Every year when college and pro football comes to an end it can only mean one thing — coaching changes. Rarely do you find a job that is so widely publicized than when you get hired or fired as a football coach.

It’s odd that after a team has a bad season the coach is automatically fired and no one really says anything about it, even though each and every day it’s the athletes out there losing the games.

On the other hand, it’s bizarre that after one or two good seasons, some coaches either get huge raises or offers from bigger and better places — and once again, no one really says a thing, even though the players are the ones winning the games.

Don’t get me wrong, I obviously understand that a good coach can make a team great and those coaches should be rewarded. But sometimes a program or team believes they have to make some sort of adjustment and it almost always starts with a coach, when it probably shouldn’t.

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz just turned down an offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars to continue coaching the Hawkeyes. This past season did open some eyes as Ferentz’s Hawkeyes made it to one of the most anticipated bowl games, the Orange Bowl, but if you look at the Hawkeyes’ season a little closer, you may wonder where the NFL interest comes in.

Iowa won all of its games in the Big Ten, which is impressive, except the Big Ten wasn’t as strong as it should have been. Not to mention they didn’t play the best team in the conference, national champion Ohio State.

Ferentz was just 11-24 at Iowa before this year’s 11-2 season, in which they lost to a 7-7 Iowa State team at home and got embarrassed in the Orange Bowl. Sounds like Ferentz has trouble winning the big games, but hey, let’s give him an NFL job.

Why would anyone really want an NFL job anyway, considering the ridiculous decision made by the San Francisco 49ers when they let Steve Mariucci go earlier this week? Apparently four playoff appearances in six years with a weak defense and inconsistent running game is a bad thing.

But instead of going to the big time, Ferentz will stay in Iowa and enjoy his new raise, which just happens to put him slightly above Iowa State coach Dan McCarney’s new contract.

Which brings me to my next point — Why did Iowa State give McCarney a new contract? Dan “draw play up the middle” McCarney is a fine man and a pretty good coach, but he has, perhaps, been given credit for things that were out of his control.

In the years it took McCarney to apparently turn the ISU program around, the Big 12 has also become the strongest football conference in the country. This means more attention and TV coverage, better players and ultimately stronger competition.

So when the athletic department says McCarney has caused football revenue to go from $9.1 million in 1999 to nearly $14 million in 2002, you have to wonder how much he had to do with that when nearly every Big 12 team has seen such increases as the conference continues its dominance.

I’m trying not to be a pessimist, but take a look at McCarney’s career like this: He is 36-57 with three trips to mediocre bowl games and one bowl win — it should be two wins but that’s another Tony Yelk story altogether. The bowl years have seen the team win the games it should win and lose the games it should lose, except, of course, for the surprising loss to Connecticut.

Not to mention how throughout McCarney’s years, fans have been frustrated with predictable play-calling (does running it up the middle for six years sound familiar?) and inconsistent defense.

I don’t mind that McCarney is still at Iowa State, but a contract for nearly a million dollars that keeps him here until 2010 seems to be rather unjustified when that time and money could be put towards some fresh blood that may be able to move Iowa State higher up in the Big 12.

Should Iowa State fans settle for being one of the teams in the Big 12 that isn’t quite as good as the big dogs like Oklahoma, Kansas State and Texas? Or should fans expect some sort of a change that will make the Cyclones legitimate Big 12 title contenders?

But who really knows, with the way the coaching cycle works, McCarney could be 8-5 next year and get offered an NFL coaching job. Or Connecticut coach Randy Edsall, coming off the school’s biggest win when they beat Iowa State, could be the next big thing.

Kyle Moss is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale. He is the sports editor of the Daily.