NCAA Threatens to Sanction Iowa Athletics “The Right Way” for Recruiting Violations in Multiple Sports

Recently, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported that the FBI may be poised to reveal damning evidence of widespread corruption in college basketball, including dozens of major programs, Hall of Fame coaches, and NBA lottery picks. Per one of his anonymous sources, “When this all comes out, Hall of Fame coaches should be scared, lottery picks won’t be eligible to play and almost half of the 16 teams the NCAA showed on its initial NCAA tournament show this weekend should worry about their appearance being vacated.”

Naturally, this has fans of almost every major program on edge about whether their school is one of as many as 50 college basketball programs that could be compromised. Well, WRNL sent one of its own into the air ducts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to find out more.

We have learned through questionably completely legal espionage covered under the Freedom of Information Act that not only the basketball program, but nearly the entire athletic department at the University of Iowa may soon come under fire.

Among the literal mountains of evidence showing corruption within Iowa athletics were multiple records indicating a current member of the Iowa basketball team received multitudes of prohibited items from head coach Fran McCaffery. The impermissible benefits included housing, clothing, vehicles, and money for nearly 18 years prior to attending the University of Iowa.

In an interview with a source close to the Hawkeye program, whom asked to remain anonymous (which we were super stoked about because only real journalists get to use anonymous sources), WRNL learned that the player also violated several rules, including staying out after the street lights came on, putting his elbows on the table, and not wearing his coat when it was cold outside. Regarding the various rules violations, the source indicated McCaffery was never mad, he was “just disappointed.”

However, the most explosive evidence found within the evidence of the violations included photos and video showing McCaffrey not only stayed overnight at the recruit’s place of residence (a method popularized later by Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh), but also engaged in repeated sexual intercourse with the recruit’s mother.

In an effort to convince the NCAA to lessen its sanctions on the program, University of Iowa athletic director Gary Barta announced that the program would self-impose an NCAA Tournament ban for the ninth time in the past twelve seasons.

The Iowa football and wrestling programs were also included in the reports, putting longtime and forever-more football coach Kirk Ferentz under fire, along with wrestling coach Tom Brands.

Reports indicated that Ferentz provided multiple former recruits and players with benefits over the course of two decades, including many items and services similar to those McCaffery provided to his recruits. At least one of Ferentz’s recruits also applied for and received a low-income housing option, despite his financial connections to the head coach. Ferentz also promised one of the players a position on the Iowa football coaching staff upon graduation or the conclusion of his professional playing career.

Various photos, receipts, pay stubs, and passive-aggressive refrigerator sticky notes also indicate that wrestling coach Terry Brands has been following the lead of McCaffery and Ferentz, providing housing, clothing, food, money, and unwanted dating advice to a prized recruit for more than a decade. One sticky-note indicated that the recruit needed to stop leaving the toilet seat up after he was finished, a violation which was never reported to the NCAA. Receipts from IKEA indicated that Brands went so far as purchasing a FÖLJA baby crib for the recruit when he was still an infant.

In an exclusive, closed-door interview, an NCAA employee involved with the investigation indicated that the organization would soon be pursuing sanctions against the university for massive corruption across multiple sports. “We know how these types of situations are typically handled at athletic programs that actually matter on the national stage, but we want to make sure that we handle the University of Iowa case the right way.”

The FBI’s investigation into the widespread corruption in college basketball is still in its infancy, but we can expect some potentially cataclysmic information to be released over the coming weeks, months, and years. Stay tuned to WRNL as this enormous story continues to unfold.