The problem with this whole thing is the way that James Daniels turned it into a public spectacle by essentially calling the Iowa program racist through Twitter. The blow up was immediate. The calling for heads was instantaneous. The outrage was massive, and the story was national.
There is a faction that says that James needed to bring it to light this way and thanks him because there had been attempts made to bring the feeling of inequality to light with no results. Many of that same faction says that Kirk Ferentz is the right man to lead the program forward because he didn't really understand the problem. Now that he understands, he will make changes that will make the program better.
My opinion is that James should have tried harder to make KF understand before resorting to Twitter. I don't think you can have it both ways by saying KF just wouldn't listen so I had to resort to Twitter, while also saying I have faith that KF will take these players' feelings to heart and make it better now that he understands.
I, personally, have faith in coach Ferentz. I always have. I think he was pretty surprised by this and would have called our culture healthy and thriving immediately before all of this happened. I believe that the players that had grievances could have gotten him to listen and be open without resorting to Twitter. If you think he should still be the coach here, I hope you believe that too.
By choosing to "Tweet", it hurt our Hawkeye football program nationally. I have a problem with things that hurt the program if they can be avoided. I, personally, think that James could have and should have done better in the way he chose handle it. I don't think a national story of Iowa football racism was warranted or justified. If the coaches had turned out to be racists, I would understand. That isn't the case, though.
I don't believe the players are all just whiners either. There are enough players that spoke out to realize that the Hawkeye family needed to talk to one another to try to be sure that everyone felt like they were getting a fair shake. I, as most fans, would like the players to be happy that they are Hawkeyes and forever proud of their experience. If that isn't happening, let's try to fix it. We can all be on board with that. That is the good thing that could come from this. The fallout and collateral damage wasn't necessary, though. A multi month national racism story on our program doesn't help us. Many people across the country think the Hawks are racists now because they caught a headline.
On a lighter note..... I will say that the Hawkeye music playlist is pretty bad, though. If I was a black guy, I would wonder what in the hell they were thinking. As a white guy, I wonder what the hell they are thinking. I highly doubt that any of the players are particularly excited about it. Seriously, who the hell is in charge of the music? Definitely an area for improvement.