Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Husch Blackwell investigation concludes and Kirk Ferentz speaks to the media | Will Luka Garza stay or go?

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

Husch Blackwell released their findings of the Iowa football program yesterday and Kirk Ferentz spoke to the media regarding the findings. What did they find and what does it mean going forward are two of the main questions we discuss on today's show. After that, we continue our breakdown of Luka Garza's impending decision on August 2nd. Will he stay or go? It's anybody's guess, but it's going to be a tough one.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Lockdown Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and I'm excited to be back for a Friday morning episode, the fourth episode of the week. Make sure if you are tuning in for the first time, check out our other episodes this past, really the last couple weeks. We had some great guests on earlier last week. We had Jennings Dunker and we had Zach Tweet, two recruits in the class of 2021. They were on the show last week talking about their recruitment, talking about Iowa football, all that fun stuff. We also had Mello from Bleacher Reports stick to football joining the show on Tuesday. Talked a lot about

the Iowa football team and the expectations going in to the 2020 season if we have the 2020 season. And then finally we had Lucy Rodin on the show yesterday talking about her ascension in Iowa media and kind of what her goals are and aspirations are for her career. So make sure to check out that episode as well. On today's episode, though, we have lots of news to cover. The Hush Blackwell investigation has officially concluded and we have gotten the report. Kirk and Gary spoke to the media yesterday and talked a bit about the investigation, gave some really good tidbits. I thought there were some really interesting points I wanted to take from that. We also have

Luka Garza making a decision on August 2nd very soon. So we are going to find out possibly the destiny of the Iowa basketball team very soon. So we're going to talk a bit about his decision as well. We talked a little bit about it on Monday, but want to continue to talk through that. And then finally, the NCAA has decided to allow social messages on jerseys. So we're going to talk about that too. Lots of stuff to cover on today's show. If you are tuning in for the first time

and you do end up liking what you hear today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as well. And like I said, if you like it, give us that five-star review. So with that being said, let's hop into the show today. We're going to touch on a few topics before getting into the Hush Blackwell conversation and obviously the Luka Garza conversation as well. The meat of this episode is going to be in segments two and three. But before we do that, I want to kick it off talking about the WNBA.

The WNBA is back in session. Why it should matter for Iowa basketball fans is we have two players in the WNBA. So that is very exciting. Unfortunately, not a lot can be said about this so far. Unfortunately, not a lot can be said about this so far. Megan Gustafson has one point, I believe. She has a game actually tonight against the Indiana Fever where she's going to be taking on Kathleen Doyle, who has not seen a minute of playing time yet.

So Kathleen Doyle has not seen any playing time with the Fever yet. Megan Gustafson has seen about two minutes of playing time, so not exactly ideal for her as well. She played a minute and 43 seconds in Wednesday night's game against the Liberty. She had one free throw made. She had a plus minus, a negative two, and that was it for her stat line. Looking back on her other game before that I believe it was just 34 seconds as well so not a lot to write home about for the former All-American and player of the year for the Iowa basketball squad so hopefully her and Kathleen can get some playing time in

tonight's game in the NFE reverse Dallas Wings but from the it, it doesn't seem like that is going to be happening. Also, like I said on kind of the roundup coming into the segment number one of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, social messages are going to be in for NCAA athletes, and that will be quite interesting. If Iowa Twitter has shown me anything, it is that there is quite a diverse opinion about what is happening in this country. If Iowa Twitter has shown me anything in the comments and the feedback I've gotten in my DMs regarding my stance on what is happening and the fact that I support the black athletes. I support the movement that is happening.

I support Iowa athletes sticking up for that movement. that is happening. I support Iowa athletes sticking up for that movement. The fact that there will be social messages on jerseys, if they so choose, will be quite an interesting situation for Iowa fans who I think, you know, it's relatively, I wouldn't say split, but it definitely, there's definitely a divide between the fan base about what is, what is going on, what is, you know, racial bias, what is inappropriate, all that kind of stuff. So it'll be interesting to see what, what athletes decide to utilize that platform. I think the Iowa basketball team is really going to be a cool one to watch. Fran McCaffrey has really allowed that team to flourish with their personalities.

