Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Prayers for Jack Koerner and Cole Coffin | Breaking down Iowa's Friday press conference

Episode Date: June 15, 2020

Jack Koerner and his friend Cole Coffin were injured in a boating accident. First and foremost, prayers up for them. We discus Matt Hankins tweet this weekend and we give a full recap/analysis of the Friday press conference held by the Iowa football program. 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. Excited to be back for another episode after the weekend. And today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar. Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get $10 off your first order. And on today's show, we do have some news to talk about. Obviously, the main thing, the most important thing is Jack Horner and his friend Cole Coffin got into a boating accident this weekend down at the Ozarks.

Prayers go out to both him and his buddy Cole. I want to talk slightly about that. We're also going to talk about the press conference that took place on Friday. Kirk Ferentz, Keith Duncan, Kayvon Merriweather, and Ivory Kelly Martin all spoke to the media. I want to talk about that as well. Matt Hankins came out with some news via Twitter, so we want to talk about that. And that will be the show today. So, lots of stuff to cover.

We also have a press conference from Gary Barta happening at 1 p.m. Central Time today. So we'll be breaking that down as well on tomorrow's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Before we jump into that, though, if you haven't done this already and you do like listening to the show, make sure to give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. That's how you can get the latest information about what is happening on the Locked on Hawkeyes

podcast. We are giving you three episodes a week, usually Mondays, probably Tuesdays, and then a Thursday or Friday, kind of just depends on the week and what we have, what we have going on and what what news and stories are happening. Like I said, with the Gary Barta conference, want to make sure we get an episode out tomorrow as well to break that down, even if it is a slightly shorter episode. So let's jump into it. Like I said, over the weekend, there was a boating

accident down in the Ozarks. It sounds like Jack Corner and his buddy Cole Hoffman, both Dowling graduates, or sorry, Cole is a Dowling graduate, sounds like, or West Des Moines graduate. And he also is a University of Iowa student. They got in a boating accident down in the Ozarks. Iowa student. They got in a boating accident down in the Ozarks. Initially, it appeared that Jack's injuries were serious. He did get released from the hospital. He sent out this tweet saying, I want to thank everyone who has reached out, shown support and relayed prayers.

I'm going to be okay and look forward to making as fast as recovery as possible. Please everyone continue to say prayers and show support to my good friend Cole. So it's not like Jack is going to be fine. Cole, on the other hand, did have to have his leg amputated. So unfortunate situation there. Obviously praying for both those guys, hoping they can both make a quick recovery. Obviously Cole's life is going to be a bit more impacted with the loss of his leg, but never want to see that no matter what. And I'm really hoping that he can get, get better soon.

Want to touch on the Matt Hankins situation before we take our first break and kind of go into the press conference, press conference information. Matt Hankins did put out a tweet and I want to read the tweak. I do think it's important to get the context and then explain kind of my thought process on it as well. So I'm going to be pulling that up. Just have to find it real quick. But he did tweet out a story that he felt like was racially motivated.

So he said, First and foremost, after reading many of my former current teammates teammates statements regarding the issues with George Floyd and the systemic racism double standards that have occurred within the program, I decided to break my silence on the topic and discuss my piece. Everything my brother Kay said, I stand for as well. If you call yourself a fan of any Iowa sport teams with black players, you should not be silent during these times. If you can't support us now, you don't support at all. As for the kneeling during the national anthem, regardless of what the team does, you will find me taking a knee. As for the issues dealing with Doyle, I would like to personally say, after returning for my fourth semester after the Outback Bowl, it was our first day in the building. We just had a 30-minute body measurement height and weight. As I was waiting to do the next activity, I was leaning on a cart, and Doyle came and said that we we was only going to be in the weight room for less than 45 minutes and told me not to lean i apologized and got up immediately that was when i spit on the turf force of habit

and immediately after started to get yelled at i was confused because i truly didn't know what i was getting yelled at for i've seen some of my older white teammates do it before i didn't think anything was wrong he then started saying you think you're better than everyone and you haven't done shit for this program, which I still haven't. But he didn't need to do all that. He then proceeded to kick me out for the remainder of the activity. The very next day, a white player spit on the same indoor turf in front of Doyle. But nothing was done. Didn't get kicked out, nor did the player get yelled at.

