Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Kirk Ferentz Suspension Press Conference Reaction, Cade McNamara is QB1

Starting point is 00:00:00 a remorseful Kirk Ferentz today at the Iowa football press conference after the announcement that he will serve a one game suspension or recruiting violations. We break down the press conference. What's next and how game one is going to look. Oh, so different all today. Locked on Hawkeye. You are locked on Hawkeye.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. If you're listening on the audio side, five-star reviews helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast

Starting point is 00:00:54 is brought to you by Ultimate GM. Ultimate College Football HC is a brand new mobile game that is completely free, has no ads, and 100% playable offline. Use the promo code LOCKEDONCFB, all caps, LOCKEDONCFB, inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program with Ultimate College Football HC. Begin your coaching legacy today. Well, the coaching legacy for Kirk Ferentz certainly changed in many people's minds after the announcement that he will serve a one-game suspension after the recruiting violation in the recruitment of Cade McNamara making his way from Michigan and coming out of the transfer portal.

Starting point is 00:01:35 What you saw today from Kirk Ferentz was very remorseful. You could see that this was impactful to him. And really, to me, that is the biggest takeaway about this. We wondered and speculated early this morning, late last night, about how this was going to go down, how this was going to play for Kirk Ferentz. Was he going to go scorch earth? Was he going to go the direction that we saw today? Is there something in between that was going to happen? And though I know there are many Hawkeye fans that would have loved to see him deride the NCAA and just some of the idiotic nature of the way that this structure is set up and the way that college football is,

Starting point is 00:02:10 he did not go that direction. He was remorseful. You could tell this was something that definitely hit him in a way that you could understand. Look, the Iowa Athletic Department say much about it, and you can say lots. Gary Barta, going back to Bob Bowlesby, now with Beth Goetz, three different athletic directors and going way back in the day.

Starting point is 00:02:31 I mean, there's a lot of things you can talk about with this athletic department, what it is. One thing, though, that for a long time they have prided themselves on is this an athletic department, and this is also, with it, a football program that hasn't had to deal with very many major violations. Yes, there are slaps on the wrist. Yes, they're going to happen when you're talking about the bureaucracy of the NCAA and the red tape that's involved.

Starting point is 00:02:56 Things are going to happen and rules are going to be bent. But Iowa overall considers themselves a clean program, a clean football program, and a clean athletic department. And I think that was part of what you saw from Kirk Ferentz today, the disappointment. He put it on himself. He was not a blowhard like Jim Harbaugh that blamed other people or wouldn't take any blame. It's all everybody else. And it's an unfortunate kind of conversation about society as a whole today that everybody's the victim.

Starting point is 00:03:24 Everybody's looking to blame somebody else instead of looking in the mirror. Kirk Ferentz did that. He was the adult and he is the adult in college football that we need. He is the adult in this stupid sport that we all love. He is the kind of person that we need there. I know there are many people out there that are not Kirk Ferentz fans. I don't understand it. Would I like to see more? Are there things that frustrate me? There's no doubt about it. But if you believe that he is not a good person, if you believe that Kirk Ferentz doesn't have the best interest of his players, I don't know what to tell you. Talk to people that have played for him, white, black, and in between people People at all walks of life, from all kinds of different backgrounds. And I've talked to so many of them, have nothing but glowing things to say about Kirk

Starting point is 00:04:11 Behrens. A, as a football coach, but more importantly, as a person. This hit him hard. And to not be able to be there with his team. He got emotional today. We know Kirk gets emotional. And as he is aged, he gets a little more emotional. You know, it reminds me a lot of Dick Vermeule. Remember late in his career and the tears that we would see flowing and how much happened there. Absolutely very similar. And I think a lot of us start to get to that direction

Starting point is 00:04:39 as you get a little bit older. And you're looking back and there's a lot more distance in that rear view mirror as you're making your way down the road. We see that from Kirk Ferentz. I walked away, even more respect for Kirk Ferentz, the person, the standup nature of what it was. This is a tough guy. This is a tough guy that certainly has built a program in his image. certainly has built a program in his image. And to take it in the way that he did, take it in stride, yet again,

Starting point is 00:05:11 not make those excuses, not point fingers. To have a mistake that was made and say, yes, this is under my leadership. I will take, I will fall on the sword for this, says a whole lot about him. This is ridiculous though, in its own right. We're talking about something that has happened across college athletics. As we talked about late last night on the live edition of Lockdown Hawkeyes, we have Nick Saban saying that they were going after a cornerback prospect from Toledo, defensive back, cornerback that turned out to be a high draft pick.

