NCAA announces Iowa football, Kirk Ferentz committed tampering violations

The NCAA announced tampering violations against head coach Kirk Ferentz, assistant coach Jon Budmayr, and the Iowa Football program on Tuesday. The NCAA did not specify the player involved in the incident.

Per the release, Iowa was in heavy contact with a student-athlete who was enrolled at another NCAA school at the time and who had not yet entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. This occurred prior to the 2023 season. Budmayr also communicated with the parent of the student-athlete prior to his entry into the Portal. 13 different phone calls and two text messages were stated in the release.

Budmayr then set up a phone call between the student-athlete and Ferentz, who assured him that he would be welcomed to their program. Just days later, the player entered the Portal and quickly committed to Iowa.

“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 student-athlete participated in five games during the 2023 season, putting Iowa in hot water.

Iowa will have four wins vacated from 2023 season due to violations

Because of this, the Hawkeyes will vacate four wins from the season (the student-athlete competed in five games total). Kirk Ferentz‘s official win-loss record dips to 209-128, but he still remains the winningest head coach in Big Ten history. He has served as Iowa‘s head coach since 1999.

Per the release, Iowa did not agree with vacating wins from the 2023 season. They reportedly stated that the action is ‘outdated.’ However, the panel agreed with the decision, and it will stand. The wins for Iowa that will be vacated came against Utah State, Iowa State, Western Michigan, and Michigan State.

“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 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.”