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"Win Our Way" - Iowa Hawkeye Football w/ guest Tyler Barnes · Scouting the League

• Rodrik David: Everyone and welcome to Scouting the League. Look at this. Officially moved in, though still unpacking and in the finishing stages of this new house that we built. Ignore what I have locked up right back here. Can you guess what's in there? Hit it in the comments. We'll see if anybody gets it right. I am excited to be here, but also excited to be back here with you as we get into football season officially. We are wrapped on the 2026 Personnel and Recruiting Symposium for all the thoughts on that, as well as another player on our march to the 2027 draft. Head back to the archives, listen to everything Neil and I put out either last week at the symposium or this week as we get back into it. Today, though, it's all about gritty Midwest football. Neil and I sit down with the GM and Chief of Staff for the Iowa Hawkeye Football Program, Tyler Barnes. What makes Iowa Coach Ferrence and all things Hawkeye Football so special. Stick around to find out on that one. Before we jump in, though, make sure you head over, like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you're listening and watching. Hit those buttons. The subscribe and the comments are the ones that really help us out. So make sure you go do that. Head over to Twitter. Give me a follow at right stepadv. Find out everything I'm doing over there. My website, rsafootball.com for all things, all information and getting in touch with me. Make sure you check out my new website, rightstepscouting.com, for full reports, one-liners, video reports, full roster evaluations, and more. Whether you are an agent, a player, a parent, a football program at any level, anyone in between, get signed up for your account, request that first report today. All around it. All write it. A small group that I have will be working with me as well. We will get those reports turned out to you, let you know exactly what your value is. So write stepscouting.com is a place to go check that out today. If you're a we're at the personnel and recruiting symposium, heard a lot about networking, doing the right things, taking those right steps. The next spot for you is the scoutingcommunity.com. Whether you are an NFL Scout or you want to be an NFL Scout somewhere working in personnel, head to thescoutingcommunity.com for resources that I and my team of mentors and people that are in the business can help you out with. And then make sure you check out our partners over at blue maca.com as well. Use code scouting20 while you're there to let them know we sent you get a little discount on that order. You're gonna be on your feet a lot during football season on the sidelines. Traveling to games, walking up and down the bleachers, BlueMaka dot com's insoles will improve every pair of fuse you have. Code Scouting20, let them know we sent you. But today it's all about Iowa football, joined as always by my co-host Neil Stratton. He is at inside the league, inside the league.com for all that he's doing. Well, let's get to today's guest. Excited to bring on the GM, general manager of Iowa Hawkeye Football, Tyler Barnes. Tyler, an Iowa man, through and through. Though he left for a short time, he just couldn't keep him out of the the beautiful state that Iowa is. Tyler, welcome to the Scouting League podcast. Tyler Barnes: Appreciate you guys having me. Looking forward to it. Rodrik David: Yeah, it's it's been fun. You know, Tyler, you know, I've is is you were just getting back and really getting rolling in Iowa. I was on my way out in Atlanta. We you know, I was a Midwest scout. Iowa becomes a Midwest Midlands, so depending on what team you're with, again, it kind of falls into different areas. but again, been a fantastic visit has changed a lot as well. We're gonna talk about that. But before we before we get into the job, all you've done with Iowa football, let's talk about how you got there. You're An Iowa undergrad, an Iowa grad. You head to Vanderbilt for a short time, but now you're back. Talk about your journey into football, into scouting, ul ultimately back to where you are today. Tyler Barnes: Yeah, it you know, I think a lot of it's timing and luck. You know, I I so I first started at the end of two thousand eight, kind of right at the the end of our season as a student assistant in our in our office. You know, it was way different than you know, we had we had a director of player personnel, we had an administrative assistant is what the title was that worked mainly with with recruiting and personnel. we had a director of player development and a director of operations, and that was it. So four full-time staff members. at that point there were it was myself and two other guys that worked in the office and You know, luckily Scott Southmate who still works here with us in Iowa football, he responded to an email and had a chance to come and interview. And, you know, once I got there, I realized the two other guys I worked with, great, great dudes, didn't really want to work in football post-college. You know, and I think they were at times maybe a little happier just to be in the office. So I kind of looked around and was like, You guys are out of here. I'll stay here, you know, all night until people, you know, come into my I my office was a server closet. So it's right next to all of our exoservers and whatnot. just waiting for guys to, you know, coaches on staff and anybody else on staff to give me stuff to do. and just kind of stuck around and and did a multitude of different things. You know, I was mainly in recruiting and personnel. at that point I helped out our operations, our director of football operations, Paul Federisi, as well. because he didn't really have an assistant. and then any kind of statistical analytical stuff our coaches needed help with, you know, our offensive coordinator at the time, Kend O'Keefe, was still one of my mentors, you know, kind of took me under his wing to To roll through some of that stuff they did offensively and just really I was trying to soak up and and and get as much as I could in the football world. and I think it's pretty lucky 'cause that's when, you know, technology was starting to become a real thing. Social media was a real thing and recruiting, you know, when I first started, we were burning DVDs onto the server for our coaches to watch guys. You know, Huddle came along a couple of years after the fact. And, you know, I think it just timing wise that, you know, everything started to grow within the you know, kind of where we were at in the recruiting landscape in college football. So you know, I I knew after about a year this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to always be on the personnel side. you know, I helped out with ops as much as I could. And that's kind of what we do at Iowa anyways. You know, we we've got a obviously a much bigger staff now, but at the time it was all hands on deck, whether it was recruiting operations, what whatever we could do to help out. So it was lucky enough that you know, I went to grad school in Iowa, was looking at a couple different places, and had, you know, had opportunities to work in football offices at a couple other grad programs, but it just made sense financially to stick around at Iowa and And it wasn't a graduate assistant spot, so I still had to find a way to fund everything. So I was actually