Outside law firm determines Iowa Hawkeye football program racist

Racism Score: 4.0

Update 10/19/20 – Eight Black football players are suing Iowa for $20 million.

Sometimes when there is smoke, there is fire. In the case of the Iowa Hawkeye’s football program, there was a systemic fire, aka racism.

Do not take our word for it. The Des Moines Register provides an in-depth review of the external investigation. The law firm Husch Blackwell conducted a review of the program due to concerns raised by former and current players.

To sum it up, the report indicates “the program’s rules perpetuated racial or cultural biases and diminished the value of cultural diversity.” In addition, “The program over-monitored players to the point that they experienced heighted anxiety and maintained a culture that allowed a small group of coaches to demean players.” Yikes.

Apparently the “Iowa Way” was built around the stereotypical clean-cut white Midwestern athlete image. Iowa essentially expressed to the players, if ain’t white, it ain’t right.

Someone always needs to take the fall when a story such as this is brought to light. In this instance, it was former strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle.

Unsurprisingly, the coach who had the most accusations, Brian Ferentz, the son of head coach Kirk Ferentz remains employed.