The Iowa football team, as we all know, is kind of dealing with the aftermath of the Iowa way for the last 20 years and trying to figure out what is appropriate to allow from a personality standpoint while also not ruining or limiting the culture that the Iowa football team has built that has allowed them to be so successful. So definitely going to be interesting to see how they handle that as well from that perspective. Would be interested to get y'all's takes on that. I think it's awesome.

I think the NCAA is starting to realize that these athletes are more than just athletes. I think they have an incredible platform. There's an audience that is sometimes different than some of the pro sports. And the NBA is already doing it, allowing those messages to be posted on their jerseys. I think the NFL is loosening up to the ideas of this kind of stuff. The NCAA doing this does speak volumes to at least them being willing to support the student athletes and, you know, some way, shape or form. I think obviously they need to be paid as well and allow for the likeness,

which the NCAA is working on, but good for the NCAA. That is going to do it though for segment number one. Again, not a lot of meat on that one, but I do want to get into our main topics for the show. That is going to do it, though, for segment number one. Again, not a lot of meat on that one, but I do want to get into our main topics for the show. Coming up on segment number two, why Luka Garza might not stay with Iowa and what it would take, I think, for him to stay and what it would mean for the Iowa basketball team.

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jumping into the Luka Garza discussion. He is making his decision on August 2nd. It sounds like there is the opportunity where he theoretically could delay. He doesn't need to make the decision until August 17th, but he has decided to make that decision August 2nd. And, you know, I have no idea which way he is going. You know, obviously his dad is very active on Twitter, and Frank Garza did post this, which I thought was pretty interesting.

After Luka Garza said, love you, brother, I'll remember this moment forever, in regards to a picture that Nicholas Bayer posted with him and Luka, Frank said this, should there be a basketball season, and if number 55 returns, it'll be the love for each other, coaches, university and Iowa that will propel the Hawkeyes to a final four and national champs. That's my belief. Marrow deep, however, should never could. And Luca must deeply examine every scenario that is oddly ominous. I think, you know, to me, that makes it seem like, you know, he might not even be sure. Luka Garza is trying to figure out what he's doing, what he's going to be doing next year.

And I think it's starting to get even trickier. And here's the reason why. The big thing is, what if there isn't a basketball season next year? I personally think if there wasn't that concern that there wouldn't be a basketball season next year, Luka Garza would be coming back. However, he has now been invited to the NBA Combine. All right, so that's important. That's a huge opportunity if they have the NBA Combine. A huge opportunity for him to showcase his development over the last couple months since the basketball season has ended. The guy has picked up 20 pounds of muscle, has really been working on improving the weak spots of his game. The combine is an opportunity to go against some of the guys

that people covet so much. And I think Luka Garza's skill set from an outsider's perspective looks like a European skill set, but I do think there's a place for him in the NBA. When you have a guy that works so tirelessly and relentlessly like Luka Garza does, has that size at 6'11", frame of 275 pounds, and can shoot a three, that is a tantalizing skill set that an NBA team could make work of, especially if they're able to get him in the second round.

So I do think there's an opportunity for him in the NBA at some point, but how much of that development will be shown in the nba combine if he is in if he does actually go and does not decide to return on august 2nd the issue though again he has the opportunity if the nba doesn't want him or doesn't need him for whatever reason which i think would be a miss um he can go overseas to europe it sounds like he has plenty of offers on the table the european countries are doing fantastic compared to from America's standpoint. With COVID, I have a buddy who plays in a band in Greece kind of traveling around for weddings and whatnot.