it was a TA within our grad program, which paid for my tuition, gave me a stipend. So at that point I thought I was making big money, you know, all $12,000 a year from football, and then you know, having my tuition covered and getting a stipend for like $500 a month. I I'd hit it big. and kind of sucked there. And at that point, we'd had you know, one of our coaches on staff, Norm Parker, you know, legendary defense coordinator. Starting to battle some health issues and and the guy that was in our administrative assistance spot, LeVar Woods, you know, obviously legendary special teams coordinator now at Michigan State, he was gonna bump up into a coaching role and that kind of opened up a full-time position really underneath recruiting at Iowa. And I kind of stepped right into there and was there for roughly a year or so. Wasn't necessarily looking to leave, but it had some opportunities at some other places, some interviews. And the Vanderbilt thing came out of left field. you know, I went I went to the coaches convention in Nashville and just happened to meet Michael Hazel, who's still at Vottek with with Coach Franklin and Andy Frank. And about a month later they called and asked if I'd be interested in interviewing, and I did. And you know, at the time the role sounded really enticing. I wanted to get somewhere different than the Midwest. You know, I wanted to go to a different conference, different part of the country. And so my wife and I packed up and headed down there and Down there for three years, was with co coach Franklin for a year and then Derek Mason for two. And actually had zero intention of ever coming back to Iowa. Like it wasn't even on our on our mind. was out at a Super Bowl. my brother in law was playing for the Broncos at that point and was out there and went and visited a buddy that was at Stanford. obviously being a Vanderbilt, Stanford was kind of the mecca at that point, and they had just they just trounced Iowa in the Rose Bowl about a month prior. And we came back to the hotel and and coach fairness like hey you I haven't said anything yet we're gonna have some movement with our staff and Kelvin Bell who's our D line coach currently at Iowa was gonna bump up from a recruiting role into the D line spot and I was like you know that's intriguing coach I appreciate it but it's I really don't want to come back to Iowa. I want to kind of spread my wings and you know if there's another stop somewhere we'll see what happens. But talking to my wife, you know, it made sense you know we're starting to have a family. My I'm from Illinois so my family's close. Her family's here and kinda came back and you know, it yeah, I was a little bit different. The titles are never never really what they should be here. And I don't think anybody really cares than our office. You know, so I kinda came back and started leading the department at that point and you know, that's when things started shifting a little bit. It took about four or five years before collectives came to be and and everything else. But you know, I learned a ton from Coach Franklin, the way he operates, obviously, you know, what he does from a personnel standpoint and what he does recruiting wise took a ton from him and tried to bring some of that back to Iowa, what made sense. And you know, just throughout the years everything's kind of evolved and and got the GM title, I think two years ago now. my role certainly shifted, which I know we'll get into a little bit later probably. But excited to be here. You know, it's a special place. The the people here are special. Coach Farrent's is unbelievable. you know, he lets he hires good people, lets them do their job, and and I think that allows people to flourish here and and the quality of life, which is getting tougher and tougher to find, whether it's college or the NFL, you know, it's really good here. it's it's a good safe space. You love raising a family here and And the kids we get here, I mean that that makes all the difference, right? We recruit the right type of kids that for the most part, you know, they want to stay, they w they want to be developed, they wanna be retained, and they wanna, you know, have a chance to win some football games and play on Sundays as well. Sorry, little long winded answer there. Neil Stratton[[]: Tyler, you said you want to spread your wings. That's a good that's the kind we like. Tyler, you said you kinda want to spread your wings a little bit, I presume that means that you want to see what things were like in the SEC. How were they? Were they obviously the Big Ten takes the back seat to no one, but the SEC is pretty con considerable as well. Differences. Did you see a lot of differences? You know, how Tyler Barnes: Yeah. Neil Stratton[[]: how were things over there? Tyler Barnes: For sure. You know, it was unique. You know, I mean, Vanderbilt Academic School, every academic school is different for the most part with any school within the conference, you know. But you know, when I got down there, you know, Coach Franklin, he was at the height of his Vanderbilt career and we were rolling. You know, we finished nine and four, you know, lost probably three games we shouldn't have that were really close that year. We're top twenty team in the country. you know, and we still had full stands. And I think the biggest difference just I would Vanderbilt, you know, when I got to Vanderbilt, I like, man. know we play Tennessee or we play any SEC game and the stadium sold out, but it's like fifty percent the other team. I was like, this would never happen in Iowa City. Like, what is happening here? but I mean the initial at that point in time, you know, the culture around the programs was so much different than the Big Ten. And not knocking the Big Ten, but it just it would like football is life in the South and their fans are crazy. and then you want to talk about at that time the skill level, the edge guys, I mean It looked a little bit different than the Big Ten. you know, and when I was down there, you know, Johnny Manzel was at AM. I mean we we saw some dudes now. Dak Prescott, you know, the quarterback play was probably a little bit different at that point too, but I think it's shifted. I mean, you we've seen it in the past few years now. but at that time specifically, just rolling into stadiums and just seeing the fanfare. And we've got great culture entailgating in the Big Ten too, but the SEC, man, it was it was different rolling into AM, you know, rolling into the swamp. Going to Old Miss, I mean, even Miss State to some of those places. And then obviously Knoxville, you know, UT is pretty awesome. But that was probably the thing that surprised me the most is like this is just a different, different world down here in in terms of how important football is to people in the South. Rodrik David: Yeah, yeah, certainly. Again, that experience is is you know really valuable. You go down there, you do mostly recruiting, mostly personnel. Again, as you kind of look at your Iowa background, there's obviously the recruiting, advanced scouting and analytics. You touched on that a little bit. your main contact for NIL opportunities. Where are you spending the majority of your time now? How do you work it all in? And and and was there ever a spot where like again, personnel's kind of been what sounds like, hey, this is where I wanna be. Is there another one of these spots like, man, I really love doing that? Tyler Barnes: Yeah, you