Everything Iowa football's Kirk Ferentz said at Big Ten media days

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz will speak in several different settings Wednesday at Big Ten media days in Indianapolis. The Hawkeyes head man is set to talk on the main podium, as well as the Big Ten Network set inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

Here's what stood out most from Ferentz's comments Wednesday morning.

Kirk Ferentz addresses Iowa's sports-gambling investigation.

"First of all, it's not a large number of players, period," Ferentz said on the main podium. "Long story short, we don't know what the outcome is going to be. I don't think anyone condones gambling, especially on the college game. I do think that being said, I have learned a lot the past two months just about gambling. I never really paid attention to it, other than we signed a form, probably the same form we signed when I was playing.

"I think our world's changed dramatically. Anybody who does pay attention to gambling knows that better than I, certainly the last couple of years. We live in a real different world right now. I think what the NFL's done with their rules makes a lot of sense."

Kirk Ferentz on if the NCAA's gambling rules need updating.

"I'm hopeful this is an opportunity with the NCAA, Ferentz said, "to maybe reconsider two things: what the, quote/unquote, punishments or penalties might be that are, I would say, fair and relevant to the world we're living in right now. And then probably the bigger thing is there's an opportunity right now, I think, for better education process, if you will.

"I'm kind of naive, and I apologize for not watching "College GameDay," but I've got my middle son telling me the other day they cover lines on "College GameDay" before games. So it's just an illustration of the world we're living in right now. It's not going away. It's going to continue to grow. Certainly we want to educate our players and kind of compare it to maybe marijuana policies, those types of things. Gambling is going to exist. It always has. I hope eventually the policies will reflect what's best for college athletics. Certainly not betting on college athletics would be a good starting point."

Kirk Ferentz on how much Iowa's offensive line has improved and what that could mean for this season.

"The real key is our offensive line the last two years really hasn’t been where we would like it to be," Ferentz said on the Big Ten Network set. "And I could go through a litany of reasons why. I’m not going to bore you with the details. But the good news is coming out of spring ball, I feel like we legitimately have eight maybe nine guys competing for a starting job. And we haven’t had that in a couple years.

"For us to be successful over the long haul, our standard of play has to be good upfront. It takes good quarterback play and everyone else has to do their job too. And I think we’re closer to where we want to be. But nobody’s running from last year."

Kirk Ferentz on the transfer portal and relying on it more this offseason.

"You have to embrace it," Ferentz said on the BTN set. "If you don’t, you won’t be around. Certain things aren’t going away. I don’t know what it’s going to look like three years from now, three months from now or five years. We’ll worry about that when we get to it, but right now, we are really going through a period of change.

"I’ll go back to last December. Guys come in and say they’re going to leave, that type of thing. You almost feel like you’re rejected a little bit, like your girlfriend’s breaking up with you. But then I also just regrouped and thought about some of the guys who’ve joined our program over the last couple years. Whether it’s a guy like Jack Heflin from Northern Illinois, Mehki Sargent came from Iowa Western, Zach VanValkenburg — and what those guys brought to our team. I’m like, 'OK maybe we have an opportunity to bring in more guys like that to our program.' That was kind of our goal. We wanted to get guys who really thought this was going to be an opportunity for them and appreciative of that opportunity. All the guys we’ve brought in, I can really say with confidence how well our guys have fit in."

Kirk Ferentz on the current NIL landscape.

"The things we’re all concerned about are NIL and the transfer portal, yet there are positives in both of those," Ferentz said on the BTN set. "I’m not against either of those things, but I think it has to be done in a logical way. Spending six years in the NFL, they had a system that worked where everybody knew the rules. Are they perfect? Certainly not. The running backs in the NFL right not aren’t too happy. But at least it was all agreed upon, and everyone operates by those rules. I struggle right now with what some of the parameters are when it comes to NIL. Part of our problem is we didn’t share enough when the revenue started increasing. We were too slow to react to that, we in college football. So I think that’s probably added fuel to that fire.

"But players should be rewarded and be part of this process. I think that’s a great thing. It would just be nice if there was transparency. It would be really nice if there was structure. We don’t have either of those right now. A lot of embellishment and exaggeration. And then on the transfer thing, I think the one-time transfer is a great idea. But it can’t be one, then one, then one. And then the door has been open for tampering, opened wider. And I don’t think that’s a good thing for us."

Kirk Ferentz on new Iowa interim AD Beth Goetz

"Beth has been on campus now eight, nine months, and again everyone I've interfaced with who's worked closely with her says nothing but great things about her," Ferentz said on the main podium. "People she's worked with in the past, whether it's Brad Stevens at Butler and right on down the line, all have tremendous things to say about her.

"Our meetings and interactions have been fairly limited. That'll change now moving forward, but really excited to have her. And she's made a great transition to our place."

Kirk Ferentz on Iowa's need for offensive improvement in 2023

"That's part of my job, to assess those things in a rational approach if you will," Ferentz said on the main podium. "I feel like we've made the right steps. Time will tell, just like anything else we do. Time will tell."

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at [email protected].