Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Michigan Tuesday: The Tipping Point at Iowa Football

We all know what a tipping point is, for the New England Patriots it happened when Drew Bledsoe got injured in 2001.  For Michigan Football, it could have been two tipping points.   The App State debacle or the hiring of Rich Rod, both were equally devastating and put the program back for years.

It's happening now for Iowa Football and the latest report of racial biases and inequalities in the football program.   Iowa's Diversity Task Force released a report in 2019 to coach Ferentz outlining the following for African American players:
  • "Expected to conform to White culture"
  • "Subjected to verbal harassment"
  • "Targeted for extra drug testing"
  • "Misled about resources available to them during the recruiting process"
  • "Subjected to inequitable discipline policies and double standards"
  • "Misunderstood by both coaches and White player"
  • "Unsupported in their academic pursuits"
Iowa removed their S&C guy but this type of racism comes from the top of the organization.  The NCAA is ready to punish organizations for giving kids money to come to their school but are they gong to let this slide?   I understand Kirk has been at Iowa for many years and has a solid win-loss record, but how is he still leading this program?

As we know from every lopsided OSU - Michigan game that recruiting is the life blood of any college football program.  How in the world is Iowa going to be able to recruit any players to Iowa City?

Iowa is never ranked as one of the top recruiting classes in the country and does a pretty good job of developing 3 star players.  But is even that level of recruiting going to slip?   How many African American parents are going to be sending their kids to Iowa to play for a racist coaching staff?  Yes, they have removed one coach but if your read Social Media, many former players feel there are more coaches on staff and one that is even related to the head coach.  

These leadership changes are tough, but I don't see any successful path forward for Iowa Football without a new coaching staff.   I expect there will be a Mark Dantonio type of retirement in the next 12 months. 



from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/07/michigan-tuesday-tipping-point-at-iowa.html

No comments:

Post a Comment