Starting point is 00:05:46 He was never in the portal. They admit that. A kid in Proctor, who Iowa still has not received officially what it's going to be, and their violation of Seth Wallace reaching out to a kid that they recruited, a kid that they had a relationship for a very long time, a kid that was committed to their program, telling him to keep his head up. There's going to be a violation that comes from that. And yet,

Starting point is 00:06:15 Caden Proctor made his way back to Alabama. Is there tampering there? Do you think it was just as simple as, you know what? It's not going the way I thought it was going to in Iowa City. I'm going to go hang out with some of my former teammates. And just like that, it came together. Or was there communication the other way? But here's Iowa. Again, I'm not to go hang out with some of my former teammates. And just like that, it came together. Or was there communication the other way? But here's Iowa. Again, I'm not making Iowa to be the victim here. But it's funny. They have a gambling investigation that was done internally in-state. The state DCI is the one that investigated.

Starting point is 00:06:40 They did it wrongly from the reports that are out there. There was things that were not done right. But it happens to Iowa and to Iowa State. Now we have this, something that is done across the board. Look at so many quarterbacks. Look at so many players in the transfer portal. As soon as they enter the portal, they have a no contact order. You know why they have those no contact orders?

Starting point is 00:07:02 Because they already know where they're going to go. Just like Cade McNamara. This happens everywhere. Everywhere in college football at the highest levels. This happens everywhere. Yet Iowa is one that will have to serve a suspension. Kirk Ferentz will have to sit out a game. It will paint him and some people's minds in a different light and a light that isn't fair. Hugely disappointing. It's the NCAA. Now this was self-reported by Iowa and with it, with this investigation, the suspension that handed down, this came from the University of Iowa. This came from Beth Getz. We'll talk a little bit about that. And that wasn't the only news today. Kate McNamara is going to be your starter.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Now we've been telling you it's going to be the case here for the last couple of weeks, even after that dreadful performance at open practice at Kids Day. We still got a lot here. We're going to continue. Locked on Hawkeyes after a press conference. And boy, Iowa, they are just the program that keeps on giving. Coming up with more Hawkeye football talk as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. more Hawkeye football talk as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes.

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Starting point is 00:09:13 and download the free Ibotta app and start earning cash back. Make sure you use the code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. That's Ibotta, I-B-O-T-T-A in Google Play or the app store. And make sure you use that code, LockdownCollege. Trent Conant back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We got you covered on the Hawkeye front of things. And take a look back at the press conference that was in Iowa City from earlier today.

Starting point is 00:09:46 As we continue the conversation, Beth Goetz got up and spoke about her angle to this. Now, there wasn't a whole lot that could be said. This is still an open investigation. The NCAA still could come down even harder on Iowa, but to get in front of this shows the true leader that she is. Beth Goetz took a very difficult situation, being the interim AD with the 25-point-per-game stipulation. There's the word, stipulation.

Starting point is 00:10:15 That was in there, that was put in by her predecessor, Gary Barta. And took what was an incredibly difficult spot and ripped the Band-Aid off. Brian Behrens is no longer going to be the offensive coordinator. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, he was going to be gone. She made the decision. She was the adult in the room, something that they didn't have in the 18 years previous with Gary Barta. Gary Barta was good at a few things. Most importantly, he was a great fundraiser. He was very good at schmoozing, talking to the big donors, getting the people to invest in the University of Iowa and the athletic department. That was

Starting point is 00:10:48 his strength. But when it came to difficult spots like this, when you had to be an adult, when you had to have difficult conversations, he was awful at it. And we saw that continually. Not only that, the amount of money that he cost and because of that ineptitude that we saw. We're not seeing that with Beth Goetz. We're seeing somebody that has a plan, somebody that knows what they're doing, somebody that understands that there are going to be difficult conversations. The conversation with Kurt a year ago about Brian could not have been fun. There's no doubt that had to be an incredibly difficult conversation to have. You have the nepotism part of it.