This past week, I've talked to a few of my teammates, not just the black members, and even some coaches. player get yelled at this past week i've talked to a few of my teammates not just the black members and even some coaches what i got out of these conversations was that with doyle being gone anxiety has been lifted of the shoulders of many of us people aren't afraid to speak up and folk are starting to have fun again change is coming to this program and i couldn't be more proud to say i'll be a part of that change so why this is an interesting tweet um is tyler kluver if you've listened to the washed up walk-ons and you know if you've listened to this show i am a big proponent of that i think they really give a great um they get some really great context things i think they they do a good job of showing a

different side right i can give the analysis of a guy who hasn't been in the program but being in the program i think they do give another layer of information i think is really important to um to listen and glean from. But he said, this is almost the exact same story I told in the podcast. I assure you I was very white in 2014 when the exact same thing happened to me. In this specific instance, Doyle just ain't having it if you're spitting. I listened to that episode. I highly recommend you do as well.

It's very enlightening. Kluber did say that was the exact, I mean, that was literally a story he told a week ago on the podcast. say that was the exact i mean that was literally a story he told a week ago on the podcast so that was interesting nonetheless um like i said it it's not up for me to understand how or you know how someone feels it's under it's important for me to understand that it made them feel a certain way and support them um and if that was his experience that is his experience and honestly the more i hear about what what what Chris Doyle did, I do think not only was there, you know, racial, there's racial undertones and there's comments that were made about race, um, that were inappropriate from Doyle, but I do think his way of handling

things was just a little bit next level. Um, there, there's a line of militarism and professionalism. And I feel like Chris Doyle might have taken that a step far with all athletes and then even a step further with, with the black athletes. So I think I personally, it sounds like after listening to the press conference with Kirk and, you know,

ivory and Keith and cave on this has, you know, the, the, the program has already begun to change without having, you know, Doyle in the building and having these conversations. So that is really good to hear. The next thing I want to talk about is the kneeling though, because Kirk said that, you

know, previously he was, you know, he was against the kneeling, his team was going to stand, you know, all that stuff. But since then he's changed his mind And his, you know, he said the team can either do they can either stand or they can kneel, but they're doing it together. And the reason why that's important is Matt Hankins doesn't seem like he is going to care what the rest of the team says. And my guess is the team ultimately does decide to kneel. But I do think it's interesting to see what happens if Hankins decide to kneel and the rest of the team decides to stand. And then if he is reprimanded for those actions.

I do understand where Kirk is coming from. I think the idea is that the team should be united in however they respond. If that is kneeling, then great. If it's not kneeling, then I'm interested to see what they do to show unity. But I'd be shocked if they don't kneel, but it will be interesting to see what the repercussions are if Hankins kneels and the rest of the team does not. But obviously, more to come on that. We'll find out, obviously, when the season starts, what happens. And I'm sure we'll be getting a bit more direction from the Iowa football program on what their direction is going to be on game day

as they try to make those decisions and have some of those tough conversations that they've been having. But coming up on segment number two, we're going to break down that press conference and talk a bit about that. And the fact that I feel like Kirk said a lot without saying that much, there were some important things to glean from it, but I felt like there was potentially more to get. The player interviews I thought were really well done.

They did a great job of speaking to the media, so I want to talk about that as well. Before we jump into that, though, the Lockdown Podcast Network stands against racism and social injustice. That's why we, the hosts, are making personal donations to local and national organizations that are fighting for change. And in the month of June, Lockdown is matching the total of all host donations up to an additional $10,000. To make your own donation along with us, please visit LockdownSports.com slash Black Lives Matter. I made my donation to Campaign Zero. I'm really excited about what they stand for and the fact that they are combating police brutality. So if you have an opportunity to, if you aren't able to get out there and be on the front lines or do something,

donating your money is also very important as well and can make a big change. Also, I want to make sure I give a shout out to one of our sponsors on the show today, BuiltBar.com. Built Bar does have the protein bar that tastes just like a candy bar and they are absolutely delicious packed in protein low in calories and low in sugars it's what you need you don't want a protein bar that's going to be basically half fat you're basically getting a snickers bar with a little bit more protein however built bar tastes like a snickers bar but actually delivers that nutritional punch that you're looking for pre and post workout, or even just as a midday pick me up. I ordered my second box a couple of days ago, really excited to get that in the mail a day.

