I’m so sorry, Iowa fans. I’m sorry in advance. You are an amazing fan base, passionate and mostly kind, and have suffered at the hands of that buffoon OC Brian Ferentz for years. But you have to be the example made to everyone about transfer portal tampering.
Why us? Everyone tampers! I know, I know, and you’re right. And I’d love the NCAA to make an example of a bigger program that has tampered to gain more of an advantage. I mean, heck, if you guys tampered so much, your offense wouldn’t have been as inept over the last many years. I get it. You shouldn’t be the example. But you have to be.
The NCAA is finally cracking down on NIL stuff, as we’ve seen with Florida State and now Florida, with many more examples to come. And that’s great, and it’s much needed. However, the transfer portal tampering issue is almost as big as shady NIL practices. Teams poaching players from other rosters is a massive problem, and the NCAA needs to send a few shots across the bow. And what better example than a former 5-star prospect leaving his home state for Alabama only to return? This interview below has to come with consequences….
https://twitter.com/camillegeartv/status/1748786584344813757
Seems like nothing, right? It’s not really. But NCAA rules prohibit coaches from contact, any contact, with players on other rosters. And Iowa reaching out to Kadyn Proctor, even just to tell him to keep his chin up as he struggled early as a starter at Alabama, is against the tampering rules. And it’s clear that it had a huge impact on Proctor when it came time to decide where he would land when he transferred out. It seems innocuous, but it’s still an advantage we can’t have in the sport.
I’m about to see the nasty side of the Iowa fan base, and that’s fine but when we have actual admission of tampering on video, there isn’t a bigger layup for the NCAA. This is a simple chance for them to slap Iowa with a few sanctions, nothing crazy, to try to send a message that tampering won’t be tolerated.
Will it stop it? Nope. Teams will probably just educate their tampered transfers to keep quiet and not do interviews or, at the very least, not admit any contact before they hit the portal. But you have to start somewhere, right? “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying,” is the college football adage. But if the NCAA isn’t punishing, they aren’t trying either. Here’s a chance to show you’re still viable.