They're not wearing masks. They're having a great time because they handled the coronavirus effectively when it happened. And from a basketball perspective, they can play right now. We have guys going over there right now getting ready to play for next season. That's exactly what Luka Garza could do. Go make some money. And while that,

obviously the goal is the NBA and European leagues is not exactly what Luka is shooting for. He's shooting for the NBA. And in theory, you could say, well, that'll always be there next year. And you're absolutely right. It should be in theory there next year. However, what if there isn't a college basketball season? If Luca returns for a college basketball season, what does he do at that point? If there is no college basketball season and don't tell me that you think there is for sure going to be a basketball season. Look at what is happening in the MLB. The Marlins have had to cancel a couple of their games because they had some breakouts of COVID. The Phillies had some issues with COVID as well, so they are delaying some games as well. That is just the MLB. The NFL is trying to figure out what the

heck they're doing. They don't really have the best safety protocols in place. Players are dropping out like flies. Obviously, college sports, I think, is up in the air. If they cannot have in-person classes, I find it very difficult to imagine they're putting student athletes in harm's way and putting them on campus. Even the Iowa basketball team just had two people test positively for COVID, and they are on quarantine for 14 days and shutting down practice. So I think college basketball probably has a better chance than college football just because of the limited amount of teams,

or the limited amount of players, excuse me, on those teams. But it's still a concern. We still don't know what's going to happen. And I think that is the ultimate unknown. Luka could return, and they could not have a season when he just missed out on the possibility of having an NBA contract or a European contract he could have missed out on a hundred two hundred three hundred thousand dollars he could be making overseas I don't know what those contract details are but that is very

tempting to pass up now don't get me wrong if there was going to be a basketball season for sure I do think Luka would return I think he's doing what he should be doing he should be getting that that analysis and that feedback from the scouts about what he needs to improve on his game. However, it's kind of tough when we're in the middle of a pandemic and he's not able to get some of that feedback. And ultimately, I do think another year in Iowa's system, going against some of the best players in the Big Ten

and improving on some of those weaknesses, we could be talking about Luka Garza as a fringe first-round prospect next year. He's that talented. He's that hard of a worker. If he takes Iowa to a final four or better yet wins a national championship, you better believe he's going to be on NBA radars and at least getting first round consideration. Hell, Adam Morrison was the number three overall draft pick. Luka Garza has a better skill set than Adam Morrison. Adam Morrison was a three-point shooter, and that was it. He couldn't defend. He couldn't really do much else. And the dude had a nasty mustache to add on top of that.

So I think Luka Garza, if he were able to return, would have a great opportunity to elevate his stock as an NBA player. And I think if Luka returns, the Iowa basketball team is very much in a position to have the best squad they've ever had, the deepest squad they've ever had, and a squad that most teams should be incredibly concerned about. I did a crossover show with Asher Lowe of the Locked On Badgers podcast. He seems to think that the Badgers are the team to beat in the Big Ten. He's wrong. Let's just call it. It is what it is.

You'll get that crossover episode next week. He thinks, you know, the Badgers are the team to beat. I think if Luka Garza returns, the Iowa Hawkeyes are not just the team to beat in the Big Ten, but the team to beat in the nation. No team returned that kind of experience and that kind of talent. Joe Wieskamp is a guy who's been flirting with the NBA. Joe Toussaint is a point guard that Iowa has been coveting for so long. Patrick McCaffrey, a four-star recruit who can defend four different positions. The versatility here is just absurd. And then adding Luka Garza,

who should have been the player of the year. Man, what a team to have. So we will get that decision though, hopefully on August 2nd, unless Luka decides to push that back, which is totally understandable. Whatever he decides, I wish him the best. I'm super excited to see his career continue to develop,

and we will cover that on Monday's episode of the show. We're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to jump into the most important topic of the day, the Hush Blackwell investigation and the Kirk Behrens and Gary Barta conference and what they had to say yesterday. yesterday. We are back with our third and our final and probably our most important segment of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast today. This is what we've been waiting for the last two months, ever since James Daniels sent