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just a little under 50 minutes long on Friday. I did not get a chance to watch it in real time, but watched the recording of it on the Iowa Hawkeyes YouTube account. I do think it was important for them to speak to the media. I thought it was really important to also bring the players on as well.

And I do think there is a little bit to be said about what players specifically they brought on. You haven't heard a lot from Kayvon Merriweather or Ivory Kelly Martin in terms of the racial inequality within the program. And Keith Duncan is just a very active Twitter guy. So you've heard a lot from him, but not necessarily a lot from the regards of the racial inequality. But Ivory Kelly Martin is a leader within the program. Keith Duncan is a leader within the program. Kayvon Merriweather, a guy who started off really strong in 2018, saw action in nine games as a true freshman, didn't get a ton of playing time last year, had some issues with injuries, but is going to be an important player going forward. A guy out of Michigan, which is a very important spot for Iowa to be recruiting defensive backside as well. So I do think it's interesting which

players they did bring up. And I thought all three of them did a great job of speaking to the media and talking through kind of their experiences and whatnot. But Kirk was the first one to get up and talk. And here's a couple of things I gleaned from what Kirk said. First, you could tell that the press conference seemed a bit uncomfortable. He didn't seem like he was in his element, definitely seemed a little bit nervous about the press conference. And obviously, I've taken some time to really prepare the right speech and statement. A couple of things really stood out to me, though, from what he said.

Specifically, let's actually get to the easy stuff first. Twitter, he basically said, I screwed up. We have basically abolished the Twitter policy. He said the reason why he had the Twitter policy was to protect his players. And he realized that at some point they need to be able to be responsible. And he needs to be able to trust his players. And that the Twitter policy has been gone. I think that's not just in relation to the fact they abolished it for this.

But just the fact they almost, you know, they came out and said only one pre-approved tweet. I think this is showing that he is trying to learn and grow as a coach, but they have gotten rid of the Twitter policy, and he said he was really just doing it to protect his players. He also said that this past week was a pretty emotional week. Monday they had a meeting, and it was about as emotional and powerful a meeting as he was about as emotional and powerful meeting as he had ever seen per his words. And he said it got a little bit heated at times,

which was to be expected. But it sounds like he was really pleased with the growth within his own program and the growth experienced by the players and the willingness to communicate among the players. For example, he mentioned Ivory Kelly Martin and the fact that he's probably heard more from Ivory Kelly Martin in the last week, week and a half than he had in the past four seasons as his coach. So he was really excited about the fact that players are willing to step up and be there. He also said, you know, someone asked him about what are the steps you're taking to change the culture here. And he'd obviously mentioned the, the leadership group that was formed this past week, the advisory board of former players. He said that,

you know, he has the, the guys on this leadership group have not been announced, but he does, you know, he asked if it's okay to share this publicly and hopefully able is, is able to give that, that meeting or give that information out soon.

So the second step was just having those, those raw meetings, those, you know, disregarding the potential practicing and whatnot, and just having those truly raw meetings where people can just, um, be able to speak out and talk about, um, whatever they are feeling about the current situation. So I thought that was interesting. Um, not sure on what the next couple of steps are. He didn't really go into a ton of detail. And like I said, before I got into this segment,

I really felt like Kirk said a lot without saying much. He also mentioned that he doesn't pay a lot of attention to the accusations, but that he cared deeply about how players felt when they were in the program. So to me, that's more or less just saying, if people aren't willing to talk to him, he hasn't heard the other outside stuff, but he is, he is trying to get ahold of all of his players and understand kind of what they felt and how they felt. I truly do believe just based on his

emotions that he does care. And it is deeply concerning to him that some players have felt like they were being traded, treated incorrectly because of their race. He did not make any mention on Chris Doyle. He's letting that play out as part of the due process. Also, other coaches that were called out that have not been suspended, there's an outside group that is kind of looking into that as well. That's a pretty sensitive situation because it does include his son, Brian. I do think people were expecting potentially Kirk to resign, which I could not see that happening, especially with three players coming to the podium.