Starting point is 00:11:25 You just have the ineptitude of what they were doing offensively. And they're doing it. You're talking to a football coach and a guy that is an institution, a guy that has been around for a quarter century. And you had to have that conversation. She did it. And it seemed to be good. Then you have this.

Starting point is 00:11:41 A violation in the grand scheme of things doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things because everybody's doing it, as we said. And yet, instead of hiding, instead of going back and cowering into the corner, she went right out and said that we are going to have this happen. You're going to serve a suspension. John Budmeier, who initiated the contact, what it sounds like, with Cade McNamara, is going to have a suspension, and we will go from there and we will wait officially what is handed down by the NCAA.

Starting point is 00:12:12 That is tough to do. For Kirk Ferentz, this win doesn't mean anything. A victory against Illinois State doesn't mean a whole lot. However, there's a few different ways to look at this. First, the announcement that you're going to have Seth Wallace taking over in a new role, a new title really, with the associate head coach. It's a title that hadn't been given out before. It reminds me a bit after Rabdo of Chris Doyle being named assistant coach of the year award

Starting point is 00:12:43 that was never given before and has never been given afterwards, but was for that one. This, you're giving a title that you've never given before to somebody. And when the press conference happened, I'm wondering why. Well, this very well could have been a part of that.

Starting point is 00:13:00 I don't think there's any doubt, knowing that there is a real possibility that a suspension could be coming. And because of that, let's get out in front of it. But now you have somebody that'll be acting as the head coach for the first time in Seth Wallace. You have a defensive coordinator in Phil Parker. That is great.

Starting point is 00:13:15 His doctors, though, very well might tell him, we don't want you down on the field. Now, I think we also know what Phil Parker is going to tell those doctors. And it's a four-letter word that we can't say here on the podcast. However, that's going to be a different component. And Seth Wallace is normally the one that is signaling things in. Is it going to be somebody different? Phil Parker is not going to be able to physically do that and signal things in with the shoulder injury and his arm in a sling. So now you're going down the road a little bit further.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Who knows those signals? Who's ready to do those kind of things? Again, we're not cutting time. We're nine days away from the season opener, and you got to figure all of this out. Now you have a new offensive coordinator. There's more circumstances. Oh, by the way, this year in college football,

Starting point is 00:13:56 for the first time ever, we're going to have a season where in-helmet communication is going to be happening. So both offensively and defensively, somebody is going to be in the headset, the quarterback on offense, probably the middle linebacker on defense, Jay Higgins. That's likely what you're going to see. How is that going to work?

Starting point is 00:14:12 Who was going to be speaking into that headset? And who's going to be doing it now on the defensive side of the football? Tim Lester, he's going to be up in the booth calling plays. It's kind of a mess. We'll maybe find out who gets to become acting coach. Two on-field roles will be available. Does it go to grad assistants? Does it go to some other people that are analysts?

Starting point is 00:14:33 We'll see on that front exactly what direction that they're going to go, but there's still a lot more to be answered about this outside of just who the acting head coach is for the game. Speaking of that, Kay McNamara. We'll get to him momentarily, and that was for the game. Speaking of that, Cade McNamara. We'll get to him momentarily, and that was, I mean, think of that. We've been talking about this quarterback spot for the last four months. Here we are. We finally look like we're going to get the name starter in Cade McNamara,

Starting point is 00:14:58 and that's the news of the day and what initially thought the press conference was going to be about today, and it becomes just a footnote. But with that, put this direction with me. Iowa goes out, give up a big play. Something that doesn't happen very often, but it does happen from time to time. Down 7-0, 7-3.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Tight game. Tied up 2-2, whatever you want to say. But the reason I'm going down this road is Kate McNamara's struggling in this instance. And with Kate McNamara struggling, we know Kirk didn't like revolving quarterbacks or hasn't after early in his career. He's not going to be there.

Starting point is 00:15:40 Yes, the other coaches know. But now you have Kirk Ferentz, not there. You have a new offensive coordinator in Tim Lester, a new offensive coordinator that didn't select Cade McNamara. The wide receiver coach that helped bring in Cade McNamara is also suspended. And if he does himself personally like Brendan Sullivan as a quarterback and what they're trying to do a little bit more, does it become a quick hook for Cade McNamara? And who makes that choice?

