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Father of former Iowa QB responds to Ed Cunningham’s comments regarding Iowa staff

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

A few days ago, longtime ESPN college football commentator Ed Cunningham stepped away from his broadcasting duties due to the violent nature of the sport.

When asked why he was stepping down from his broadcasting duties, Cunningham pointed towards the growing concerns of brain damage and other injuries. Most notably though, the former ESPN personality said that last year’s Outback Bowl between Florida and Iowa was the final straw.

He talked about Iowa’s reluctance to pull quarterback C.J. Beathard from the game, despite showing signs of a leg injury. It was something that didn’t sit well with Cunningham.

“And it was hard for me not to walk down after the game and just say: ‘Dudes, what are you doing? Really? What are you doing?’ These are just kids,” he told the New York Times.

But it might not have been Kirk Ferentz or the Iowa coaching staff that kept Beathard in the game. The former Iowa quarterback may have wanted to keep playing, despite the injury.

In text messages sent between Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register and Casey Beathard, C.J.’s father, it seems like the older Beathard had no problem with how his son was treated in that game.

Here’s the text message exchange.

Casey points to his son’s toughness and competitiveness in the text, saying “he will never fault those coaches or any other coach for possible dangerous situations.”

It might’ve been the last straw for Cunningham, but keeping Beathard in the game last January doesn’t appear to bother the quarterback or his father.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB