Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz Suspended One Game For Recruiting Violations

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr were suspended on Wednesday for violations in recruiting former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara from the transfer portal.

Assistant head coach Seth Wallace will take over for Ferentz as the acting head coach against Illinois State.

Ferentz, the longest-tenured active coach in the FBS, serving as the Hawkeyes’ leader since 1999, confirmed the self-imposed suspension that he and Budmayr received for impermissible contact made with McNamara in 2022 during a press conference on Thursday, meaning Ferentz and Budamyr will both miss the Hawkeyes’ season-opening game against Illinois State on Aug. 31

“Earlier this year I became aware of a potential NCAA recruiting violation in our program and the issue involved communication with a player and his family prior to him entering the portal, “Ferentz said during a press conference on Thursday. “We’ve spent the past several months cooperating with the NCAA and reviewed the matter and based on those discussions, the communication has been determined to be a potential Level II NCAA violation.

“So therefore, I have made the decision in conjunction with (Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz) to recommend a self-imposed one-game suspension and also a loss of one week of off-campus recruiting. I will not be coaching in the season-opening game next week against Illinois State nor will Jon Budamyr.

Ferentz still noted he would coach the team throughout the week in practice but would be apart from the team for 24 hours after midnight on Friday. Ferentz went on to apologize for the recruiting violation.

“I tell our players, we abide by the rules and in this specific case I did not do that, I made a mistake during the recruiting process. I want to apologize to our players, coaching staff, university leadership and our incredible fans. 26 years as a head coach this is the first potential Level II violation that I’ve had and it won’t happen again.”

McNamara, whose season was ended in 2023 with a torn ACL injury, played in five games for the Hawkeyes last season, completing 51.1 percent of his passes (46 of 90) for 505 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Ferentz previously named McNamara as Iowa’s starting quarterback at Big Ten Media Days this July.

Goetz and Ferentz said that while the NCAA investigation is open, they could not disclose further details about the case. Ferentz would not disclose whether or not he knew about the rule before committing the violation but cited ‘unique circumstances’ which surrounded the case.