Former Iowa Hawkeyes football players add linebackers coach to discrimination lawsuit

IOWA CITY — Seven former Hawkeye football players accusing the University of Iowa Athletics Department and several coaches of racially-motivated discrimination and harassment have added Seth Wallace, linebackers coach and assistant defensive coordinator, to the list of defendants they’re suing.

Also in an amended suit filed this month with the U.S. District Court, the former players have levied additional accusations against head coach Kirk Ferentz, his son and offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, former strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle and Athletic Director Gary Barta.

The legal battle over allegations of pervasive racism in the Hawkeye football program began in November 2020 following outcry from former players on social media and years of internal and external investigations into accusations of discrimination.

The players have made myriad requests for hundreds of thousands of documents and investigative reports on coaches, creating a tug of war and accusations of delay tactics — which the UI has vehemently denied, citing the throngs of pages they’ve produced and attorney-client privilege protecting withheld records.

A judge has yet to rule on the players’ demands for documents, although she previously dismissed parts of the lawsuit while allowing two counts to proceed. The former players submitted the revised complaint to resolve “prior deficiencies” in their lawsuit.

The new version adds Wallace as a defendant and levies four additional counts accusing the program and several coaches of discrimination and harassment, failure to provide equal rights and protection, failure to train and supervise staff and retaliation.

Retaliation

The new retaliation allegation accuses head coach Ferentz of intentional discrimination against Jonathan Parker, who joined the football program in 2013 after de-committing from another college.

Parker, according to the lawsuit, grew “weary from the harassment he and other Black players regularly faced” in the football program and shared his concerns with a UI therapist.

“Jonathan was assured by the therapist that the sessions were confidential,” according to amended lawsuit. “However, K. Ferentz later approached Jonathan and asked how his therapy sessions were going. Caught off guard, Jonathan did not know how to respond and believed himself to be in trouble.”

Ferentz told Parker the therapist had shared with him the player’s concerns with the program, according to the lawsuit.

“Shaken, Jonathan replied that his therapy sessions were going well and that he was ‘all good,’” the lawsuit alleges. “The conversation affirmed for Jonathan that nothing in the program slipped past K. Ferentz, not even players’ ‘confidential’ therapy sessions.” Parker never returned to the therapist.

The lawsuit also alleged that coach Brian Ferentz berated Parker by using racist language during practice — on one occasion in 2016 screaming at him, kicking a garbage can and shouting, “Only an (expletive) Black player would do it like that,” according to the suit.

“Kirk Ferentz watched the incident unfold from approximately 30 yards away,” according to the lawsuit, noting Parker asked to meet with Kirk Ferentz about the comments a short time later.

“Despite acknowledging that he knew his son used ‘bad’ and ‘inappropriate’ language, K. Ferentz stood by his son’s ‘correction’ of Jonathan and advised Jonathan that he would not side with a player over a coach,” according to the lawsuit. “K. Ferentz then proceeded to steer the conversation to the topic of Jonathan’s future in the program.”

Kirk Ferentz suggested Parker “weigh his options” for the next year, the lawsuit stated. Parker transferred away from Iowa the next year.

UI: No ‘smoking gun“ evidence

In now adding Wallace, the lawsuit accuses him of discriminating against, bullying, demeaning and harassing Black players “almost daily.” The lawsuit goes into detail about offensive language the former players accuse Wallace, Doyle and Brian Ferentz of using.

“The racially derogatory comments used by Doyle, B. Ferentz, and Wallace were made in open forums during team meetings and at practice regularly, if not daily, in the presence of K. Ferentz, other coaches, and teammates,” according to the lawsuit.

Wallace’s employee file is among many documents the former players have asked the UI to produce in advance of a jury trial set for March 6, 2023.

In February — before the players added Wallace as a defendant — the university objected to that request, among others, noting Wallace’s file is “unrelated in any way to plaintiffs’ claims.”

The university in February noted it had already produced about 200,000 pages of documents in the case. UI attorneys also took issue with the players’ assertions that administrators already had admitted that racial discrimination occurred.

“Plaintiffs begin their motion by spending considerable time asserting, incorrectly, that it has been determined, incontrovertibly, that illegal discrimination occurred within the football program and that defendants have fully admitted to such,” according to the UI response.

The university said it and former coach Doyle “deny any illegal discriminatory behavior occurred and there are no documents showing illegal discrimination that have been discovered.”

On June 14, 2020, the UI and Doyle entered into a separation agreement paying the coach $1.1 million, along with 15 months of benefits.

“Defendants cannot be penalized because they do not have, and never have had, documents that provide ‘smoking gun’ evidence of plaintiffs’ theory of the case,” according to the UI response.

The former players said they are seeking, beyond damages, mandatory anti-racist training for athletic department staff; establishment of a board of advisers consisting of Black football student-athletes and anti-racist professionals; tuition waivers for any Black athletes who attended Iowa during Ferentz’s tenure and did not graduate with a degree; and creation of a permanent senior Black male administrator position.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com