I just wouldn't expect that to happen on that Friday. The Chris Doyle stuff, that needs to play out. I can't imagine that's even going to happen today with the internal audit and with Gary Barta speaking. But if it does, I guess it wouldn't surprise me. But that really, you know, not a lot was really said, not a lot that we didn't already know outside of being able to ask Kirk a few questions. He also mentioned Dylan Doyle and said, very sad to see Dylan Doyle go, but fully understand and fully support him as a, you know, person, as a player. That's gotta be rough. Like I said,

I've talked about this on the show before. The loss of Dylan Doyle is really being lost in all this too. The biggest issue is obviously the racial inequality and the unfair treatment. The next biggest issue is Chris Doyle as a coach in general. And then to me, you know, the underlying thing is Dylan Doyle is being kind of sucked into all this as well because he is the son of the guy who's being accused of all these things. He grew up wanting to be an Iowa Hawkeye. He was in line to be a starter for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and yet now he's leaving the program. So that was my thoughts on the Kirk Ferentz discussion.

Again, not a lot specifically being said, but I do want to touch on segment number three talking about Kayvon Merriweather, Ivory Kelly Martin, and Keith Duncan's comments as well. And the one last note that Kirk said was that he can't do anything about what has happened, but he can do something going forward, and he's really proud of the steps his team has taken. So I'm excited to see what Iowa does going forward. I do think Kirk is in a great position

and is such a powerful leader that he has the opportunity to not only change the Iowa football program for the better, but also to help change the state of Iowa for the better as well. And I hope he can utilize that platform to do such a thing. So that being said, I'm coming up on segment number three, touching on, you know, the three players who did speak at the news conference before we get into that though, I want to make sure you do realize just how incredible rockauto.com actually is. Rockauto.com is there for all of your auto part needs.

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your car part selection. rockauto.com, amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Lockdown sent you today. We are back for segment number three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your third and final segment of the show today. And like I said before we hopped off for a quick break, want to bring up the players and what they talked about on the, you know, on the podcast or on the, excuse me, the, the, the press conference. It started with cave on Merriweather. He was pretty short and to the point basically

said he was really happy to be back after struggling during the last couple of weeks, you know, months with the, you know, obviously the quarantine and the racial injustice. He was just happy to get back to playing football and being there, being a part of the program. Ivory Kelly Martin said, we have a lot of hope in our hearts that this program will be able to change for the better. So he doesn't have any personal experience

that he would like to voice out, but he can tell there's been an entire morale change from how it was to how it is now. And Keith Duncan said, he said, we need to speak up more. We know we would never put all the blame on coach Ferentz. We see every, you know,

we see everything us as leaders, as captains, we need to speak up. And that happened Monday said he would not want any other coaches to be there. And he said, this is the most connected the team has ever been in his four years. I thought that was really interesting.

And there's one of the things I talked about with Ben Stevens on the Lockdown Big Ten podcast was the fact that this is an opportunity to really bring this Iowa Hawkeye football team together even more. You know, they sometimes during through adversity, you can come out on the other side even stronger. And I think this is what we're seeing with this program. Keith said this past week was powerful. So did IKM, so did Kayvon. And this is an opportunity for them to be a part of that change. They now understand they need to be more vocal and they need to be better leaders within the program. And when a team experiences something like this, it can either tear teams apart or it can bring them together. And I feel like right now we're seeing this team be brought together.

And Kirk even said, you know, made a comment about another thing, a new player actually said, because he was kind of worried about the guys who were incoming this year. And, you know, a lot of those guys moved in this summer, this past week. And he said, he talked to one of the new players that joined the program. And, you know, obviously that it's a tough time to be joining the program. And he said, Coach, I'm excited to be here. And we have a chance to set the bar for college football. And that gave Kirk a lot of hope.

