From today’s Athletic…
Scott Dochterman, Iowa beat reporter: Among the most aggrieved institutions related to Michigan’s alleged signal-stealing scheme is Iowa, which twice would have been victimized by the Wolverines’ . The first time came in the 2021 Big Ten championship game. According to one Iowa source, a Big Ten head coach called an assistant around 3:30 p.m. the day of the title game and said, “Michigan has got all of your signals.”
The Big Ten head coach apologized for not informing the Iowa assistant sooner but had found out only that day. It was too late for Iowa to change its signals, and it might not have mattered anyway in a 42-3 Michigan victory.
In 2022, it mattered quite a bit. Michigan hadn’t won at Kinnick Stadium since 2005. It was tightly contested in a 27-14 Wolverines’ win. The Hawkeyes mounted very little offense against the Michigan defense, which was nothing unusual. But perhaps the Wolverines gained advantage on a play or two on each drive. Either way, Michigan was the better team that day.
Still, there has been little said by Iowa officials throughout this situation. In private conversations, Iowa coaches knew it was going on but weren’t sure they could stop it. In a text, one assistant wrote, “Yes, it was well known. Nothing is going to happen. Low level guy will take the fall.”
This week, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz just shrugged it off. Neither Ferentz nor interim athletics director Beth Goetz participated in Big Ten conference calls a week ago — Ferentz blew it off to prepare for a game against Northwestern while Goetz was in a Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting.
“I don’t have a lot of comment,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “I read one article. I look at the headlines occasionally. I read one last night where they were fixated on who might have turned whom in, which I think is just like a such a statement on where we’re at right now just in general. Like, it doesn’t matter who turned whom in. If something’s wrong, the issue is the issue, not all this other stuff. I found that kind of interesting.”
Scott Dochterman, Iowa beat reporter: Among the most aggrieved institutions related to Michigan’s alleged signal-stealing scheme is Iowa, which twice would have been victimized by the Wolverines’ . The first time came in the 2021 Big Ten championship game. According to one Iowa source, a Big Ten head coach called an assistant around 3:30 p.m. the day of the title game and said, “Michigan has got all of your signals.”
The Big Ten head coach apologized for not informing the Iowa assistant sooner but had found out only that day. It was too late for Iowa to change its signals, and it might not have mattered anyway in a 42-3 Michigan victory.
In 2022, it mattered quite a bit. Michigan hadn’t won at Kinnick Stadium since 2005. It was tightly contested in a 27-14 Wolverines’ win. The Hawkeyes mounted very little offense against the Michigan defense, which was nothing unusual. But perhaps the Wolverines gained advantage on a play or two on each drive. Either way, Michigan was the better team that day.
Still, there has been little said by Iowa officials throughout this situation. In private conversations, Iowa coaches knew it was going on but weren’t sure they could stop it. In a text, one assistant wrote, “Yes, it was well known. Nothing is going to happen. Low level guy will take the fall.”
This week, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz just shrugged it off. Neither Ferentz nor interim athletics director Beth Goetz participated in Big Ten conference calls a week ago — Ferentz blew it off to prepare for a game against Northwestern while Goetz was in a Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting.
“I don’t have a lot of comment,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “I read one article. I look at the headlines occasionally. I read one last night where they were fixated on who might have turned whom in, which I think is just like a such a statement on where we’re at right now just in general. Like, it doesn’t matter who turned whom in. If something’s wrong, the issue is the issue, not all this other stuff. I found that kind of interesting.”
