IOWA CITY — The NCAA announced its decision in an investigation into alleged tampering violations committed by the Iowa football program on Tuesday.
According to the NCAA, tampering violations occurred when head coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr engaged in impermissible contact with a student-athlete before the athlete entered the transfer portal.
The violations were classified as Level II-Mitigated for all parties.
Under NCAA rules, a student-athlete who transfers to a school that engaged in tampering becomes ineligible pending reinstatement. The student-athlete competed during the 2023 season before being reinstated.
The athlete is reported to be quarterback Cade McNamara, who spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Iowa before transferring to East Tennessee State. McNamara was at Michigan when the tampering occurred.
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To address ineligible competition, the Committee on Infractions prescribed penalties including:
- One year of probation.
- A fine of $25,000 (self-imposed).
- A two-week ban on all football recruiting communication during the 2026 calendar year (self-imposed).
- A 24-day reduction in recruiting person days, including two weeks during which Ferentz was prohibited from off-camps recruiting activity in 2025, as well as four days during which Budmayr was prohibited from recruiting during the 2025 spring evaluation period (self-imposed).
- A vacation of all records in which the student athlete competed while ineligible.
- A one-game suspension for Ferentz and Budmayr.
Iowa did not agree to the panel's application of a vacation-of-records penalty. The case was ultimately resolved via an infractions hearing.
The panel found the vacation-of-records penalty appropriate, though it acknowledged the need for regular reevaluation of rules given the changing landscape of college athletics.
"Changes to historical practice — particularly around what violations trigger student-athlete ineligibility and how ineligible competition is penalized — should be made by more traditional governance committees through the governance and legislative process," the panel said. "The COI is open to reevaluating the violations that trigger ineligibility or how ineligible competition should be penalized, but it would be inappropriate to do so in the context of a single infractions case and outside of the legislative process."
The panel also acknowledged that Ferentz's lapse in judgment did not call into question his integrity or decades of running a compliant football program and appreciated his cooperation and contrition in the case.
"When respected individuals identify their mistakes and take responsibility for them, it sets the standard for appropriate behavior within their programs, universities and, more importantly, across the broader industry," the panel said in its decision. "The panel appreciates the actions taken by Iowa and Ferentz to publicly address his and his staff member's conduct."
Ferentz admitted to the violations prior to the start of the 2024 season. He served a self-imposed one-game suspension and missed the Hawkeyes' season-opening win over Illinois State.
“Earlier this year, (we) became aware of a potential NCAA recruiting violation in our program,” Ferentz said in a press conference in August 2024. “We spent the past several months cooperating with the NCAA and reviewed the matter. Based on those discussions, the communication has been determined to be a potential level two NCAA violation.
“Therefore, I have made the decision, in conjunction with the athletic director, to recommend a self-imposed one-game suspension and also … a loss of one week of off-campus recruiting.”
Budmayr also served the 2024 season-opener as part of Iowa's self-imposed punishments.
According to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde, the decision will vacate the program's four wins in the 2023 season during which McNamara was deemed ineligible. McNamara appeared in five games in 2023 and helped the Hawkeyes to a 4-1 record.
The decision does not impact Ferentz's status as the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history.
In a statement, Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz and university president Barbara Wilson shared their disappointment in the ruling.
“We are very disappointed in today’s ruling by the Committee on Infractions," Goetz said. "Throughout this nearly two-and-a-half-year process, the University has fully cooperated with the NCAA enforcement staff. More importantly, when the facts revealed that violations had taken place, the institution and the head coach publicly accepted full responsibility and self-imposed several significant sanctions, something few others have done. We believe the decision of adding the penalty of the forfeiture of wins is unwarranted. The matter is now closed, and we have moved forward.”
Ferentz also made a statement expressing his shared disappointment in the ruling.
“I am disappointed by the NCAA’s decision today," Ferentz said. "Throughout the process, our program has been open and honest about my mistake – contacting a potential player in the hours before it was permissible by NCAA rules.
"I felt it was important to make amends for the issue, which is why I voluntarily served a one-game suspension to start the 2023 season. I believe today’s decision by the NCAA vacating four wins in our 2023 season is overly harsh and inconsistent with the violation.
"As I tell our team and staff, it is how you respond and move forward that defines you. Our focus is on the 2026 season and that is how we are moving forward.”
The members of the panel who received the case are: Jeremy Jordan, dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport at Syracuse; Stephen Madva, attorney in private practice; Vince Nicastro, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer at the Big East Conference; Kay Norton, chair of the Committee on Infractions and president emerita at Northern Colorado; Mary Schutten, executive vice president and provost at Central Michigan; Christian Spears, former athletics director at Marshall; and Steven Waterfield, athletics director at Oakland.
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at ethan.petrik@wcfcourier.com.
