Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Jon Budmayr face 1-game suspension for recruiting violations

IOWA CITY — Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz and wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr will be suspended one game for recruiting violations in late 2022, the program confirmed Thursday.

“The issue involved communications with a player and his family prior to him entering the transfer portal,” according to Iowa Athletics’ news release.

Iowa officials did not name the athlete involved in Thursday’s release and subsequent news conference, but a source familiar with the situation told The Gazette it was current quarterback Cade McNamara.

“There’s some unique circumstances surrounding this particular case, but the bottom line is it was impermissible contact,” Ferentz said during the Thursday news conference. “That’s what the investigation is about.”

Ferentz’s and Budmayr’s suspensions — along with the loss of one week of off-campus recruiting — are self-imposed. Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said the penalties were decided “collaboratively” by her and Ferentz.

Asked about any impact of the violations may have on McNamara’s eligibility, Ferentz said he has “no knowledge of him not being eligible at any point this season.”

Iowa officials refrained from going into specifics of the violations, citing the ongoing NCAA investigation. Self-imposed penalties do not necessarily preclude further penalties from the NCAA.

“There aren’t many details that we can really share, unfortunately, until this matter is closed, but I did feel it was important to stand up in front of all of you and acknowledge when I had done something wrong,” Ferentz said in his opening remarks.

It is the first time Ferentz has had an NCAA Level II violation — the second of three severity levels — in his 26-year tenure as head coach at Iowa.

“While we’re certainly disappointed to be in this position, I really appreciate the way that Coach has handled this process,” Goetz said.

Goetz said the athletics department was notified of the violation by the NCAA, although she did not say when specifically that notification happened. Ferentz said Iowa has “spent the past several months cooperating with the NCAA.”

“If we would have been aware, we would have self-reported that to the NCAA,” said Goetz, who was not yet Iowa’s AD when the violations occurred. She was named athletic director in January.

Budmayr — an offensive analyst at Iowa in 2022 and then senior special assistant to the head coach in 2023 — had a past relationship with McNamara from his time on the University of Wisconsin staff. The Badgers were one of the first schools to one of the first schools to offer McNamara out of high school. McNamara ultimately chose the University of Michigan.

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NCAA rules dictate teams cannot contact an athlete from another school before they enter the transfer portal. McNamara entered the transfer portal on Nov. 28, 2022. It was far from a surprise after Michigan handed the starting quarterback job to J.J. McCarthy earlier in the year. McNamara committed to Iowa three days later.

Impermissible contact allegations, especially in the transfer portal era, are not unique to Iowa. Miami (Ohio) head football coach Chuck Martin, for example, alleged earlier this week that Alabama “stole” and “illegally recruited our kicker,” Graham Nicholson.

Ferentz’s first absence from sidelines

Ferentz’s suspension will mark the first time in more than 25 years he has not been on the sidelines for an Iowa football game. Iowa will play Illinois State in its season opener on Aug. 31.

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Ferentz and Budmayr will participate in all team activities until game day. Assistant head coach Seth Wallace will step in as acting head coach for 24 hours, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 31. Ferentz said he will “probably be at home watching very quietly.”

Wide receiver Kaleb Brown and offensive lineman Cade Borud also will be serving one-game suspensions following their OWI arrests this summer. The 25th-ranked Hawkeyes, despite the myriad absences, should remain heavy favorites against their FCS-level foe.

UI self-reported another recruiting violation

This is not Iowa football’s first NCAA recruiting violation that has come to light in 2024.

Goetz told reporters in February the department was going to self-report a Level III violation involving impermissible contact with then-Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor. Proctor committed to Iowa in January before later reentering the portal and returning to Alabama.

“We’re going to do our best to comply with all NCAA rules, all other policies we have at the university,” Goetz said on Thursday. “And when we become aware that we’ve missed on one of those marks, we’re going to learn from it, take responsibility and move forward.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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