Iowa is turning to former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester to turn around its embattled offense.
After reportedly considering several other candidates including former Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns and current Ohio State offensive analyst Joe Philbin, the Hawkeyes decided on Lester as their new offensive coordinator on Sunday, according to multiple reports.
Iowa is expected to hire former Western Michigan head coach and current Green Bay Packers senior analyst Tim Lester as its new offensive coordinator, sources tell @DavidEickholt and me for @247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 28, 2024
Lester was Western Michigans head coach from 2017-22. pic.twitter.com/gbwmW2cBLz
Lester was the head coach at Western Michigan from 2017-22. From 2018-21, Western Michigan’s offense ranked in the top 35 nationally in total offense each year, including three straight years in the top 25 with the nation’s No. 16 total offense in 2020 and No. 12 total offense in 2021. He was fired after the 2022 season, in which Western Michigan finished 125th out of 131 FBS teams in total offense.
Lester spent the 2023 season with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers as a senior analyst. He was set to become the offensive coordinator at Troy before Iowa hired him.
Sources: Iowa is expected to hire Tim Lester, the former Western Michigan coach, as offensive coordinator. Lester spent the 2023 season as a Green Bay Packers analyst, and was set to take the OC job at Troy. Iowa also strongly considered former Duke OC Kevin Johns, per sources.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 28, 2024
The Hawkeyes ranked dead last in the entire FBS last season with only 234.6 yards of total offense per game – over 28 yards fewer than any other FBS team. Iowa’s offense routinely ranked among the nation’s worst during Brian Ferentz‘s seven-year tenure as offensive coordinator, ranking outside the top 120 in total offense in each of the last three years.