And honestly, listening to Ivory Kelly Martin, Kayvon Merriweather, and Keith Duncan gave me a lot of hope as well. Like I said, the big thing was the fact that this team has been the most connected it has ever been in its four years. Ivory Kelly Martin, a really interesting case in the football program.

A guy who has seen his playing time go up and down, started out as the starter two years ago and lost his spot to Makai Sargent this past year, redshirted because Tyler Goodson took over. And we're seeing Tyler Goodson likely going to be the starter this year with potentially Ivory Kelly Martin spelling him a bit in the backfield as well. But he said, you know, what kept you here? And he said, now more than ever, I know this is the place and he has a huge role to play on this team as a leader and a player. And to me, I think that just speaks volumes about his character and the fact that he doesn't want

to leave, doesn't want to quit on the team. He wants to be a part of this team and he wants to help make that change. Also, like I said, I thought overall, they really did a great job. Some people are really frustrated with the lack of information that was truly given by Kirk here. But I do think a lot of what we're wanting to get information on is the fact that the Chris Doyle situation and the other coaches and those things are not things you can just talk about openly in a press conference that there's due process that needs to be gone through, especially with the Chris Doyle situation. And to speak out about it earlier could be detrimental to the team. So I know people are hoping for more.

I really enjoyed just being able to hear from Kayvon, Ivory, and Keith. I thought they seemed to be in good spirits. They understand the weight and the impact of not only being at the press conference, but the past week of football for that team. And they also understand the importance going forward of, of willing to, you know, being willing to make this team a better team going forward in the Iowa Hawkeye football program. Um, and the last row, you know, to end on a, a positive note or end on a, um, a light note, they, someone for some reason asked, uh, you know, I know he tweeted a little bit about it. Someone asked Keith Duncan, do you like pineapple on your pizza?

And he said, something cold or juicy on a warm pizza isn't good. Pineapple is not good on a pizza. Why I find this funny is that I actually asked Michael Ojemudia down at the Senior Bowl, does he like pineapple on his pizza? And he said, heck yeah. So definitely, apparently pineapple is a controversial point on whether or not you want it on his pizza. And he said, heck, yeah. So definitely a apparently pineapple is a controversial point on whether or not you want it on your pizza. So I found that pretty, pretty funny. But that'll do it, though, for our shorter third segment. Like I said, coming up tomorrow,

we're going to talk about the Gary Barta press conference. And we're also going to talk a bit about some of the findings from a Big Ten study that was released regarding the differences in black students, black student athletes, and white students and white student athletes among the Big Ten and where Iowa falls in that disparity category. Like I said, please, if you like the show, make sure to give us that five-star review wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Make sure to subscribe as well and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And if you liked the content you heard on today's show and you want more Locked On sports content, make sure to check out the Locked On Big Ten podcast with Ben Stevens. He does a really fantastic job of breaking down everything that's happening within the Big Ten. I've guest-appeared a few times as well. Another guy who's doing really great stuff, Asher Lowe, on the Locked On Wisconsin podcast. Does a really great job of bringing on some of the Wisconsin recruits.

If you're interested to hear about how the program in Wisconsin is doing, Asher does a really great job of breaking it down non-biasedly. And also one more piece of news I forgot to mention as well. DJ Johnson, the former Iowa defensive back, has committed to Purdue, so he'll be playing the Hawks going forward, which will be interesting to see. I'm also wondering if, given the allegations that have come out, if he was, you know, he should be able to get immediate playing time at this point. I think he could probably easily point to Chris Doyle and get that immediate playing time. So we could be playing and starting for the Purdue Boilermakers this

year. So definitely some big news to know as well. Like I said, they'll make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, like review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And as always Hawkeye nation, be safe out there, you downloaded this podcast at. And as always, Hawkeye Nation,

be safe out there, be an agent of change, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. And like I always say at the end of the show, let's go Hawks. We'll see you next time.