know, it's you know, we we always we never really had a huge personnel staff here at Iowa and we're growing. we've got another person joining us actually next week. you know, so for a while you always had to be kind of a jack of all trades, right? You had hope, you had student hope, and you had couple of people that that worked with me. But really the last two years has been the first time I can really take a step back from the true day-to-day high school recruiting stuff, the communications. All the visit organization, logistics, being around these kids, which which I enjoy. You know, I enjoy I'm a people person. I want to be able to be around our top guys on campus to to be with him and their families and feel them out and kind of interview them as well. But right now, honestly, most of my job is gonna be, I mean, purely roster management with our head coach and our coordinators, all agent relationships and negotiations. working through all contract stuff. work with our associated in terms of the contract stuff, but I'm the first and usually the last point of contact when it comes to that. anytime we have high school kids on campus, if they're 100% takes for us, I'm gonna be around them as much as possible. But that might be a lunch and then maybe getting on campus with them for a quick, you know, tour of the apartments, just so I can expose myself to them and vice versa. But in terms of the daily digging up kids, period first line of evaluation. that's changed quite a bit. I'm still gonna have my evaluations before we offer kids, I'm still gonna have input for the most part. and certainly before we take kids, but not nearly as much in the weeds as I used to be. you know, the fundraising aspect I enjoy. you know, I enjoy talking to donors and different people and trying to raise money to fund our football team. But that's something that over the last two and a half, three years, that's that's eaten up a decent amount of my time depending on the time of year. And just kind of being out there and more available in front of our fans and major donors and and people that have you know the power to to help our football program write checks. So and it's still you know, it's still a fluid and and evolving process. really, you know, we're probably unique here at Iowa. Only myself and Coach Ferrens know what every player on the team makes, what their contracts look like, how they're structured. and I think it's gonna stay like that for probably the foreseeable future. You never know, it could change. But our biggest thing is, you know, Coach Farrens comes from an NFL background, he was there for six years. I think he wants to protect the position coaches so they don't have to worry about going into meetings, depth, whatever, when they don't need to worry about what certain guys make. Right. And and we we're very collaborative as a staff. You know, we all get together, we'll meet on personnel almost once a week throughout most of the year. And and really the way our s our contracts and our payments are structured, they're gonna reflect where the coaches talk about their guys and rank them within their position meeting rooms. And, you know, it depends on as as you as you know, Roderick. I mean, you've been in the league for a while. It's it, you know, certain certain positions are gonna get paid more than other positions. There's premium positions and you gotta figure it out. And but for the most part, and Coach Ferris does a great job with the messaging to our team almost weekly on just how guys are paid, why they're paid. And if you want to get paid, you got to play on Saturdays, right? Potential for us is is is a little bit scary and tough. some places they're not too worried about it, but we are here. Our biggest thing is we just want to protect the locker room and the culture. And and when guys are proven and earned it. they're gonna get paid. And you they're gonna get paid pretty handsomely as well. Rodrik David: Yeah. Personnel background, coaching analytics background, but you are the point of contact for contracts. How how have you educated yourself? How have you gotten comfortable to where you can sit down with probably a lot of these guys that you're dealing with are NFLPA certified agents. Again, they just got done taking that test. Neil has been through it. That's not an easy test. There's a lot to it. How have you gotten comfortable sitting down and being that guy that can look, you know, somebody with a hundred million dollars in the NFL and being like, hey, yeah, this is this is what we're gonna do? Tyler Barnes: Yeah, you know, I think part of it is is is one, the relationship part of with agents is huge, right? I mean, you gotta whether they have a guy or not, and whenever they're reaching out to you, even in, you know, our downtime this month of July, you've got to respond, right? You've got to build those relationships. You know, good or bad or indifferent. I'm not sure. I'm sure we have, you know, here in Iowa, the a agents kind of know that hey, there's not gonna be a whole lot of flexibility within the contracts. And everybody, you know, we have the Big Ten standard MOU. but the main parts of the contracts that agents wanna change, like you gotta be well versed in. And obviously I know most about 99% of the time I know what they're gonna ask get changed, right? but the biggest thing is we try and point back to hey, over the last three, four years, you we we don't screw any of our guys. What we say is gonna go through it. Our numbers our number, you know, there's not gonna be any funny business. Like you you've gotta you've gotta be feel good about your client getting what we say he's gonna get. And I think us being able to have that reputation has certainly helped. The negotiation side was was clearly new, right? Not not many of us GMs have had to go through negotiations, not nearly as much as we do in our current roles right now. But again, I think part of that negotiation thing just comes right back to relationships, right? It's they can get heated, right? And I've had a couple of agents, you know, say some choice things to me that, you know, I I really wanted to respond in a certain manner, but you can't, you know, you kinda gotta take it. There'll be times where, hey, let's just reconvene in two days, right? Let's cool off, let's revisit the deal, let's get it done. And and I hate going to their clients and I hate saying clients because half of are our current players that we've recruited since they've been fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old. but if we need to get a player involved and just let them know, hey, look, this is the deal's stuck right now because your agent's asking for some some crazy stuff that I don't think you and your parents care so much about. and sometimes we'll have to do it, right? And it gets done pretty quick that way. But I mean, you've got it it just depends on the agent, depends on the player, it depends on the situation. you gotta feel everything out and You gotta know that every agent's different. But I think the more you can create genuine and real relationships, the better off you're gonna be down the road. Whether it's an NFL certified agent or if it's a true just college NIO agent who has no aspirations to doing the NFL thing, either way, you gotta treat them all the same. Right. You just gotta be responsive, you gotta be honest, you gotta be up front. And we do our best to explain how we're structured, why we're structured. And most agents, you know, I think most of the good ones understand that we're typically gonna have A good number of guys that move on to play on Sundays. So I think they understand the relationship from their side is pretty important too w with us here at Iowa. Neil Stratton[[]: Tyler, obviously you take seriously your opportunities to network with agents. You were part of our symposium in February and and I appreciate that obviously. But what about your peers? What about other GMs? Do you have a network of people that you can I mean, this is still a pretty new phenomenon, the idea of having college GMs. Do you have people you can talk to? Are there people that you kinda bounce ideas off of? And are they mostly within the Big Ten or are they kind of across the nation? Tyler Barnes: No, I think it's definitely it's coast to coast, north to south. you know, there's twenty guys. I can call it a heartbeat if I had a question about a contract, a structure. What are you offering the kid? You know, we have to do that sometimes, right? 