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LESTER REVAMPS IOWA Iowa football offensive coordinator Tim Lester is shaping an offense off of a perilous previous season. Colin Votzmeyer Sports Editor
colin.votzmeyer@dailyiowan.com
While the onus is often on his players to put in the extra work, get an extra rep, and rebuild the Iowa football offense, Tim Lester ensures the same applies to him. Coaches aren’t required to be the first one in the building or the last one to leave it. But when starting tight end Luke Lachey got to an offseason lift at 5 a.m., just weeks after Lester’s hiring as offensive coordinator, he peeked into his coach’s office window and caught him already watching game film. Thus, Lachey’s first interactions with Lester were learning connections, with Lachey spending half an hour in Lester’s office discussing just one aspect of the offense alone. “Coach Lester’s awesome; it’s great to have him here,” Lachey said. “It was really cool to be able to learn some new things … He really cares about us. He puts in a lot of work for us to succeed.” Lester joined the Hawkeyes this season to replace head coach Kirk Ferentz’s son, Brian, at the offensive coordinator position after Brian Ferentz’s rollercoaster ride of stipulations and struggles throughout the 2023 season. These stipulations included a reworked contract for Brian Ferentz, requiring the team to average at least 25 points per game. Otherwise, his contract would be terminated.
INSIDE
So, a long season of grueling and gritty wins were motivated much by a stout defense instead. The Hawkeyes averaged just over 15 points — en route to the season’s worst offense in college football — leading Brian Ferentz and Iowa football to part ways. In came Tim Lester, a 47-year-old family man from Wheaton, Illinois, with a lesser-known name but a soft demeanor and knack for the brains of football. His intellect and football savvy have quickly proven themselves through his natural ability to analyze a play in true depth and describe in detail what’s missing. Lester’s contract runs through the first half of 2026. His salary is just over $1 million — up from Brian Ferentz’s $850,000. And where Hawkeye fan reactions were mixed — as they always are — Lester’s resume looked to hit “reset” on this offense and even justify the hefty paycheck. With 22 years of coaching experience across all levels of football, Lester piqued Kirk Ferentz’s interest while embedded with the NFL as a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers. His tenure with the Packers included an impressive flip of the season from a 2-5 start to a 9-8 record and second-place finish in the NFC North come playoffs — much behind the development of quarterback Jordan Love. The No. 7 Packers then stunned the No. 2 Cow-
LESTER | 2A
New ramen shop lands in Iowa City The new restaurant named Paper Crane, coming from the team behind The Webster, will open in Iowa City by the end of the month.
Reel change The critical importance of understanding cinema’s history, while preserving the stories. SPORTS | 1B
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NEWS | 8A
Construction on a new, casual, traditional-Japanese-inspired restaurant on Iowa City’s north side is nearly complete. Once the space is fully moved in, service is expected to begin before the month is out, offering a welcoming and diverse dining experience to Iowa City. The new restaurant is coming to Iowa City from the two co-owners and the chef behind the nationally-acclaimed Iowa City restaurant The Webster. They are partnering with a longtime staff member who originally introduced the idea of Paper Crane two years ago. The Webster is known for its upscale environment serving American cuisine. Still, the staff working on the new restaurant want to achieve the opposite with their new restaurant, Paper Crane Ramen Shop and Cocktail Lounge. Paper Crane will be located at 121 N. Linn St. and is eyeing its first day of business by the end of the month. The restaurant is modeled after traditional Japanese ramen bars, offering a more casual dining experience, Chief Partner and long-time Webster team member Edwin Lee said. Traditional Japanese ramen bars are small, fast settings with room to sit at the bar and with other seating around the perimeter. Ramen bars are typically peaceful environments that separate the dining environment from the busy outside world, Lee said. “It’s meant to be more approachable in terms of environment, vibe, and price point,” he said. “In Japan, it’s very fast and casual where you come in, and it’s on your lunch break. It’s a food that blue-collar people and office workers come in and, really quickly, sit down for 20 minutes and eat.” Lee said concepts for the new restaurant began in 2022 when he approached his boss, The Webster’s co-owner and chef Sam Gelmen, about a
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Tailgates were in full swing during Iowa’s Big Ten opener against Washington.
news@dailyiowan.com
LOCATION OF PAPER CRANE The new restaurant will serve Japanese-inspired food, including ramen.
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PHOTOS: Coast-tocoast fan base
Evan Watson News Reporter
IOWA AVE Map by Emily Pavlik | The Daily Iowan
ramen pop-up dinner, which is, by design, a onetime dining event featuring food not typically on the menu. “We closed down the Webster for one night just to do this pop-up dinner and it went pretty well,” Lee said. He said that pop-up dinner’s success guided further conversations about Paper Crane. After that, Lee, Sam Gelmen, and his wife Riene Gelman agreed to go in on this new venture together. The restaurant’s theme and menu include multiple Japanese-inspired items. Lee said five different types of ramen will be the
restaurant’s focus, including a vegan option that can be customized with a variety of protein choices. Sam Gelman, co-owner of The Webster, said the process to open Paper Crane has taken most of the two years since the original pop-up dinner took place. It took time to find a suitable space and settle the lease with the previous tenant. By early 2024, construction began to design the space into what will now be Paper Crane, he said. Sam Gelman said the work yet to be completed is the most important and timely to
RAMEN | 5A
JoCo passes agreement to curb gun violence
The Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County was given funds for an intervention program. Jacob Calvin News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors recently enacted a new way to curb gun violence and community violence as a whole throughout the county: the establishment of a Community Violence Intervention Program, also known as CVI. During its Sept. 26 formal session, the board established the program through an agreement with the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County for $208,000 for
“The goals are to keep people in the community safe, alive, and out of prison.” Jessica Lang
CVI coordinator their role in implementing the program over the next two years. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the program runs until December 2026 to address
underlying causes of violence in the county. The program, officially launched in June 2023, aims to address the underlying causes of violence. “The goals are to keep people in the community safe, alive, and out of prison,” Jessica Lang, the CVI program coordinator, said. “We work closely with law enforcement and community partners as well as credible messengers, and those are people with lived experience to help us identify people who are at high risk for gun violence or community violence.”
JOCO | 6A