The Iowa football program is facing serious allegations of tampering and will have four wins from the 2023 season vacated, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.
The coaches named in the notice of tampering violations are head coach Kirk Ferentz, assistant coach Jon Budmayr, and the program as a whole.
According to the NCAA release, the Hawkeyes were in close contact with a student-athlete at another school who had not yet entered the transfer portal before the 2023 season. The statement of charges also claims that Budmayr was in contact with the athlete’s parents before the portal opened.
The NCAA release revealed 13 phone calls and two text messages exchanged between the coaches and parents.
As the report claims, Budmayr arranged a phone call between the student-athlete and head coach Kirk Ferentz. The head coach reportedly assured the athlete that he would be welcomed warmly at Iowa. The athlete then committed to the Hawkeyes mere days later when the portal opened.
“Under current NCAA rules, when a student-athlete transfers to a school that engaged in tampering, the student-athlete becomes ineligible pending reinstatement,” the release read. The player participated in five games for the Hawkeyes in the 2023 season.
Iowa protested the NCAA’s decision, calling the punishment “outdated,” but was overruled.
“When respected individuals identify their mistakes and take responsibility for them, it sets the standard for appropriate behavior within their programs, universities, and, more importantly, across the broader industry,” the NCAA panel stated. “The panel appreciates the actions taken by Iowa and Ferentz to publicly address his and his staff member’s conduct.”
“Changes to historical practice — particularly around what violations trigger student-athlete ineligibility and how ineligible competition is penalized — should be made by more traditional governance committees through the governance and legislative process. The COI is open to reevaluating the violations that trigger ineligibility or how ineligible competition should be penalized, but it would be inappropriate to do so in the context of a single infractions case and outside of the legislative process.”
The NCAA will vacate the Hawkeyes’ victories against Utah State, Iowa State, Western Michigan, and Michigan State.
Ferentz, who has been the head coach at Iowa since 1999, will have his win record reduced from 213 to 209.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.