'Cause there's always there's the number, there's our number, and there's something in between that we're probably all trying to get to. but I think the the relationships between us gyms around the country right now is probably stronger than it's ever been. and you know, we're not a blue blood, right? I mean, we've won a ton of football games. We've sent a bunch of dudes to the league on Sunday, but We're not viewed as that blue blood. So and we all know, like there's a hierarchy, right? There's schools in the country that have a lot more money than we have. but still at the end of the day, money is gonna be a factor in all this, but still fit opportunity is gonna play a huge role too. So if I ever need to, I mean, there's probably four or five GMs in the Big Ten, a few in the ACC, a couple in the Big 12, that I can, you know, we we we talk weekly, especially during the crazy times. Like we're talking weekly. Some of it I think is we're we're checking in on each other to make sure our mental health's good. Some of it is just to decompress and vent to somebody else that's going through the exact same thing you're going through at the same time. but that's the beauty about going to Nashville next week is you get to see all these guys in person because it's, you know, you get to have some beers, you get to talk off the record about certain things, but but I think the relationships around the country are as strong as they've ever been. You know, we try and get together at least once a month as big 10 GMs just to talk for an hour, hour and a half on Zoom. about current topics, you know, proposed legislation coming down the pipeline, stuff like that. Just to just to make sure we're all kind of, you know, we're sharing as much information we can without putting, you know, our our programs at risk, if that makes sense. Rodrik David: Yeah. Yeah, certainly. Well again, that's a whole different piece that has grown and evolved. It's going to continue to change. Again, I don't think anybody says we're even close to the end right now with where it's gonna end up. But again, job duties are job duties. As you have evolved, you know, it you're gonna evolve with it. One one of the other spots again, you mentioned those NFL guys and That's a huge part of again my background. Again, where we first, you know, contacted. I was calling about Iowa guys. And Iowa didn't always used to be the best scouts visit. Used to be really tough to get information. It used to be fairly restrictive for scouts starting about a week from now when everybody's gonna be getting on the road. But that was an emphasis for you. You got into Iowa, you started to embrace and kind of take over in this personnel role. It changed fairly rapidly. I was going to be a good visit for NFL Scouts. Talk about the emphasis. Talk about the focus there because again, plenty of Iowa guys going to the league and playing on Sundays every year. Tyler Barnes: Yeah, I mean I I can't speak to before I got back. in 2016, exactly how everything was run. You know, it's I I was in a lower level. I wasn't I would talk to scouts. I'd do my best to try and talk to scouts as much as possible, just to network. And at that point, the NFL was kind of my my dream. not so much anymore as things have evolved, but really, you know, I was a liaison for two years, my last two years at Vanderbilt, and Coach Mason was really good about just, hey, let's be as open as possible, make it easy on the scouts. And I always saw is, you know, scouts are doing the same thing we're doing when we go on the road. You know, I'm not on the road as much as our coaches, but I've been on the road enough in the last ten to twelve years to know that when you call a high school coach or program and it's hard to get in or timing's not right and they're selling you a bunch of BS about a kid when other other coaches in the area are telling you the truth. Like it just makes it tough. Right. So our biggest thing and and we're talking with Coach Ferris is we want to be as open as possible. I try I do my best to be as responsive as possible. I think most scouts would echo that, whether you text, email, call, whatever it is. I'm gonna either respond right away or get right back to you. but the biggest thing is just making sure they have the information needed to, you know, draft or sign our guys. Like obviously if we make the visit as easy as possible, it's, you know, hopefully we have a better chance to get more guys to play on Sundays. And you know, we're never going to sugarcoat stuff with guys. We're going to be pretty honest on everything. And and for the most part, good scouts are going to be able to figure out what they need to figure out when they're on the visit. But just keeping it as open as possible and just again, that's the relationship piece, right? It's no different than agents. Is having a good relationship. There's a bunch of scouts that I could pick up and give a call to if I needed something or hey, let's let's go grab a beer if they're in town. I mean, there'll be a bunch of guys we'll see obviously in Nashville next week. but it still is it still comes down to being a relationship business, you know, and just being able to help out the NFL personnel in the front offices as much as possible. It's good for them and I think it's good for our guys as well, which ultimately is good for the University of Iowa football program. Neil Stratton[[]: How you've been talking to scouts for 10, 15 years, thereabouts, maybe maybe longer. We've seen a lot of evolution of scouts in that time. I would I would argue that 15 years ago, we still were seeing the ex-coaches who were kind of in the fourth quarter of their career. Now we're seeing young guys come in, not not far removed from the field, some that never played, some of them have Ivy League educations, some of their math and finance guys. Do you talk to scouts differently now from when you did when you first got started in the business talking to Tyler Barnes: I wouldn't say not necessarily. I I do think you're right. I mean, I think it's the same in college football too. I think there's just been a boom and more of an interest in in everybody getting into this role. you you can always tell the greener scouts, right? You can tell the greener scouts by just what they ask and how they go about things versus the veterans or the national guys or the director level guys. but I try and be as fair as