Starting point is 00:16:10 Is it Tim Lester, the quarterback coach and the offensive coordinator? Is it Seth Wallace as the acting head coach? Who makes that decision? There could be no communication with Kirk Ferentz. And that was in the press release that we received today from the University of Iowa. Starting into Saturday morning, Friday night, if you will, a minute after midnight until Sunday night at midnight, no communication is going to be allowed. You don't want to mess with things again. You don't want it to get out that, yes, communication was happening in this instance. That's a wild scenario, but it could be a realistic scenario. We have not seen Cain McNamara play well in an Iowa uniform. I want to see Cade healthy.

Starting point is 00:16:49 I want to see Cade get his comeuppance, get his opportunity in an Iowa uniform to go out there and get a shot. It's a guy that's put in work. He's dealt with two, really three devastating injuries over the last year and a half. You would just love to see this guy get a fair shake, get a healthy shake for a season and see what he can do. He's knocking off rust. He's getting better, but where exactly is he?

Starting point is 00:17:15 And that quick hook, I think it's a real possibility. Continuing on, we'll talk a little bit more about Cade McNamara as the starter, what that means, and a few other news and notes from the press conference from Iowa football today. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. College football is back, and it's not too late to catch up before the season kicks off. SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, you can get in all of them

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Starting point is 00:19:55 every day. As we've talked about, Cade McNamara is going to be the starter, and he's going to be the starter. Kirk Ferentz said today during the press conference that if there was a game coming up on Saturday, he would be the starter. Brendan Sullivan elevates to number two, and then Marco Lyon is your number three quarterback. It's not a surprise from what we have heard. There's been up and downs. There's been inconsistencies, but the highest ceiling for this Iowa football team is that came back to Merritt playing at the highest level. Brendan

Starting point is 00:20:22 Sullivan is a nice, solid backup that can win a game or two for you in that kind of role. He is not a guy, though, that I believe, with this Iowa football team, can lead them to the college football plan. His highest ceiling, I don't think, is as high as Cade McNamara. Now, will Cade McNamara ever get to that level again?

Starting point is 00:20:39 The guy that we saw come in late in that 2020 season for Michigan when they were decimated by injury and finally give them a little bit of hope and then leading them to their first Big Ten championship in almost 20 years. I don't know if we will ever see that guy again because of the physical questions that are there, but if they do, he has that kind of upside. Incredible accuracy, something we didn't see a year ago in a Hawkeye uniform. A guy that knows how to put the ball in the right spots.

Starting point is 00:21:05 A leader of men. Leadership qualities. He is a guy that has the swagger and has the intangibles that you're looking for at the quarterback position. We'll see. As we talked about, it could be a quick hook on that one. Something to keep an eye on. LaShawn Williams back at practice. That was good to hear as well from Kirk Ferentz today as LaShawn is back out there helping out that incredibly deep stable of running backs. Kamari Moulton, who has continued

Starting point is 00:21:29 to come on, he's banged up a little bit at this point in time. Doesn't sound like it's anything devastating by any means. Kirk said lower leg injury. That's usually ankle, perhaps a sprained ankle, something like that. The good news is Iowa's so deep with that position right now. Williams back. Caleb Johnson every day, or as you know, my absolute love of him and what he is going to be for this Iowa football program. That is a huge piece and a huge component. We haven't even hardly talked about Jazzy on Patterson. He had one of the bigger runs of the year against Iowa State this season. We've seen good things out of him. TJ Washington, who's over playing wide receiver, he can help out.

Starting point is 00:22:08 He looked pretty good at the end of kids' day practice. They're so deep at this position, and there's going to be opportunities. And guys are going to get banged up. Play the hot hand, and I'm hoping that Caleb Johnson's a hot hand all season long. More for you this week, Lockdown Hawkeyes. It is busy as we count down to kickoff, and oh boy, the Hawkeyes always give us something. Thank you for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen today. Now go check out Lockdown College Football

Starting point is 00:22:32 and the Lockdown College Football podcast. From NIL deals to the never-ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron. You can find the link to Lockdown College Football in the description so you don't need to search. All part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks for being with us here today.

Starting point is 00:22:52 We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Kirk Ferentz Suspension Press Conference Reaction, Cade McNamara is QB1

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