out those tweets and you saw the outpour of concern and experiences from many athletes within the University of Iowa program, you know, talking about racial bias and issues with not understanding if they, you know, not feeling that they can be themselves in the program. And, you know, the consideration of whether the Iowa way was racially biased or not. Since James did that, obviously there's been a ton of things that have happened since then. Kirk has spoken to the media multiple times. They've had, it seems like, some really great conversations within the program already. They made some changes. They formed a committee of former athletes so they could continue to advise on this. And there's been an

outpouring of opinions from the Iowa football community, the Hawkeye Nation fan base, about what was right, what is wrong, and what truly should be the response going forward. One of the things that they decided to do, though, was they hired Hush Blackwell to perform an investigation or audit of the program, speak to a ton of different players and coaches and whatnot, and try to figure out what is going on and make recommendations going forward. And so I'm going to talk a bit about some of those recommendations and give kind of my thoughts and feedback. Also give some feedback on the news conference itself. I thought there were a few really telling things, specifically Akram Wadley and what Kirk had to

say about that. That was probably the most telling piece to me, his response to other athletes' criticism and his response to specifically Akram Wadley's criticism, which I thought was quite interesting and obviously want to make sure that we're going to be covering that on here. So first of all, foremost, it sounds like they have interviewed, and by the way, you can find this report on the University of Iowa website. You can find it in my tweets as well on Locked on Iowa podcast or Locked on Iowa, excuse me, on Twitter account. Make sure to check that out. Very important to, I think if you can read that. So check that out. Okay. So let's get into it.

It said, we interviewed 111 individuals, 45 current and 29 former members of the football team and 36 current and former employees. They went through a very large kind of evaluation of what the Iowa way was, what the background information was, and obviously what the recommendations were given everything. And really, I would say there's no big bombshells or no big breaking news from this investigation. It's a lot of what we've heard from players already. The fact that the Iowa way might be racially biased. The fact that some of the things that they do within the program do not allow for individuality within the program. And some concerns that they have brought these

things up and Kirk hasn't done stuff about it right now. So I thought that was really interesting. Again, the fact that there wasn't anything majorly shocking was, I think, a good thing. The fact that we've kind of aired a lot of these things already, we are aware of them, and Iowa is working on those things. They also mentioned complaints about three employees currently in the system. It sounds like obviously one of those was Chris Doyle. He's already been gone, so that is good to know. They've already made those changes. They have not recommended the release or the firing of those other coaches.

It sounds like that is going to be handled internally between the Iowa football program. Gary Bata does have, you know, does support the fact those players or those coaches are staying on. My guess is based off of what we've seen from other players' tweets that they are specifically talking about Brian Behrens and Seth Wallace in regards to the coaches that were specifically called out from the investigation. So that to me is very interesting that there was not, it sounds like enough to warrant getting rid of them. It sounds like Kirk feels like he can address those concerns internally within the program from you know looking at it from a football perspective that's

great for the Iowa football program having the you know continuity with that the offense having a new quarterback being broken in that is really great for the Iowa football program from an offensive perspective but again the most important thing here is what is right. And it sounds like Push Blackwell did not feel like it was a necessity to get rid of those coaches. And they did a great unbiased job, in my opinion, of investigating the entire program and what needed to happen. So that was good to hear. They also did not recommend Kirk Ferens being fired and I thought that was a really interesting position because Kirk has taken some heat you know he is the head honcho of the program he has allowed this to happen whatever you want to say about Kirk I think Kirk is an incredible man I think there was some um blind ignorance I guess to what was going on and maybe

you know just wasn't taking some of these things seriously. And he hasn't even admitted that, that he should have taken some of these things seriously. He has dropped the ball a few times, but he is trying to make the changes. So that to me was important to see that how long that lasts, I think is something that some current, some former players are concerned about. You know, they're saying some of the comments were there, you know, they like the changes so far, however, they do not feel like,, they're saying some of the comments were there. You know, they like the changes so far. However, they do not feel like or they're not sure if it's going to continue up. Is this just a facade until things blow over? Or is this something that's going to continue going forward? I would like to believe in Kirk that this is something that is going to continue throughout the program and be a program changing moment for the Iowa football team to understand how they can combine the appropriate pieces of the Iowa way

while also allowing the individuality and allowing players to prosper, not just as football players, but as people within the program. So I think, you know, I want to give Kirk that chance. I think obviously Gary Barta does as well. A couple things I thought were interesting, though. So Gary and Kirk spoke to the media. Kirk, again, said that this is on him. It is his opportunity to change the program.