possible, whoever's in the room. You know, if it's a first year area scout versus having a director in the room, I do tell him like, hey, I want to defer to the director and if if he needs to hear about four guys and I'll hit those guys first and then he bounce out of here or and then I'll get back to everybody else you need to do your reports on. but it's yeah, I th I think it's been a healthy change and evolution within the NFL scouting world. You know, I think it's it's always good. And there's still some old timers out there that are really good. There's no question about it. But you get some of these young, hungry scouts and And having those those guys mix with, you know, the national or director level guys in some of the visits, I think it's probably good for them too. and not like I I'm not an expert by any means going through it. I I try and make our visits, I want to lay everything out, background, character, work ethic, everything, get it right off right there. And my my whole goal is to make it so scouts don't have to ask a million questions. And I want to paint the picture and create that narrative on each guy, tell their story. Most of the guys, again, we recruited, you know, I've known for six, seven years at this point know their families really well. So my biggest thing is be as descriptive as possible. And then hopefully there's not a million questions on each kid post as they're trying to wrap the meeting up. Rodrik David: Yeah. Again, changes with scouting, changes with college football. One thing that hasn't changed at Iowa for a long time has been the head ball coach. Coach Ference, the winningest Big Ten coach. He does it his way, but has had to evolve. There's no you can't be in college football this point and have not evolved to a certain point. Talk about working for him, seeing him over, again, close to 20 years at this point. Again, from his time back in the, you know, when he was as an undergrad to what you're seeing now. Just talk about everything that Coach Ferrance is. Tyler Barnes: Yeah, I he's he's the same guy day in and day out, man. And we talk about consistency. There there's I'm I promise you there's probably not a more consistent coach in his approach and and how he deals with the everything day to day within the program. you know, I mean we're we're a physical program. You know, Roderick, you've been to a practice, like our guys get after it in season, out of season, like that's that's part of our DNA. That's we have to be that way to be able to compete with, you know, some teams that that we're probably punching above a little bit. but again, it's like I said earlier, I mean, he he's He's a great guy to work for because he hires good people and he lets you do your job. obviously he's had to evolve a few different times with the changing, you know, of college football and the evolving landscape. you know, as we hired Tim Lester, our most recent offensive coordinator, as we were going into that, Coach Ferrance was enamored with the Shanahan system, which I'm still pretty positive we're the only college team that f runs the full blown Shanahan system in college football, which is, you know, that that could be dangerous because it's I mean, it's it's word heavy and it's different and When you get guys in here for a couple of years, it certainly makes it better, especially at the quarterback position. But you know, I think and he he does a good job. I mean, he's probably more tied into the NFL than he is into college in terms of the coaching circles, and that's kind of how he's always been. but you just you know what you're gonna get every day. You know, he holds you accountable, but he lets you do your job. And and not saying micromanagers are a bad thing. It's just it's different and it's and this whether it's NFL or college football, it can wear on coaches and staff members, you know, quickly. And that's why I talked about the quality of life. But you know, from from practice schedules to how we recruit to the kids we want in the building, whether it's high school or portal kids, you know, that blueprint still stay the same. And I think that's what gives us an advantage is just that that continuity and that stability. You know, we're not trying to we're not trying to revoke re revamp our program every single year, right? We're not trying to rewrite those blueprints. We know what's worked here. We know the type of kids that have worked here. and you've had to evolve in terms of you know what we do on the field offensively or defensively. You know, we made the big change. It was probably seven or eight years ago now. You know, we're playing we call it our cash spot. But you basically every guy that started in that cash spot's been a draft pick since we moved to that. We're really we just, you we went to a four four four two five rather than a four three. and just little things like that. And it's you know, he he does a good job of being open-minded and listening to everybody on the staff in terms of ideas, what can we tweak, what do we need to do different. You know, our our approach in the podal portal last year was completely different to years before. So there's always self scout that you gotta do after every year. But he's really good about taking everybody's ideas and and letting them run with, hey, what do we need to do to change? What do we need to do to keep up here? but in terms of just his messaging, his consistency on the practice field in the office every day, it's you know, it's tough to beat. And I think that's been obviously a huge, huge part of our success 'cause everything we do starts at the top with him. You know, he's fair. He knows everybody's name in the building from athletic training students to janitorial staff to everybody on the coaching staff and their kids, their wives. I mean, he doesn't he doesn't miss anything, you know. And I think that's it's all genuine, which I think is pretty special in in terms of what what he does and how he operates. Rodrik David: Yeah, absolutely. Neil Stratton[[]: Tyler, we're using the word evolve a lot in this episode, much more than I thought maybe I would have. You, I know you're a team guy, but you're also the GM. So they've made an investment in you. They they think they like the way you're doing things. What has been your priority in evolving the program? Has it been a staff thing or maybe you're trying to beef that up? More technology, different software, anything along those lines? What has have you tried to kind of maybe modernize the Iowa program? Tyler Barnes: Yeah, I mean, I I think the the biggest thing is, you know, we've got a blueprint for who we want to take out of high school. And and I think, you know, you've seen it in the in terms of the Big Ten versus SEC shift. My biggest thing is like, coach, we have money now and we can we can maybe go swing away on some kids that initially we wouldn't have recruited. and just because they're four and five stars doesn't mean they don't fit here. You know, but when you when you ultimately get down to that dollar value, I think there's more kids that we've kind of been a little bit more aggressive on and going out to get. But again, the fit has got to be a r right thing, right? It's I think Roderick, you probably say this the easiest thing to do in scouting is watch film and evaluate what they can do on the football field and athletically. That's my wife could do that if I gave her an eight-hour course. It's all the other things that you're trying to figure out that you don't want to miss on. If we miss on the football player, shame on me. Like that's a hundred percent shame on me and my staff. But it's always the person, you know. So I think you know, we're not a huge, huge technology program. we've evolved and and added some things in the last couple of years where we get down to that and we're using a lot more analytics. there's a lot more in game data speed stuff. You know, it's it that I am a numbers guy, but I try not to rely on that too hard. 