Former Iowa players speak out about racial disparities within the program

I've said it once before but my gut said it would take a lot more for Iowa to actually oust Ferentz even as more stories like this one seem to continue.  I do hope it starts costing them recruits.

 
ESPN: Iowa football and Kirk Ferentz see Black players speak out on program's racial inequities

"They wanted us to be white Iowa kids. [They] wanted us to fit that mold. We couldn't be us. We had to be like them."

Hawkeye Nation also reported that of the 33 players Iowa brought to Big Ten media days from 2009 to 2019, only 10 were Black -- the fewest of any school in the conference. There were two years when Iowa only brought white players, while every other Big Ten school always included at least one Black player.

"It was almost like they were trying to portray the perfect white guy that represented Iowa football," former cornerback Jordan Lomax told the "Washed Up Walkons" podcast. "Guys were like, 'If I want to go to Big Ten media days ... I've got to at least dress different or act different or be different, because I'm trying to get to that level.' We see that. We're like, 'Why can't one of us go? Why can't more of us go?'

"It's just a constant theme. And that kills guys psychologically."
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Silver lining about the current state of NU football and 100 different coaches over the past 15 years is that it is tough to have racial inequality culture issues permeating throughout a program that doesn't even have a semblance of a culture.  That said, hope the current leaders both better than this and also watching closely. 

 
suh_fan93 said:
I feel absolutely zero empathy for Ferentz for one and the rest of the Iowa coaches and admin.  Some heads need to fall and KF should be the first imo.  Too many reports from ex players now.
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If it gets bad enough he'll retire after the year, but firing Doyle sent the message that KF isn't taking the fall here. They are committed to him, and it's probably not going to be possible to prove discrimination, even though it's pretty clear that it exists. I doubt they document every punishment so an analysis of that aspect won't be conclusive enough, and despite it being BS they can say the dress code/how to speak/etc does apply to all players. The fact that it's forcing one group to change more than another will be acknowledged (hence the relaxing of a few things), but they'll hide the racial implications behind something like "every player has to do that."

This may have accelerated his retirement timeline, but barring a few more stories as blatant as DJK they'll let Ferentz continue. Probably the only thing he's worried about at this point is if they keep pushing on the black graduation rates, that's a pretty bad look. 

"Don't get me wrong, the University of Iowa presented me the best opportunity to make it to the NFL. Just, throughout the journey, you gotta ask yourself: How much of my identity am I willing to sacrifice?"
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"But of course I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because I don't want [people to say], 'Lo's out here discouraging recruits to come to Iowa.' It's that weird dynamic here, where it's like, can you really be vulnerable? Can you tell the truth?"
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Things like former players implying they couldn't be truthful in recruiting, or calculating how much being able to be themselves in college is worth are some pretty big red flags in my opinion. But KF has the fanbase behind him probably 80 percent, and the national perception seems to be "well, it's not that surprising in Iowa" so I think it'll be largely ignored.

 
KF is benefiting from the news cycle this year being dominated by covid/will there be a season IMO. Any other year and this is the main story and the pressure to step down would be too great to overcome or at least a multiple game suspension like Meyer got. Some of these latest articles are pretty disturbing with things like the lowest black graduation rate, least black players taken to media day, only 2 black assistants in 11 of his 21 years. It's obviously not an inclusive culture.

 
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