’18 Athletic Department Study Showed Serious Racial Bias in Iowa Football
Thread title is the headline. Seems like bad news for Kirk as his stance was "I didn't know about it" when this proves, officially, that he did.
This latest information shows that Ferentz knew well before the June social media storm that Black players felt they were:
- Expected to conform to White culture
- Subjected to verbal harassment
- Targeted for extra drug testing
- Misled about resources available to them during the recruiting process
- Subjected to inequitable discipline policies and double standards
- Misunderstood by both coaches and White player
- Unsupported in their academic pursuits
Kirk's gonna have to chew that gum even harder now.
Linked in the article is this report from 2018. Some pretty stark areas for improvement for schools around the country, including U-M: http://abfe.issuelab.org/resources/29858/29858.pdf
It would seem to me that a situation like this opens the recruiting process for HBCUs in seeking athletes as well as prospective students.
To be fair though I don't think it is evidence of discrimination by simply having the student body population having higher graduation rates than black athletes.
The typical student admitted to UofM is admitted because she or he excels at academics.
The typical athlete for football or basketball is admitted because they excel at athletics and may or may not excel at academics as much as the student body average.
Also, football and basketball athletes are probably significantly more likely to transfer for playing time or go pro early then the typical student. Doing either means that they didn't graduate.
Look at basketball with a small roster, we nearly lost Livers early, gained 2 transfers, lost 3 transfers and this is normal.
All is this. I'm sure as the educational standard of the school increases the gap between black athletes and student body widens even further. Not a reference to their fitness as a student, but simply the amount of time they have to spend on athletics instead of academics. I would imagine white athletes see a similar delta.
A few notes on this article....
#1 — Check out how many SEC schools have a graduation rate in the 60% range FOR ALL STUDENTS...lol
#2. I think it points out some strong opportunities in this area — both in general and some specific cases.....however...
I am not a statistician but we are dealing with a very low sample sizes for some of his charts and in some cases he seems to be adding charts for no good reason.
A glaring example to me is the improvement or regression of grad rates from 2016 to 2018. If I am reading it correctly he is looking at 4-year moving average - which means both samples include the 2015-2016 date range so essentially you are comparing 2017-2018 to 2013-2014? In any case note that MSU is number 4 on the improved list because they raised their rates 13% to 46 (!!?!)%. Does this denote something to be cheered?
I did not read the whole study closely but would be curious how he accounted for early entrants, playing time transfers, etc. For example Rashan, Jabrill, DPJ, Devin Bush, Trey etc. — all would be in the non-graduate column as would Aubrey Solomon (and even Grant Newsome in terms of a scholarship athlete?) These players were by and large replaced with Freshmen that would not be capable of graduating in the same time-period as those who left....
When we are talking small sample sizes - (I used 120 FB and MBB total players * 50% black = 60 players) these “exceptions” can have a significant affect on the percentages. 3 early entrants reduce your grad-rate by 5% in this scenario. These situations would affect the numbers for top athletic schools much more than others.
At Michigan (at least) I suspect that if you compared Football and Basketball players that spent 4 to 5 years on campus the graduation rates would be higher than the general student population ...for starters they HAVE to stay on track to remain eligible and they have a lot of academic resources available compared to the rest of the student body (granted to offset large athletic responsibilities.)
TLDR - Interesting things to examine from the study but APR is probably a better indicator for solely within Athletic programs.
Wow. That article is scathing and truly damning... that they had an internal report highlighting such issues, that they seemed to dismiss the data and barely made any changes other than “you can wear earrings” in the following year, and that it took former players speaking publicly to get Doyle fired...
Ferentz comes off as totally full of shit. In a just world, he would be fired, but I don’t see that happening.
What is white culture though? I’d imagine people of different backgrounds and coming up in different t regions would have a vast spectrum of ideologies and cultural differences. I’d need more info on this one.
I get that this is reported as the players Perspective and feelings but a lot of this is subjective.
I will say if the players weren’t given Proper academic support and were targeted for increase in drug screenings that would be a big issue, which would need correcting.
Ferentz likely doesn’t survive given the circumstances. He seemed to have run a pretty clean program.
My white culture is wearing a bucket hat at the beach and driving home from the beach shirtless with said-bucket hat on.