'Cause at some point I still want the film to be able to tell a story on on a kid, whether it's high school or portal wise. production at both levels for us is is paramount. You know, for us, we're not gonna take any college kid that hasn't played unless he's one year into his career and we recruited the shit out of him at high school and we know there's a reason we wanted the kid. But if you're a third year guy and I don't care if you're in Alabama and you haven't played, it's just that's scary to us. You know, why would you be better than the guys that we have that in the 2D peer that are developing? You know, and how how can we answer those questions? But I think the biggest thing is just a little bit like you talked about earlier, Neil, is just talking to everybody around the country and sharing ideas and and trying to figure out are we behind in this? Is there something we could do better? we're probably more of a we keep everything we can as simple as possible. in the evaluation process, whether it's high school or portal. but at the same time we're trying to figure out like what's what can be our edge. And I think our biggest edge is just the continuity and the stability and then the culture of our team, which, you know, has again led to success in NFL draft picks. But I think you just you gotta you gotta talk to your peers as much as possible too, just like our coaches do. You know, our coaches do the same thing in their circles as well. But I think in this role you got to be able to do the same thing and You know, can pick up the phone and call Mark Pantoni and ask him about certain things. Now Ohio State's much different than Iowa, but you never know. There might be some things he's doing that that could benefit us as well. Rodrik David: Yeah. Absolutely. The and you talk about again the the identity of Iowa football again starts at the top with Coach Ferrance and whether it didn't matter who has been on the OC, you guys have been a trenches team. The O line at Iowa has been kind of the stable. That is where it has started, it has ended. Good O lines at Iowa usually leads to a lot of games. That's where guys are getting drafted. I think you a couple this year. We're gonna get a lot of love as, you know, scouts get on the road this fall. What is it about, again, Midwest, the corn, something in the water? What is it about what you guys are doing at Iowa that it like, hey, we're going to have at least one draftable O-lineman every year, if not a couple, and we're going to beat you up in the trenches. Tyler Barnes: Yeah, I I think it's one more than anything, it's mentality thing. You know, and that that goes back to recruiting the right kids out of high school. You know, coach started with Coach Morgan, who was a legendary O line coach here, who did a great job. He also recruited the state of Iowa and and he knew everything about every kid under the sun here. and then he switched over to D line and and he didn't miss a step. You know, we had the same success D line wise when Coach Morgan was on that side. And and then really, I mean, I think the what you've seen in in the last couple of years, few years here now with our O line is Coach Barnett, our O line coach. You he's I'm biased he's a central Illinois guy like me, you know, so we've got some commonalities in that facet. But I mean he knows exactly the type of kid he wants. And when you're running a personnel department or you you're going to identify guys when when you're when you know exactly what can fit in that position coach's room and what he wants, it makes the evaluation process so much easier. And I mean, realistically, we we will not go outside a six hour radius to recruit an offensive lineman and we don't need to. I mean Yeah, the SEC's got some beasts, and so do the guys in Texas and the Southwest. But I mean, for us, there's there's plenty of guys in that six hour radius that can come here and be successful. I mean, you look at just the three guys drafted last year, right? Jennings Dunker was from a one A school in Illinois that nobody even knew that existed, right? And this kid comes here and he had a long way to go, right? It took him two and a half years to really develop, but I mean it was two and a half years well worth the investment because you know, his last two years here, he was a beast. and there's certainly some other Tyler Linderbaum, that that's an easy one. But another kid that was probably under recruited. But again, for us at any position, but especially O line D line, like if you if you don't wrestle, if you don't throw shot or diss, there's certain things we're looking for too. And there's benchmarks we want to see. you know, Logan Jones, he played basketball, which is unique in this state for an Iowa kid to not wrestle. but he was a hell of a track athlete. He was a four sport athlete. There's just a lot of commonalities, and all those guys we're looking for, no matter, no matter where you come from. and it's more than just football, right? At this point, it's hard for us to take an offensive lineman that doesn't play both ways in high school. we've done it, but it our preference is that you play both ways. And we almost like seeing the defensive film more than the offensive film. and then we're still a big camp team. Like high school camps, they mean a lot to us. And we want to get kids here because we'll put on pads and helmets and it's three and a half hours of just kicking each other's ass. And part of it's to see, hey, who can survive it? Who doesn't turn it down? Are you at the front of the line? Are you getting after guys? Are you taking the coaching? it's nothing, it's not rocket science. It's really not. It's trying just to be smart about who we're taking and and is the kid made up of the right stuff that we're looking for and and or his parents understanding too that hey, when you get here, this this shit's gonna be really hard. Like really hard. And the whole recruitment process, once you step foot on campus, you know, we're not sucking your ass anymore. And we try and be honest enough front in the recruiting process of what to expect. And Coach Barnett does, you know, probably one of the best jobs on our staff in terms of delivering that message. I mean, he he wants to scare guys away from the recruitment process coming to Iowa more than he's gonna ever sell the program, you know. And if kids Rodrik David: Yeah. Tyler Barnes: are on the edge of their seat and they're just like foaming at the mouth, okay, that's that's a kid we're we're probably interested in. Rodrik David: Yeah. Neil Stratton[[]: Todd, when you hang your hat on the offensive line, are there disadvantages? Because you know, typically, and maybe not as much anymore now, but in the old days, everyone who comes in is gonna be redshirt automatically. We gotta build them up, get them strong, whatever, whatever. There's a number of steps. You were like and you, you know, you you mentioned with