The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Careless Whisper]

I can't help you on the scouting front since I never did so in both the older titles and "newer" gen, but I will say that I liked how you did that recruiting update and that you're taking more chances in this cycle - something that should be expected of the two-time defending champs.

You don't have to answer this in case you have Coach Clark's future plans in mind already, but is there a potential scenario where he leaves Iowa? Hard to think there's a better job out there coming off the titles, but I'm just curious.

[Hellisan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Careless Whisper

I can't help you on the scouting front since I never did so in both the older titles and "newer" gen, but I will say that I liked how you did that recruiting update and that you're taking more chances in this cycle - something that should be expected of the two-time defending champs. You don't have to answer this in case you have Coach Clark's future plans in mind already, but is there a potential scenario where he leaves Iowa? Hard to think there's a better job out there coming off the titles, but I'm just curious.

Thanks man. It will be interesting to see how many guys we can get. I'm not above playing dirty in a few cases.

I get asked that question a lot, and without insinuating anything about why you're asking, I sometimes wonder if people think Iowa is a boring team / dynasty idea / etc. Maybe because it's in the sticks or has only one uniform (I appreciate that, most of my favorite uniforms in sports like the Dodgers and Penn States out there haven't changed much). I like the stadium, the conference, all that stuff. I also like that it's seemingly a real challenge to get players to come to Iowa even after winning back to back titles. I could do a better of of leaving some holes for more players to be interested but instead I always fill them with 1/2 star Iowans a year before we have a hole. The only thing lame to me is that some of the accessories like gloves are just so outdated it's tough to make the players look modern when editing them. I think that's probably the same for every team though.

At this point, I might chance modding if it could allow me to use different gloves and maybe even update other things. I think a lot of that is only if you're doing TB.

I haven't got the urge to go somewhere else yet, at minimum I would want to cycle through a few more classes of players and even then I've kind of become a fan of Iowa so I see it hard to just see uprooting for the sake of it. edit: Think of this a little like a grand experiment with my progression/regression system.... I want a good deal of full career data from many players.

Sorry for the long winded answers. I'm verbose.

[Deuce2223]

I don't think people find Iowa boring, I think most are just use to seeing dynasties were people bounce to other schools after several successful seasons unless it's a Team builder dynasty where the thread is built around a school and not a coach.

Honestly I have been offered Iowa a couple times but have never gone because there is no way I could follow in Coach Clark's footsteps. I am however very intrigued to try maybe Minnesota at some point, probably my favorite Big Ten school.

[Careless Whisper]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hellisan

Thanks man. It will be interesting to see how many guys we can get. I'm not above playing dirty in a few cases. I get asked that question a lot, and without insinuating anything about why you're asking, I sometimes wonder if people think Iowa is a boring team / dynasty idea / etc. Maybe because it's in the sticks or has only one uniform (I appreciate that, most of my favorite uniforms in sports like the Dodgers and Penn States out there haven't changed much). I like the stadium, the conference, all that stuff. I also like that it's seemingly a real challenge to get players to come to Iowa even after winning back to back titles. I could do a better of of leaving some holes for more players to be interested but instead I always fill them with 1/2 star Iowans a year before we have a hole. The only thing lame to me is that some of the accessories like gloves are just so outdated it's tough to make the players look modern when editing them. I think that's probably the same for every team though. At this point, I might chance modding if it could allow me to use different gloves and maybe even update other things. I think a lot of that is only if you're doing TB. I haven't got the urge to go somewhere else yet, at minimum I would want to cycle through a few more classes of players and even then I've kind of become a fan of Iowa so I see it hard to just see uprooting for the sake of it. edit: Think of this a little like a grand experiment with my progression/regression system.... I want a good deal of full career data from many players. Sorry for the long winded answers. I'm verbose.

I don't find Iowa boring at all, and agree with you on the uniform front - simpler is usually always better! Just wanted to pick your brain to see if you had another destination or challenge in mind for Coach Clark in the not-so-distant future.

[Hellisan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

I don't think people find Iowa boring, I think most are just use to seeing dynasties were people bounce to other schools after several successful seasons unless it's a Team builder dynasty where the thread is built around a school and not a coach. Honestly I have been offered Iowa a couple times but have never gone because there is no way I could follow in Coach Clark's footsteps. I am however very intrigued to try maybe Minnesota at some point, probably my favorite Big Ten school.

Right on. Well if you ever want to do them, you should, it would be something totally different than our ground and pound approach has been I'm sure of that :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by Careless Whisper

I don't find Iowa boring at all, and agree with you on the uniform front - simpler is usually always better! Just wanted to pick your brain to see if you had another destination or challenge in mind for Coach Clark in the not-so-distant future.

Gotcha - Right on. Maybe that was some of how I used to view Iowa before I fell in love with the team (I'm even rooting for them in other sports) bleeding through Maybe a little projection lol

Quote: Originally Posted by Hellisan

Also, I had a question for you recruiting experts. I have never bothered to track the scouting outcomes until now. When speed is scouted and changes, does that mean their 40 time then changes back on the list of players? Or is their actual speed ALWAYS identical to the 40 time you see early on? Which would be lame. as. hail.

I was able to answer this question... I did a little experiment and tracked 40 times and when speed changed, so does the 40 time back on the recruit. So the 40 time should be viewed as the team's estimate of how fast he could run a 40. Not what he reports his 40 time to be. Same with the others like bench press etc.

