Iowa football forced to vacate wins for transfer portal tampering

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with new information

Iowa football will be forced to vacate wins from the 2023 season following an investigation into recruiting tampering violations in the 2022 transfer portal.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions released its findings and decision on Tuesday, April 14.

In its release, the committee found Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr had made "impermissible contacts" with a student-athlete who had not yet entered the transfer portal in November of 2022.

The release doesn't mention the name of the student-athlete specifically, but a story from HawkCentral — part of the USA TODAY Network — in 2024 mentioned the investigation was catalyzed in relation to their recruitment of Cade McNamara.

The NCAA considered this a Level II-Mitigated violation for Ferentz, the Hawkeyes and all involved, and disclosed that Ferentz has to vacate four wins during the 2023 season from his overall record. There was also a one-year probation imposed on the Hawkeyes.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ferentz said he is "disappointed by the NCAA’s decision."

"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," Ferentz said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Hawkeye Central.

"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."

The findings mention former Iowa analyst and now assistant wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr participated in 13 phone calls with the student-athlete and/or his father, as well as sending two text messages. It also mentioned Budmayr arranged for the student-athlete to speak on the phone with Ferentz, who assured him that he would have a home at Iowa. After an initial contact with the Hawkeyes, the student-athlete entered the portal and committed to Iowa a "few days later."

Budmayr had a previous relationship with McNamara before the Hawkeyes pursued him out of the transfer portal. McNamara had been recruited out of high school by Budmayr, who at the time was serving as Wisconsin's quarterbacks coach. McNamara committed to Michigan out of high school.

In a 2024 article from The Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, McNamara said on a 2023 podcast he knew he was transferring to the Hawkeyes when he entered the portal after three seasons at Michigan. McNamara would spend two seasons at Iowa before transferring to East Tennessee State after the 2024 season.

Ferentz acknowledged the violation in a media availability ahead of Iowa's Week 1 game in 2024. Both Ferentz and Budmayr also served a one-game suspension, imposed by Ferentz and Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz, for that season opener.

While the committee considered the one-game suspensions for Ferentz and Budmayr were sufficient, they mentioned the four wins the Hawkeyes had with McNamara playing "ineligible" in the 2023 season still needed to be vacated.

"When respected individuals identify their mistakes and take responsibility for them, it sets the standard for appropriate behavior within their programs, universities and, more importantly, across the broader industry," the Division I Committee on Infractions panel said in a statement on their decision. "The panel appreciates the actions taken by Iowa and Ferentz to publicly address his and his staff member's conduct."

Here's a full breakdown of the penalties that were given out to the Hawkeyes:

• One year of probation.
• A fine of $25,000 (self-imposed by the school).
• A two-week ban on all football recruiting communication during the 2026 calendar year (self-imposed by the school).
• A 24-day reduction in recruiting person days, including two weeks during which Ferentz was prohibited from off-campus recruiting activity in 2025, as well as four days during which Budmayr was prohibited from recruiting during the 2025 spring evaluation period (self-imposed by the school).
• A vacation of all records in which the student-athlete competed while ineligible.
• A one-game suspension for Ferentz and Budmayr during the 2024 football season (self-imposed by the school).

Iowa statement on NCAA decision on recruiting tampering

Here's a joint statement from Goetz and university president Barbara Wilson on Tuesday:

“Throughout this nearly two-and-a-half-year process, the university has fully cooperated with the NCAA enforcement staff," the statement read. "More importantly, when the facts revealed that violations had taken place, the institution and the head coach publicly accepted full responsibility and self-imposed several significant sanctions, something few others have done. We believe the decision of adding the penalty of the forfeiture of wins is unwarranted. The matter is now closed, and we have moved forward.”

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