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Iowa receives several penalties for tampering violations under Kirk Ferentz in 2022
By Ethan Stone
Published:
The NCAA has officially determined that tampering violations occurred in the Iowa football program in November of 2022. Several penalties were imposed on Iowa football Tuesday afternoon, as a result.
Specifically, the NCAA stated in a release Tuesday that head coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr had “impermissible contacts” with a player enrolled at another school before they entered the transfer portal. That player, Cade McNamara, played for Michigan at the time, and eventually did transfer to Iowa to be the school’s starting quarterback in 2023 and 2024.
These violations have been known for some time, and Iowa has already taken several steps to address the violations. Ferentz served a self-imposed 1-game ban for the violations as well as other self-imposed restrictions during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which were acknowledged by the NCAA on Tuesday.
In addition, the NCAA ruled that Iowa will forfeit 4 wins from games McNamara appeared in during the 2023 season. Iowa has also been put on probation and will play a $25K fine. Because he was declared eligible for 2025, Iowa’s 5 wins with McNamara under center in 2024 have not been vacated.
Ferentz responded to the penalties on Tuesday, insisting the decision to vacate wins is “overly harsh and inconsistent with the violation.” Here’s a look at Ferentz’ full response:
“I am disappointed by the NCAA’s decision today,” Ferentz said. “Throughout the process, our program has been open and honest about my mistake – contacting a potential player in the hours before it was permissible by NCAA rules. I felt it was important to make amends for the issue, which is why I voluntarily served a one-game suspension to start the 2023 season. I believe today’s decision by the NCAA vacating four wins in our 2023 season is overly harsh and inconsistent with the violation. As I tell our team and staff, it is how you respond and move forward that defines you. Our focus is on the 2026 season and that is how we are moving forward.”
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Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.