Dunker. He kind of had a long way to go. Is it tougher because you do You know you're gonna be built around the offensive line all the time. Is it tougher do your is your job tougher to Iowa as result of that? Tyler Barnes: think so no i don't think so i try and be honest with outside of corners and receivers maybe running backs I try and be honest to all kids and like hey there's there is a high likelihood you're gonna redshirt now the five for five changes thing right but in a perfect Neil Stratton[[]: Yeah. Tyler Barnes: world we would redshirt every freshman we could because physically and mentally I mean that extra year pays huge dividends now again you know the farther away you are from the ball easier it is to play outside I think running back is you know typically a kid can get on the field as long as he can pass pro he's gonna have a chance but those guys in the trenches, it's rare. I mean, we've had I don't I want to say we've had four guys as true freshmen play O line for us and start the year. Well, all four were first round picks. So those guys were they were gifted in a different way than most of the guys we get that walk through the doors here. but most kids, and again, I think it goes back to the people we recruiting, the parents we talked to. I think most parents want their kids, especially O-line D-line-wise, to register. Because when they come and see our practices and Whether it's a six foot seven, three hundred pound kid who looks amazing, like well, you're gonna be three twenty-five by the time you you really play a meaningful snap of football for us. Like mentally and physically, you need that year. And I think they appreciate that, you know, rarely, and rarely, never are we gonna tell a kid that hey, you're gonna have a chance to start as a true freshman year. Every kid's got an opportunity, but believe it or not, we're a Big Ten football program. We have pretty good players on this field, regardless of position. so for us to tell if if we're telling you that one, we're probably lying to you, and two, we're telling you our roster stinks. Like we're not gonna do that, right? You can come in and earn it, but it it's hard to do. Rodrik David: Yeah. Yeah, Tyler, you mentioned some of those other sports. Again, there's been multiple guys, shot and disc guys in high school, track guys in high school. You mentioned the wrestling. Again, Iowa is a state and the Midwest, they turn out some wrestlers. University of Minnesota's had a couple wrestlers that went on to a short football careers. Gable C Stevenson did it. Brock Lesnar had a cup of tea. When is Tyler Barnes gonna call Coach Brands over at one of the great college wrestling programs there? And I wouldn't say, Hey, you got a pretty good looking heavyweight over there. Can we borrow him for a couple of weeks? Tyler Barnes: Normal you know about those guys coming out, and it's that's I was such a mecca. It's it's a hard we we had we had a linebacker who tried to do both and he was a heavyweight. He wasn't a big heavyweight, he was like two hundred and forty-five pound, fifty-pound heavyweight. And it's tough, man. It's grueling. especially at that heavyweight spot. Just it's it's really hard. back in the day it was much easier. You know, when Coach Ferrari's coached the O-line here in the eighties, I think he had four or five guys that played O line and then wrestled for the wrestling team. And but that's back when they were playing you they were playing line at two sixty five, two seventy max, you know. it's just it's a different time. It it's hard. I think it's really hard to do two sports given any sports in college. And I know there's teams that sell kids to get them committed that hey, you can play basketball and play football or hey, you can wrestle or whatever it is. And it's like guys, it's it's really tough. You know, I think not just football, but all of college sports have evolved in it's all twelve month year jobs. Right. So to divvy up your time, it's it's tough. And Normally w we know going into it, like, you know, we've taken a couple of multi sport guys in the past few years, but like football's gotta be your first love and passion, or else it's just g you're gonna miss too much time and it's just too hard to catch up. You know, it's it's we got too many good players on our roster that aren't splitting time fifty fifty doing other stuff. Rodrik David: Yeah, the the physical demands. Football, you beat yourself up and you need some time not to step on a wrestling mat and just beat yourself up in a completely different way. It's it's one of those yeah Tyler Barnes: For sure. Rodrik David: but again, the mental you you talked about that min mentality and there is absolutely something to finding those Midwest guys that have been grinders on the wrestling mat. That's a pretty good fit for Iowa football if they've got that wrestling background still, don't isn't it? Tyler Barnes: No doubt. I mean, just just again the mentality, the the hands, the leverage, you know, it the stuff you see on the wrestling mat. Now, again, for O line, D line guys. Now we've had some wrestlers Rodrik David: Right. Yeah. Tyler Barnes: that were semi-skilled skill guys and there tends to be some stiffness in the hips that you know, I don't think you can really get out at some point. but for the big guys, without a doubt, like w without a doubt and a hundred percent. And the same goes for throwing the shot and disc, right? Discs, not as heavy as a shot, but for us, if you can't throw it fifty plus feet. That's a gigantic red flag for us. I mean, there's just there's a natural explosion to throw a shot over fifty feet. And then obviously some of the better guys, Tristan Worf threw at sixty-nine. You know, that's just those are freakish numbers that you you can't, you can teach it, but you can't, you know, innately you either have that explosion or you don't. Rodrik David: Yeah, yeah. Well well, Tyler, I'm gonna throw one at you again. The surprise question here. Your time with Iowa football, there's been a bunch of guys, again, no surprise. Tristan Wurst goes to the NFL and is what he got. That that was kind of an easy one. Maybe Linder Baum falls into that. Who are some of the guys on that end that were like, Yeah, the the we knew from day one they walk on campus this guy was gonna be special. Now on the flip side, where there may be a couple guys who again through this process, it's one of the tough things for again, scouts do it. I'm sure you do it from an evaluation standpoint, like, man, I really thought he would have more of an NFL career. We'd see more of him after a successful Iowa, Iowa career. Tyler Barnes: Yeah, I mean, the the easiest one is gonna sound cheesy 'cause he's all over the place right now and everybody knows about him Cooper DeGene. I mean, just when you wanna talk about the wanna be one of the most decorated four sport Iowa high school athletes ever, you know, and the fact that he had one power five offer is now COVID probably played into that a little bit, but it's still just it's unbelievable. you know, Cooper's a quiet kid and I'll still never forget he he finally got to campus and Coach Parker, our D B coach, is he calls me like three times. In the night, and I'm finally coached, what do you need? He's like, Hey, you know this Cooper Jean kid can like throw it between his legs, 360 dunks, and he's doing it in flip-flops. I'm like, Yeah, coach. That's why we offered him. That's why we're glad we got