Scott Dochterman, CR Gazette-
IOWA CITY — University of Iowa’s athletics department committed five secondary NCAA violations, including two involving the football program, from mid-July 2011 through early August 2012.
All of the infractions were minor in scope, and the NCAA did not penalize the school. Documents involving the violations were released by the school to The Gazette following an open-records request.
All of the incidents were self-reported.
“We do a lot of self-reporting,” University of Iowa President Sally Mason said. “I would worry about an institution that’s never had anything to self-report, any time along the way. If there’s a 10-year period and there’s nothing, not even a minor infraction reported, I might actually say, ‘Are we absolutely certain that nobody has texted or emailed a prospect when they shouldn’t have, nobody has done something that has put somebody at risk somewhere along the way?’ I’d ask a lot of very hard questions at that point in time.”
Iowa’s violations include:
A high school math teacher and friend of Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz called a football prospect and set up a meeting with him at Monessen (Pa.) High School in December 2011. The teacher, whose name was redacted by the University of Iowa, met with the player without knowledge of Iowa’s coaching staff during a dead recruiting period. The student-athlete mentioned the meeting on Facebook, which was relayed to the athletics department by a reporter. The teacher was sent a cease-and-desist letter from the athletics department preventing future contact with prospects.
Former football assistant coach Norm Parker spoke at a scholarship fundraising event at Indian Hills Community College on March 10, 2011. NCAA rules prohibit an institutional representative from directly or indirectly helping with financial assistance for prospective student-athletes at another college before their enrollment at the four-year school. Parker received a letter of admonishment.
Assistant golf coach Dan Holterhaus evaluated a junior-college golfer on April 9, 2012, the beginning date of a dead recruiting period. Holterhaus was issued a letter of admonishment and his recruiting opportunities for the student-athlete were reduced from seven to five.
Assistant rowing coach Beth Redfearn included a high school sophomore in a mass recruiting email sent in November 2011. The staff was not allowed to contact the student-athlete until September 1 of her junior year. The department self-imposed a two-week prohibition from contacting the athlete when allowed to do so.
Men’s swimming coach Marc Long sent a congratulatory mass text message to his team following an intrasquad meet on Oct. 8, 2011. The text inadvertently was sent to a student-athlete, who was on campus for an official visit. The text gave Iowa swimmers contact information for the student-athlete, a rules violation. Iowa’s compliance office imposed a two-week recruiting moratorium related to the athlete.
