Clowns can be creepy or cute, and even when they’re cute, they’re still creepy.
Here is the latest example of the NCAA Clown Show: Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz has been suspended for the Hawkeyes season opener vs Illinois State due to a potential Level II recruiting infraction. It appears the NCAA found evidence that the Hawkeyes reached out to their starting quarterback Cade McNamara while he was still a member of the Michigan Wolverines. That would be the definition of tampering.
This seems silly because players (and coaches) move from school to school all the time. By the end of the 2022 season Jim Harbaugh and Michigan made it clear that they had already moved on to quarterback JJ McCarthy. McNamara was ready to move on and days after the Ohio State game McNamara entered the transfer portal. A couple days later he announced he was transferring to Iowa.
Sure, that seemed quick. Sure, it is reasonable to assume conversations had already taken place prematurely. And it should be noted that Iowa assistant Jon Budmayr recruited McNamara when he was in high school and had an established relationship with the player. So, nobody is denying any of these infractions took place.
Instead, with the constant movement of players with their "commitments" and flipping, and transferring, who cares when a preliminary conversation took place between two interested parties? Especially if those two interested parties have a prior relationship.
NCAA CLOWN SHOW CONTINUES
Doesn't the NCAA have anything better to do? Actually, they might not. Nobody knows what they really do anymore accept collect money for and run the NCAA basketball tournament and Final Four. Other than that the NCAA Clown Show continues!
Regarding Ferentz, he jumped in front of the story, held a press conference, apologized to everybody and promised an infraction like this will never happen again.
For more college football talk, tune in each weekday to ESPN Southwest Florida from 2-6 for Craig Shemon and Company.