him. Now he did redshirt his freshman year, which is kind of crazy. but you knew just the way he operated, and as soon as he stepped on campus and what he was doing athletically in the weight room that summer, you're saying, This this kid's a little bit different. and Zach Lupmer, our current safety, was very, very similar too as soon as he stepped foot on campus. guys that would have thought would have had a little bit more run in the NFL. you know, one is is I consider him a close friend at this point. Ike Bucker, who played with the Bills forever. You know, he had some injury issues, which kind of unfortunately hampered his career. But you know, I would have told everybody he's gonna be a nine to ten year NFL vet. Like no no questions, no, no doubt about it. man, that's a tough question. That's hard because Neil Stratton[[]: Well why Tyler Barnes: We we haven't had a ton of those guys. Like we you kind of know. I mean, Roderick, you you've you've been into our place. Like, I try and be honest with people. Yeah, he's gonna be a PFA, fringe, make the team, practice squad guy. Like, you kinda know, and we try and be as real with you guys as possible on on what we think the skill level of that kid is and what his NFL career could look like. man, that's a tough one. I don't know there's nobody off the top of my head that I could pull and be like, Man, I'd really thought he would have just killed it in the NFL and had a hell of a career. Rodrik David: I loved Nate Palmer, the person, Neil Stratton[[]: Tell her with a culture that you'll have. Rodrik David: the player, the arm, the size. I know there were some There were some issues there with again some some mechanics, and that was again one of those battles. But he I loved him as a development. Hey, this again, the person, you you again talk about the fit and Iowa kid had all the right mindset. He was he was always a kid that I loved and I I fought for losing battle in Atlanta, never never got him in there. But he was one of those guys that always came to my mind. I thought he was gonna be a guy we saw in the NFL at some point. Tyler Barnes: Who who which one was that? Sorry. Rodrik David: Quarterback, Nate Palmer. Tyler Barnes: Yep, okay. Yeah, Nate Stanley. Rodrik David: Nate Stanley. There we go. Nate Stanley, yeah. Tyler Barnes: Yes. Yes. Yeah, Nate Nate was a that was a little surprising. yeah, that that was that was a little surprising unfortunately, 'cause he he had everything you wanted to see and had a pretty decorated career here too. Yeah. Rodrik David: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, he did. Again, was was one of those winning winning Iowa guys. Go ahead, Neil. Neil Stratton[[]: Tyler with the culture you described. Obviously, it seems like maybe it works better in Iowa City because of the nature of where you are. Do you think Coach Ferrance could take that to Nashville or to Atlanta or to Miami and replicate that in the same way? Or does geography kind of play, is it kind of a benefit for y'all? Tyler Barnes: I mean, I think he could. I mean, geography is definitely a benefit for us. And I think if he were in a situation in one of those places, I mean, clearly the the makeup of the team's going to be different, right? Because the footprint of where you're recruiting is certainly going to be different. I think right now you're probably gonna see it at Penn State with Coach Campbell, you know, and what he does out there as well. you know, Coach Ferris grew up in in the state of Pennsylvania. You know, Penn State was kind of always his dream job. And I I think I think he turned it down at least twice. but I think at some point for him too, I mean, he's When you're a good coach, you're a good coach. And obviously geography is gonna play play a little bit into that. But but if you know what you how you're trying to build a team and what the identity truly is, I feel like you should be able to do it anywhere. now the difference is it's two thousand twenty-six and coaches have the shortest hooks in the history of coaching, right? I mean, James Franklin, he was in the national semifinal and six games later he was somehow fired. And they had a really good football team and who knows how the season would have finished last year if he if he were able to coach the rest of the year with those guys. So I think good coaches are good coaches, you know. And I I think at the end of the day, it's depends on are you a culture and a program builder? Are you a player's coach? Are you X's No's guy? Are you Jimmy and Joe's guy? And and there's a mix of everything in between. but but I think just the way he's always gone about building the culture, and obviously he's been here the whole time he's done it. I think he probably could have done it at some other places and been pretty successful too. And it'd be interesting to see what he could have done at a blue blood where he's getting dudes, you know, just flat out dudes versus, you know, our Iowa farm boys and guys we got to develop over over time. But you know, I I I think big part of the reason he stayed here is just because he was allowed to do that and build it his way. You know, being from Pittsburgh, he was a Chuck Knoll guy. I I never obviously met Chuck Knowle, but I read his book and and there's it's it's eerily similar how they think and how they try and build a team and build a culture. and it's you know so far it's worked and I I hope it continues to. Rodrik David: Yeah, yeah, certainly. We're again there. Iowa football has plenty to look forward to, regardless of, you know, anything that happens in college football. Coach Ferrence, Tyler Barnes gonna be leading Iowa the right place. I would Tyler, this has been fantastic. you're active on social, at least somewhat. You have to be doing all that. Where can people come find you if they have questions, if they want to get to know you, learn more about you, where where can they follow you? Tyler Barnes: Yeah, Twitter's the easiest. At Tyler Barnes, Iowa, all one word. it's probably the one I'm most active on and and probably pay the closest attention to. So that's typically the easiest. Not a Snapchat guy. Sorry, all you recruits out there if anybody's watching. Not my thing. keep my Instagram pretty private, but Twitter's wide open. Rodrik David: Awesome, awesome. And Tyler, we're getting close. When do you guys open? Who do you guys open? What's we week zero, week one? Who who do you guys see? Tyler Barnes: Yeah, we're week one, Northern Illinois. And then we got our every year we play Iowa State week two, and they'll come to town with a new staff and a new team here, and then Northern Iowa week three before we open up Big Ten play. And then we we got three pretty hefty weeks in a row when we get into Big Ten play, but it'll be fun. It'll be the fun start stuff to fun stuff starts in a week when we get guys to report for camp and and really start over the next three to four weeks, see what this twenty six Iowa team is really gonna be about and what they're gonna look like. Rodrik David: Yeah, well again we'll we'll see what they're all about come, you know, week one. But we we have a pretty good idea. They're gonna be tough physical football team. I have no question that that's gonna show up, you know, every every week of the year. And we appreciate it. Tyler, we're looking forward to seeing you in Nashville and shaking hands and really appreciate you being on with us. Tyler Barnes: Appreciate it, guys. It was fun.