Ten when you play in a high-level top conference. While it is a way of life, responding to being so close isn't always easy.

For the Iowa Hawkeyes, responding to adversity and bouncing back is in their DNA. It has been ingrained in the program's culture by head coach Kirk Ferentz, and this week, he was asked about how the leadership from within the players is helping the team mature and grow from these tough losses.

"It really goes back to January. They've been consistent all the way through. Never sure who's going to emerge as your leaders, and we've got a bunch of them. Certainly we've settled in, and the four captains seem to have done that.

"We have a lot of guys right now really doing a good job in that regard. Not all of them are starters. Jayden Montgomery was not a starter, but he's been on the leadership group the entire way through it.

"They just come to work every day. They have a great attitude and work hard. They realize there's ups and downs in sports. I think they're certainly setting the bar for everybody else on the football team. Some of the younger guys are better than others, at least cueing in on what to do and how to do it, and that's part of the process too.

"No, they've been really good. I think very steady. Based on yesterday and today, nobody's been discouraged. They're working hard, and they know we've got a big challenge on our hands right now," Ferentz said about Iowa maturing and growing from the close losses this season.

Ferentz was also asked about how he gets his players to respond and what it takes. The Hawkeyes' head coach elaborated on how Iowa is so resilient and what it takes to get his guys to respond to adversity.

"First of all, you never know if it does resonate or not. You never know if you're saying the right thing or not. Time will tell. Believe me, you spend a lot of the week wondering about that and worrying about that quite frankly. If coaching and being involved in the game over time has taught me anything, you have to move on.

"I guess it's like real life in some ways. If you're going to go out there and compete, which we do 12 times a year, if you're going to go out there and compete where everyone's got a chance to see and evaluate you, you have to be able to deal with setbacks, and that's a big part of coaching.

"I'd offer a little commentary just being asked about that, just in today's climate I worry about that because there's not a lot of forgiveness out there anymore. At least in college football there never has been and pro football.

You're not going to win every day. It's the way it is. My wife reminds me that all the time when we lose a game. Not that you want to hear it, but you're not going to win every game. You're trying like hell to do that. If at some point you can't deal with that, then you probably need to get out.

Yeah, it's natural for it to hurt after the game, on game day, it hurts on Sunday, and then you have to move on. At least with us working on Mondays now instead of the old days we took Monday off. We're forced physically to do it, and that helps the Monday part as well.

"Especially this week it's pretty easy, we have a team again that's equally a tough task, which is what we had last week. You'd better get your attention there real quickly. Otherwise, you're putting yourself at a bigger disadvantage going against a tough team. It's our job to try to educate our players to that. That's just how it works. We have to be conveying those messages to our guys," Ferentz continued about how his players respond so well.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Kirk Ferentz on Iowa football leadership responding to close losses

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