He's going to do that. And, you know, the Hush Blackwell investigation said the same thing. The one thing I wanted to cover, though, was specifically geared towards Akram Wadley and his mother's comments. Kirk was heated about this. Barry clearly did not agree with what Akron Wadley said, and I thought that was interesting because throughout this entire process, Kirk has really said that he felt like he should be taking responsibility for this he felt like he is listening to these players and a lot of these you know concerns are being heard right but for Akram wildly he basically said that's that's garbage he thought all you know all those allegations were adamantly untrue and that he is actually he was actually having great conversations with Akram and his mother up until the end of May until some of this stuff kind of came out so he adamantly disagreed with

that and you know I've tried to take the approach of being on the side of the players until proven otherwise. However, I will say privately with conversations with my friends and whatnot, I have not really felt that inclined to agree with Akram. It felt very much like a scapegoat for him not making it in the NFL and whatnot. Some of the comments he made about being forced to eat or taking away his meal card, I just thought was a little bit bogus and Kirk even said as much.

So I, I stand by the Iowa football players and what they're saying, but the Akron Wadley stuff, it was tough for me to stand by regardless. And then having Kirk's come out and so adamantly defend himself in regards to that does make me believe that, you know, there is some truth to what Kirk is saying and maybe over-exaggeration or, you know, what Akram is saying. I think,

you know, Akram has really kind of hurt his perception within the Iowa football community over the last couple of months, especially with kind of the football stuff going on and him, you know, ripping people off with footballs and autographs, not actually giving them that kind of stuff. So I thought that was really interesting one thing that was also shared by players is that they felt like Chris Doyle might have been the scapegoat to an extent of you know systemic issues in the program and racism within the program um I you know there does have to be a fall guy and Chris Doyle seemed to be the guy that was really the head of that. I am a little shocked that there's no one else leaving.

Let's be honest, call it what it is. It wasn't just Chris Doyle. I think the fact that this was allowed was also concerning. It sounds like a current coach or might even be a former coach had actually brought up a lot of these concerns three to four years ago, and it didn't seem like any changes were made. So that is really concerning to me, that there were not obvious changes made in the last couple years. The fact that Kirk did change the dress code is a step in the right direction,

but not even in the realm of what was needed, given the concern that was being expressed by his former players. So that being said, the Hush Blackwell investigation did come out. Make sure to follow that. Read that. Read up on it. See what it says. I thought it was really enlightening to read that.

If you have an opportunity, check out the news conference, the press conference that Gary Barta and Kirk Ferentz had yesterday afternoon. You can find that on the Iowa Hawkeyes YouTube account. My opinions are here. I highly recommend you again, reading those items, forming your own opinions and checking out some of the other media members as well, getting their insight. I think it's important to kind of be a well-rounded individual when it comes to formulating your opinions on this subject, since it is such a

sensitive subject, but may want to make sure I covered that obviously big breaking news that happened and dropped out. So want to make sure I covered that. Obviously, big breaking news that that happened and dropped out. So, wanted to make sure I covered that on today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. That will do it for our show today. That will do it for our fourth and final episode of this week. We'll be back on Monday morning with another episode, probably detailing what happened with Luka Garza. And again, if you liked what you heard today, please make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Give us that five-star review. Follow us on Facebook, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Give us that five-star review. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And as always, if you have any comments or questions about the show today, always feel free to DM me, chat with me about it. I'm always happy to talk about your concerns, criticisms, or comments, feedback, whatever it may be about the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. With that being said, have a fantastic Friday. Have a fantastic weekend, Hawkeye Nation. Stay safe out there. And as always, let's go Hawks.