IOWA CITY, Iowa — With a tone ranging from conciliatory to emotional, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz accepted responsibility for an NCAA recruiting violation that will cost him the 2024 season opener against Illinois State . Ferentz has never missed a game. Not even when his father died in 2004 the week the Hawkeyes played Penn State .
He gave the eulogy on Friday and joined the team Saturday. Advertisement “I know some coaches missed during COVID, but this will be a first-time experience,” Ferentz said at a news conference Thursday. “I’ve been away from the team during game week.
That was unusual, but I guess if there’s a lesson learned going back 20-some years ago, our team just did a great job, staff did a great job, players did a great job. So, it’s hard to be away.” Ferentz, 69, will coach the Hawkeyes throughout game week, then step aside about 11 hours before kickoff on Aug.
31. Wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr also will sit out the opener for the same violation. Both admitted to impermissible contact with a recruit in December 2022, and after several months of discussions with the NCAA, Iowa opted to self-impose one-game suspensions for both coaches plus a loss of off-campus recruiting for one week.
What neither Ferentz nor athletic director Beth Goetz could say was the athlete’s name (cough, Cade McNamara , cough). In December 2022, Budmayr was an Iowa analyst and, as the former Wisconsin quarterbacks coach, he previously had recruited McNamara out of high school before the quarterback chose Michigan. That pre-existing relationship served as an entryway for Iowa to recruit McNamara before he entered the transfer portal, which officially opened Nov.
28, 2022. Three days later, McNamara committed to Iowa. Forget for a moment about McNamara’s performance thus far at Iowa, which was marred by an ACL tear last fall.
The transfer portal race is a collection of vehicles zooming well over the limit along the interstate. To get a quarterback, everyone speeds. The difference here is, Ferentz got caught.
The lesson for Iowa — and all schools — is pay the fine, do the time and be more careful straddling the line. But don’t slow down. McNamara is one of 15 Big Ten starting quarterbacks who began their career at another school.
Since last December, 10 teams picked up new quarterbacks and seven of them selected their new team within 11 days of entering the transfer portal. Without resorting to an annoying brand of whataboutism, I find it difficult to absorb that every contact was made after each one hit the portal. Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox.
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This summer, The Athletic contacted high school coaches in the Chicago and Kansas City metro areas and polled them anonymously on how college programs recruit their athletes. If there was a universal opinion, it was that NIL made their jobs more difficult. College assistants regularly use high school coaches as go-betweens to ensure messages float to current college players and avoid official tampering.
Advertisement “Former players of ours that are currently in college will have coaches reach out,” one Kansas City-area high school coach told The Athletic . “It’s illegal for them to contact the player if they’re not in the portal and they’ll say, ‘Hey, Coach (name redacted), just wondering how so and so’s doing at so-and-so college. If he’s considering getting in the portal, this would be the NIL he could get at our school.
’ They can’t contact the family, they can’t contact the kid. So it seems like they rely back on the high school coach, and we kind of become the middleman or broker. I almost feel dirty being that person.
” In every level of football, it’s almost impossible to win without a good quarterback. To identify the right quarterback, it takes time. But time is a luxury when the portal opens two days after conference championships conclude and every available quarterback has his routing numbers visible for direct deposit.
Tampering is widespread, but there are lines you can’t cross. Unfortunately for Iowa, Ferentz and Budmayr went over the line. But let’s not clutch our pearls and faint upon the alter of self-righteousness, either.
Neither Ferentz nor Goetz went into details regarding how the issue came to light. It doesn’t appear another school turned in Iowa. McNamara had discussed his recruitment at length with multiple media outlets so a detail or two could have slipped.
He remains eligible and is Iowa’s starting quarterback, Ferentz confirmed Thursday. Kirk Ferentz’s admission of wrongdoing. pic.
twitter.com/wvbERK9T7h — Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) August 22, 2024 McNamara presided over a Michigan offense that won the 2021 Big Ten championship against Iowa and earned a College Football Playoff berth. After splitting time with J.
J. McCarthy to start the 2022 campaign, McNamara played in just three games before he was sidelined for the season following knee surgery. That fall, Iowa capped one of the worst offensive seasons in Big Ten annals (only to fall even further after McNamara’s injury in 2023) and needed a quarterback.
The union seemed mutually beneficial. “I think there’s some unique circumstances surrounding this particular case, but the bottom line is, it was impermissible contact,” Ferentz said. “That’s what the investigation is about and the facts are the facts.
So there’s a line, and I crossed that line. I made a bad error in judgment, and I’m just going to take ownership, and I’m not lumping it with anything else.” Advertisement Ferentz stresses accountability within his program and he owned his transgression on Thursday.
He accepted responsibility for figuratively driving 80 mph on the portal superhighway when the speed limit is 70. He also knows many competitors are driving 90, but he’s not going to out them. It wouldn’t do him any good.
As soon as December, the Hawkeyes could look for another quarterback. Like two years ago with McNamara, they need to target someone who fits their program and their scheme. Also like two years ago, they need to be aggressive.
But this time, Ferentz and company need to cover their tracks a little better and stay away from direct contact. In other words, use a radar detector because everyone around them is still driving 85. (Photo of Kirk Ferentz: Julia Hansen / USA Today).