[Hellisan]

Coach Clark Preseason Interview
Presented by America Needs Farmers

With Coach J.D. Clark coming off back to back National Championship wins, it won't be surprising to note that he's not resting on his laurels. We tracked down Coach Clark for first ANF interview series interview in quite a long while.

ANF: Safe to say that quarterback is the biggest question mark on the team this year?
Coach Clark: Fair, and an understatement (Laughs). I knew last year that it would be a challenge this year and it has been. In practice, it's obvious these kids are still learning the playbook, still digesting the various details they'll need to take us where we want to go. They're doing a good job, it's just a lot on their plate. Remember all those times when you would ask me why we won the game? What did I usually say?

ANF: We had Eddie Allen...
Coach Clark: And they didn't. I said that a lot because I felt like it was true. A lot of those games I felt could have gone either way. Even with Eddie, we lucked out to get numerous wins that were necessary the past couple of years to win a championship. Well, we don't have Eddie now. The margin for error is totally gone now. We have to win a different way, figure out a way to be a different team completely.

ANF: It seems like you have some options though.
Coach Clark: We plan to redshirt [Joshua] Mack. He's a freshman out of Utah. The other two complement each other pretty well. I've said I prefer not to run two quarterbacks out there before. Well, that doesn't mean you won't do that if the situation calls for it. I think this year, you might see one quarterback take the team down the field but if it's a goal line situation, you might see the other guy in there. Or if one is struggling, the other might take over. We'll put them in a position to best use their talents. However, I'm hoping that one of them will win the job outright. Even though we can still use them interchangeably, one would be the top dog and that would be welcomed by me. Right now we don't have that. They're working it out.

ANF: This year there's a wrinkle with a Big Ten game to start the season. What do you think about that?
Coach Clark: I think I'm glad it's not the Buckeyes (Laughter). You know, we as coaches can get set in our ways and I would prefer to have somewhat of a warmup game this year. With that being said, determining the schedule is out of my pay grade and I know they have a lot of balls in the air. It's a juggling act and they're trying to make a schedule that works for everyone. Heck, it's going to be a night game. An opening game at 8 p.m. We don't want that either. I guess that's when they wanted us on TV. We'll play Maryland in our opening game in week 2. We'll play the game that's on our schedule each week and we don't have too much say over it. But I'm glad it's not the Buckeyes (smiles).

ANF: Take us back to that play to beat Oklahoma and win the National Championship. What happened there? Did you think you stood a chance?
Coach Clark: In a nutshell, ,that would have been a good time for them to play some prevent defense. Normally, you see them guard the end zone with at least four guys that are standing there waiting for the ball to come down. You've seen that a hundred times, right? A lot of times they'll say playing prevent defense lost a team the game. Well here's a play where they should have run a prevent defense, and instead they left D.J. sort of one-on-one. They had their best coverage guy on him, but when you make a good throw there, anything can happen, and D.J. [Halloway] is a talented kid with a knack for huge plays at the right moment. It was an incredible moment in time and one I'll always cherish.

ANF: Why is Kenard Goodman still the starter?
Coach Clark: Wow, coming right in on me with that one. High cheese! Larry [Lloyd] has done some really good things and he has cultivated a good following. Larry Legend, I heard they are calling him. Maybe one day he'll be a legend. He's a hell of a runner. But Kenard's a good player too. He's also a good deal more versatile than Larry. You might know that Larry ran for nearly 1,200 yards last year. Well, Kenard had nearly 1,300 yards of total offense and that was with us as a coaching staff favoring Larry toward the end of the game. He has that crazy ability to just get stronger as the game goes on which really helps us in the second half. So I would wrap up and answer your question by saying two things: Kenard is very good, and two, this is what worked for us last year.

ANF: The media seems to think the SEC is the best conference in football. It has A+ conference prestige to just A- for the Big Ten. What do you say to that?
Coach Clark: Not to talk down to you or anyone in else in the media, but we do what we do and we leave that other stuff to you (smiles). At the end of the day, determing that stuff really isn't up to us. The permanent record is written in ink by the media. But thank you for the chance to weigh in. They have a couple more teams in the Top 40 this year as you know, and maybe the lower level of the Big Ten is having a harder time right now. But there's a pretty simple response to that, which is: Scoreboard. The Big Ten has won the championship every year I've been in the Big Ten. That's Wisconsin, Ohio State, and them good old Hawkeyes twice. Who won before that? The ACC with Clemson. Who won before that one? Ohio State again. Hell, the SEC hadn't (sic) won a title since I've been a head football coach! The Big Ten is the best conference in football. I can't see why anyone else would say otherwise. That's the deal (smiles).

ANF: You'll have a chance to back that up this year, traveling to Auburn and hosting Alabama.
Coach Clark: We're looking forward to it, for sure (smiles).

ANF: Last question. What's the most improved aspect of this team this year?
Coach Clark: I think it will be the pass rush. I think an improved pass rush is going to lead to maybe more turnovers than we were able to get last season. But we'll see. We have some talent, got some new talent, and the guys who are coming back all look better than they ever have. They all put in the work and now we're going to see if they can live up to the hype again.

ANF: Thank you Coach.
Coach Clark: Always a pleasure

[Hellisan]

2022 Team Roster and Preview

[Hellisan]

Around the Nation - Preseason Edition