Iowa's Kirk Ferentz blasts NCAA's handling of Noah Shannon sports wagering situation

Kirk Ferentz felt like he needed to respond.

The NCAA announced Wednesday it’s in the process of reexamining its sports wagering guidelines. A final vote on updated guidelines is expected at the end of the month. The rules potentially could be applied retroactively, too.

Among the new policies proposed would be the elimination of a suspension for a first offense, regardless of dollar value and bets placed on other sports at the athlete’s school. Previously, if an athlete bet on a sport with their school, they would be facing a permanent ban of their eligibility.

The new guidelines would just require the athlete to go through education on sports wagering rules and prevention.

For the Iowa head coach, Wednesday’s news only magnified the situation he’s dealt with this season. Noah Shannon has been absent from the Hawkeyes’ defensive line this year. The sixth-year defensive tackle had his appeal to the NCAA denied last month. He previously admitted to wagering on an event involving an Iowa team in a different sport. He’s yet to be charged in the state investigation into illegal betting by Iowa and Iowa State athletes.

Now hearing the NCAA’s move could potentially be retroactive, Kirk Ferentz made his frustrations clear with college sports’ governing body on Sirius XM. Not just because of what Shannon’s loss has meant for the team, but having to watch the 27-game starter navigate it all off the field.

“I’ve watched, in particular, Noah Shannon,” Ferentz said. “I’ve watched the emotional distress he’s gone through, we talk about being concerned with the athletes. This guy’s gone through undo, I think – this guy did nothing illegal. He did break the rule. He’s been very transparent about that. Very helpful in whatever information people needed.

“And to me, to pay a full season’s price for what he did – he bet on an Iowa basketball game. I don’t know if it was men’s or women’s. It really doesn’t matter. To pay a full season’s price compared to some of the things you see going on nationally, you can’t make it make sense. I couldn’t make it make sense to his family or him, and that’s very frustrating.”

Word broke last month that a former Air Force men’s golf head coach – who was not named – violated NCAA rules by knowingly participating in impermissible sports wagering, including placing bets on the university’s football program, isn’t going to raise eyebrows among most college sports fans.

Sports wagering has become one of the NCAA’s top enforcement targets. Since 2018, the NCAA has found more than 175 infractions of its sports-betting policy. As of this summer, the NCAA maintained 17 active investigations, according to a letter from NCAA president Charlie Baker.

Ferentz’s problem isn’t that one of his top players broke the NCAA’s sports wagering rule. The Iowa head coach made clear he’s infuriated with how slowly the governing body has moved. Shannon, who has 107 career tackles, was ruled out for the season in August.

Kirk Ferentz called out the NCAA for not looking at its sports betting policy earlier.

“I would also just say, I can’t resist, I’m just curious why this couldn’t be done in June or July,” he said. “Because you can’t get back the days that he’s missed. That’s the reality of it. I just wish we were a little more nimble as a governing body. I wish we were a little quicker to address things. As I understand it, some committee came up with this. Why do you have to wait three more weeks to stamp it or not stamp it? We’re talking about some kid’s life. It’s a day-to-day thing for him. He’s in the thick of it. We got another delay here before we find out.

“I’m just watching how it’s impacted a really good young man who chose to stay for a sixth year. Quality kid. Quality person. A quality student. I think sometimes we just get numb to the fact that these are young people. They’re young people who are just trying to do what’s right and do their best. I just wish people were a little more thoughtful sometimes about how it impacts individuals’ lives. We’re becoming more like the NFL, which is great. But we’re not the NFL. There’s still a difference.”

NCAA continues to prioritize sports wagering enforcement

The NCAA can’t afford to go soft on sports wagering. But as Kirk Ferentz pointed out, he wants the policy to make sense for athletes.

The association announced this week it will be advocating for updated state sports betting laws and regulations to protect athletes from harassment or coercion. Over the past five years, 38 states have passed 38 different laws legalizing sports betting. The NCAA can’t afford for the integrity of games to be called into question.

The NCAA and member conferences, an increasing number of which now partner with Las Vegas-based monitoring firm U.S. Integrity, aren’t going to catch all coaches, administrators and athletes who run afoul of its sports betting policy. 

Even U.S. Integrity, which first flagged abnormalities in betting surrounding Alabama baseball last spring, acknowledges that for every perpetrator caught, many others fall through the cracks.

“Oh, my goodness – a lot,” Matt Holt, CEO and founder of U.S. Integrity, recently told On3’s Eric Prisbell. “What I always say is, ‘Look, we catch the really dumb people. We catch the less sophisticated people. We’re catching all the ones that we’re supposed to.’ 

“But at some point, we need to get the same level of data in the same timeliness as the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) in the financial services market. We need to get 100% of the bets in the country funneling through a system and identifying abnormalities in real-time.”