The misconception about culture is that it's just clothing, art, food, etc. Culture is about norms, social expectations, and communication.
Your argument doesn’t really fit my statement. Unless you believe a white person in New England has the same communication and social institutions as a white person in let’s say Texas. Or alternatively an Italian from the north east Having the same as an Anglo descended Christian from Georgia. Be careful of broad brushstrokes as I think your trying to make a point about equality and honoring differences.
Of course there is variability within those regions, exceptions, and regional norms that factor in. I'm not really sure what you're warning me of though as far as broad brushstrokes.
It seemed to me you were in opposition to my statement questioning what is white culture. Personally I didn’t like that statement as it comes off as immediately adversarial. Maybe I missed something when you were schooling me on the definition of culture, or perhaps I’m reading it wrong. Maybe I should have asked what it is you believed I was misconceiving.
I’d imagine people of different backgrounds and coming up in different t regions would have a vast spectrum of ideologies and cultural differences.
This is true and the root of it, and the issue is that the coaches made little to no effort to understand these differences. Rather, they appear to have had a, "Fit in or get out" sort of mentality.
The fact that Ferentz is quoted as having said, "“We allowed (student-athletes) to wear hats, earrings, [and hoodies] but what I learned here is there’s a lot more to it" is an indictment on the culture of Iowa football. They did nothing to look past the superficial factors by assuming that letting someone dress a certain way was enough to address the deeper issues at play.
This is a case study in what not to do when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
There is a legitimate question about conformity vs diversity. Where is the acceptable line/balance between " it doesn't matter where you came from and what you were before, you are all equal and the same now - which gives you strength and community" versus "everyone is different with varying experiences and backgrounds - embracing those differences gives you strength"? Drone or snowflake - pick your poison.
Best culture is the yooper culture
Peninsulism isn't tolerated here.
But it’s cured lots of infections.
The "I didn't know" line is horseshit. He's the CEO of the Iowa Football program. It's his damn job to know. Hence, he gets paid as much as he does. Hopefully, the money train ends here for him with a pink slip.
Yeah, if you're in charge it's just as damning not to know as it is to know and do nothing.
Peeks head in...../
Goes back to the Covid positivity thread.
Ferentz gone...
Probably not while Barta is still there
Ferentz isn't going anywhere. They'll make the strength coach take the fall.
You're forgetting that Iowans have sent Steve King to Congress nine times.
This is pretty disappointing. Kirk has benefited from a long-time "good guy" image in the Big Ten but it sucks this sort of stuff was happening under his watch.
It blows my mind that there are so many white dudes in big time college and pro football who either 1) don't know how to work, play with or coach black players or 2) are outright racist.
The “I don’t know excuse” doesn’t work. You’re not an entry level graduate assistant who does nothing but sit in a dark room and analyze practice tape And completely isolated from the goings-on of the program. You’re the head man of the entire team. It’s your job to know everything that goes on within your program.
This ends only one of two ways: 1) He’s outright lying. Or 2) If he legitimately didn’t know, then he’s not paying enough attention and has lost control of his own program. In either scenario, it’s a bad, bad look for him, and grounds for termination. Football coaches have been fired for lesser offenses.
There is no scenario where he comes out of this unscathed or looking good.
First of all they ought to fire him immediately, no more playing dumb for Ferentz. Secondly I think it's hysterical that there is an ad for Hawkeye logo gear when I open this thread up.
I think Ferentz needs to punt from the 40 yard line here.
I think Ferentz needs to punt from the other team's 40 yard line on 4th and an inch here.
FIFY
Remember when Lloyd wanted Ferentz to coach here?
Don’t see Ferentz getting fired. Now if this was Harbaugh national and Detroit media would be camped out until he was gone. Just like when the Detroit media refused to go after Dantini and Izzo after the ESPN report nothing will happen here.
I agree. The only one getting fired is the strength coach.
People are forgetting that Iowans have sent Steve King to Congress nine times.
In other news, waters wet, Kirk has had a pass by existing in the unknown shadows of Iowa, but he knew what was going on and what he condoned, no way your right hand man the highest paid s&c coach acts a way without your blessing, and you as the HC set the tone of your program period