The NCAA ruled that tampering violations occurred during Iowa football's recruitment of the former quarterback. The Hawkeyes will have to vacate wins as a result of the infractions.
When Cade McNamara announced he would transfer to Iowa football in December 2022, Hawkeye fans were excited.
After years of inconsistent play at the quarterback position, they had just landed a quarterback with high-level Big Ten experience at Michigan, which culminated in a College Football Playoff appearance in 2021.
Sure, McNamara did lose his starting job to J.J. McCarthy in 2022, but Iowa fans didn't care. McNamara was the man to bring the Hawkeyes' offense back to national relevance, and the quarterback even encouraged the national media to keep criticizing Iowa's offense.
"Please, just keep on saying it's the s****est offense in college football," McNamara told "The Room" podcast in the 2023 offseason.
Unfortunately for McNamara, Iowa would indeed be the worst offense in college football under his leadership. 2023 started with a touchdown pass on the second play of the season, but it ended in disarray with McNamara's season-ending injury in September.
McNamara returned healthy for the 2024 season, but was benched in October after struggling to generate anything resembling a passing game and never played for Iowa again.
Iowa's decision to bring McNamara to campus went from a brilliant one to potentially one of the worst moves Kirk Ferentz has ever made during a fantastic tenure as the Hawkeyes' head coach.
McNamara's Black and Gold story should've ended on that sunny October day, but he's now in the headlines yet again almost two years later.
The NCAA released a detailed statement on April 13 that ruled Iowa - specifically Ferentz and then-offensive analyst Jon Budmayr - committed tampering violations during its successful recruitment of McNamara.
This was already a known fact, because Ferentz and Budmayr suspended themselves for the 2024 season opener when the initial story came to light. McNamara wasn't mentioned in any of the releases, but the timing of his commitment coincided when Budmayr - who McNamara already had a relationship with - illegally made contact with him before the transfer portal officially opened.
The Hawkeyes self-imposed those violations to avoid further punishment, but the NCAA is further cracking down on the Iowa program. The violations are as follows:
The full list of prescribed penalties for this case include:
- One year of probation.
- A fine of $25,000 (self-imposed by the school).
- A two-week ban on all football recruiting communication during the 2026 calendar year (self-imposed by the school).
- A 24-day reduction in recruiting person days, including two weeks during which Ferentz was prohibited from off-campus recruiting activity in 2025, as well as four days during which Budmayr was prohibited from recruiting during the 2025 spring evaluation period (self-imposed by the school).
- A vacation of all records in which the student-athlete competed while ineligible.
- A one-game suspension for Ferentz and Budmayr during the 2024 football season (self-imposed by the school).
The key word that I take away from this release is self-imposed. The Hawkeyes already self-imposed just about every punishment they possibly could on themselves, but that's still not good enough for the NCAA? That doesn't make much sense at all, and now Iowa has to be on probation for one season and faces more negative publicity just as it seems to have broken away from the "having a poor offense" reputation.
Oh, and if that's not enough, the Hawkeyes will have to vacate four wins - Utah State, Iowa State, Western Michigan, and Michigan State - from the 2023 season (all four McNamara starts), which is just more negativity surrounding the proud program.
Will the Hawkeyes be fine in the long run? Probably, but this incident confirms one thing.
The McNamara debacle continues to haunt Iowa football.
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