Former Iowa running back Akrum Wadley on Monday detailed several allegations of mistreatment by current and former Hawkeyes coaches, writing that "playing for Iowa Football was a living nightmare."
Wadley, who played for Iowa from 2014 to 2017, mentioned head coach Kirk Ferentz, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and former strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle in the allegations, published on Facebook by Robert T. Green, whose sports advisory firm is working with several former Iowa players to voice their experiences with the program.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29383844/ex-iowa-rb-akrum-wadley-says-playing-hawkeyes-was-living-nightmare
This is heartbreaking to read that Akrum Wadley, one of the greatest running backs in recent Iowa football hx, felt like he had a bad experience at the University of Iowa. College and becoming an adult is supposed to be a fun learning experience. He was such an incredible athlete to watch play. He was a star, but he started out slow out of the box after some fumblitis in the early part of his career at Iowa that put him on the bench for longer than I wanted to see, because he was obviously very talented. I seem to recall he was forced to carry a football with him for a while around campus to class, which could be publicly humiliating depending on one's psychological make-up.
Much was written in sports articles at the time how the coaching staff was on him to put on weight. I presume they had a vision of him for a type of Big Ten running back. At one point someone yanks his meal ticket as a punishment for insufficient weight gain, an odd punishment for not gaining weight. Most O-Linemen are tasked with putting on weight, after arrival, as well. Most of us who wrestled didn't enjoy cutting weight for wrestling. Some things are necessary if you want to succeed in sports. His weight issues somehow made it into the Des Moines Register, and/or Cedar Rapids Gazette. I am not sure why. So he may have felt publicly shamed.
Brian Ferentz is alleged to have joked about Wadley's appearance being akin to a bank robber after Wadley donned a team-issued pull over black/gray woolen hat. Were jokes like that directed to white players, too? The investigators should interview white athletes as well and question their experiences to see if this is related to race.
I am not sure what to make of all this. An investigation by a law firm into the allegations made by black players is getting underway. I am glad I am not on that investigation. The investigators are three attorneys expected to conduct 100 interviews, who will arrive at conclusions, and issue a report. I cannot imagine this investigation and report will not take until December. These allegations will affect recruiting. Kirk Ferentz has had a reputation for high ethical standards. There are so many times his conservative play calling has come under attack, but the past 3-years it has sometimes gotten better, and I would say the past 3-4 years he has enjoyed good support from the fanbase.
Hiring a family member can put one in a dicey situation. It would have been best to not hire one's son. It would have been best to not create an award for assistant coach of the year after the strength and conditioning coach
(Chris Doyle) coaches his charges into a debilitating and potentially fatal disease, rhabdomyolysis. I thought Doyle should have been let go then.
Iowa had the Steve and Sam Alford father son basketball show that didn't go well, but I don't think there were employer-employee issues then like we have now. Let's live and learn from our mistakes. Even large institutions don't always learn.
