Iowa confirms staff shake-up

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

Two days before National Signing Day, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz officially confirmed three transitions on his coaching staff — two outgoing and one incoming.

Leaving the football program are Erik Campbell and David Raih. Campbell’s departure was first reported on Jan. 3 and later confirmed by a source to HawkeyeDrive.com that same day. As of Monday, Campbell hasn’t officially accepted a coaching job elsewhere. He had served as Iowa’s wide receivers coach for the last five seasons.

“I am appreciative of his many contributions to our program and wish him the best in the future,” Ferentz said about Campbell in a statement released Monday.

Meanwhile, Ferentz acknowledged Raih had accepting a position in the Texas Tech football program under its new head coach, Kliff Kingsbury. Raih is a former Iowa quarterback who served as a graduate assistant under Ferentz and handled the coaching duties with tight ends during the 2012 season.

The addition to Iowa’s program is D.J. Hernandez, who will serve as a graduate assistant after handling similar duties previously at Miami (Fla.) under Al Golden. Hernandez tweeted he was taking a job at Iowa on Jan. 4 and prior to Monday’s announcement had already been listed in the UI’s online directory. In the same release sent out Monday by the UI, Ferentz confirmed what Hernandez said last month about taking over Raih’s position of coaching the Hawkeye tight ends in 2013.

Hernandez is the brother of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who had Brian Ferentz as his position coach in 2011 prior to Ferentz joining his father’s staff in 2012.