FERENTZ DOESN’T SAY HE’S NOT GOING TO THE NFL

[Editor’s note: With our good friend MDS making a Schrute-style departure to Staples, I’ll be taking over CFT for the immediate future. But we’ll soon be working some new writers into the mix.]Immediately after pulling off a 31-10 thumping of South Carolina in the Vandalay Outback Bowl, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz addressed rumors and reports that he’ll become the head coach of the NFL team that hires Patriots V.P. of player personnel Scott Pioli to be its General Manager.Said Ferentz: “Scott’s a great friend of mine, and I think it’s a mutual thing. I think it’s presumptuous to think anybody knows what he’s doing right now, and he and I haven’t talked in three weeks. We’ve both been doing our jobs. I’ve got a great job at Iowa, I’ve said that many, many times. The people are fantastic, and I just feel very, very fortunate."Asked where the NFL fits on his “to do” list, Ferentz said, “I don’t have a ‘to do’ list. I never have. I just try to live every day and enjoy them, and I can’t think of a year I’ve enjoyed much more than this one."The Hawkeyes finished the year at 9-4. After three straight wins and then three straight losses to open the year, Iowa won six of seven, including an upset of then-No. 3 Penn State.Ferentz, 53, has spent ten years at Iowa. He previously worked at the NFL level as an assistant with the Browns and the Ravens.Ferentz’s failure to make an equivocal denial of his possible departure undoubtedly will be used against the Hawkeyes in the ongoing process of recruiting high-school players, who’ll sign their letters of intent in early February.