Kirk Ferentz has a new offensive coordinator, officially hiring Tim Lester to fill the post for Iowa heading into the 2024 season.

On Tuesday, Lester was officially introduced at a press conference with Ferentz sharing some insight on the move. The head coach said his main goal from the start was ensuring the Hawkeyes found “the best person” to fix the offense.

“The whole key to this whole thing was to ensure that we got the best person, the right person for this position. That was the goal from start to finish,” said Ferentz. “The bottom line is I want to do what’s best for our team, what’s best for our program, and I’m confident to have landed on the mark there.”

Ferentz said he began his search with a list of 10-12 people before having conversations with 6 of those individuals. Eventually, Ferentz says there were extensive conversations with 4 people before landing on Lester.

“I think when you look at Tim and what I discovered is he had a wide range of experience. Certainly knew of Tim and was aware of his background, especially Western Michigan,” Ferentz explained. “As I did a little research, learned more about his wide range of experience he had.

“In my mind, he’s a good fit for us, first and foremost. Similar in a lot of ways I think the way we’ve operated yet a lot of different perspectives, new perspectives. That’s a part of moving forward. Obviously getting different ideas, different views and trying to implement them in a way that will work for us.”

What does it mean moving forward?

Iowa is not going to be the favorite in the Big Ten Championship Odds any time soon, and that’s even more true with the league expanding entering the 2024 season. Additionally, the path to the conference title game only gets tougher with the removal of divisions within the conference.

Still, the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff provides some intriguing ramifications for a program such as Iowa.

Consider for a moment that Iowa has consistently found itself as a top-25 team (and even a top 15-20 team) in recent history despite a regularly horrific offense. On the backs of the elite defense and special teams, the Hawkeyes have already produced some strong seasons in terms of record.

If Lester can fix the offense into anything resembling a competent unit, there is a chance Iowa can make a run at the Playoff. The complementary pieces are in place. Now, it’s up to the offense to figure things out.