Hlas column: A dreary Hawkeyes football season keeps getting bleaker

There's no way to sugarcoat this. Something's rotten in the state of Hawkeyeland.

As if last week's arrest of senior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos on multiple drug charges weren't enough, now comes the news another player - a prominent player - is abruptly leaving the team. Another player - a prominent player - is not being taken to the Insight Bowl with the Hawkeyes though he has been medically cleared to go.

No reasons were given for those two annoucements in the press release Iowa put out late Monday afternoon, but they had to be bad. The departure of running back Jewel Hampton and the suspension that hasn't been called a suspension of running back Adam Robinson on the same day ... the news that Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz would hold a 10 a.m. press conference Tuesday with athletic director Gary Barta by his side ... oh boy.

We in the media have no choice but to tiptoe across this minefield. But many of you have heard or read rumors about the Hawkeyes and possible upcoming suspensions and/or dismissals. They have flown through cyberspace in a days-long meteor shower.

It was telling Monday afternoon when the Dec. 28 Insight Bowl was pulled off the boards of virtually every casino sports book in Nevada. Missouri had been a 1-point favorite over Iowa at most of the major casinos Monday morning. The line was adjusted to 1.5 points at some books because considerable money was placed on Missouri in the afternoon. Soon after, most Las Vegas books suspended wagering on the contest.

Bowl game betting lines were established in Las Vegas early last week. Typically, lines on bowls have fluctuation in the first day or so after they are posted, then they settle down until the game draws near. It's unusual for a bowl - especially a minor one - to have a lot of money go one way in the middle of a weekday afternoon 15 days before kickoff.

Often, games won't have betting lines until injuries or off-field matters of note are clarified. When betting is halted because of one-sided wagering, casinos raise red flags. Clearly, they Nevada felt something was afoot at Iowa.

The No. 1 question now being asked by bookmakers, as well as Hawkeye fans, is simple: Are there more dismissals and/or suspensions to come? That was answered, at least partly, later in the afternoon with an Iowa press release.

Hampton was a fine player when healthy, which wasn't often. He is coming off his second major knee surgery. He had a touchdown run in a loss at Arizona before tearing an ACL.

Robinson, of course, was having an All-Big Ten-caliber season before missing two of Iowa's final four regular-season games because of concussions. He had 1,231 total yards. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi called him the most valuable player of the Hawkeyes' offense at one point in the season.

This comes on the heels of the Johnson-Koulianos arrest, the blackest eye for the Iowa program since the arrests for sexual abuse to then-Hawkeyes Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield in 2007. Everson's trial is next month, by the way, so the spectre of that still isn't fully gone.

The Johnson-Koulianos bust wasn't about a college kid who got caught with a nickel bag of dope. His charges of possession of marijuana and cocaine, running a drug house, and unlawful possession of prescription drugs figuratively raked the Iowa program over hot coals.

Johnson-Koulianos was famously and repeatedly in and out of Ferentz's good graces over the years, but never for anything illegal. Second-guessing is second nature now, but you can't help but wonder if Johnson-Koulianos' presence at Iowa would have been shortened had he not been such an effective playmaker.

Of course, you know what the public reaction would have been toward Ferentz had he run off a contributor for what people would consider minor disciplinary violations.

Tuesday morning's press conference should be interesting. You could call it a circus atmosphere, but circuses make people smile.