'18 Athletic Department Study Showed Serious Racial Bias in Iowa Football

HawkGold said:
Graduation? Really? https://qctimes.com/sports/college/football/grad-rate-levels-among-hawkeye-issues/article_a04af2eb-6264-5f6e-a6bd-7426afbdf419.html#:~:text=When using NCAA graduation success,and 62% at Michigan State.

the study showed that only 40% of black male athletes at Iowa received a degree.
That percentage is the lowest in the Big Ten and Iowa is joined by Ohio State at 41%, Michigan State at 46, Illinois at 48 and Rutgers at 49 with rates below 50%.

At Iowa, that percentage compares to a 77% graduation rate for all athletes and a 71% graduation rate for the entire student body.


The study also compares rates among 65 institutions in power-five conferences and Iowa’s 40% graduation rate shares 60th on that listing, which has Northwestern first with an 88% graduation rate for black male student-athletes and lists LSU last at 34%.
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The graduation rate of black athletes at Iowa is really bad. My point was that it's a widespread issue, not just Iowa specific. Yes, Iowa is worse compared to their peers, no question, but a majority are under 60% which would be considered failing if we're talking a grading scale. It's an issue Iowa very much needs to address.
 
Well, I just had a chance to catch up a bit on this a 4 in the morning, when I should be getting some sleep. First, I thank Rob for the synopsis of the report and surrounding information. That report is quite an eye opening load of information, I admit I am just beginning to digest. My first impressions specifically on this report: I see a lot of potential issues in the interplay between the racial bias pointed out in the report, the over-all team culture (for good & bad), and the confrontational and often coercive style of Chris Doyle and staff's coaching techniques. Putting this together with the other information we have, it is pretty clear why Doyle had to be released. Not only did he cross the line, but doing so at some point became part of the system. It's also become evident that black players didn't have a way to bring forward issues they were having in the program, without the perception that they were challenging team culture.

I can also see a report like this being followed by an incremental adjustment by coach Ferentz. The problem with that being any incremental adjustment, even a large one was going to fail the address underlying issues. The university and coaching staff will have to figure out how to proceed on this.
 
BGOLD said:
This whole idea of the program oppressing black culture is almost entirely bullshit. First off, the program is built to be a sort of higher education and prepare the athletes for their careers and for the majority of them that won't involve playing football. I certainly don't have a problem with guys wearing backwards hats and earrings etc. (and this rule is no longer in effect) but the principle of the rule was never about oppressing black culture. Future employers wouldn't allow this in the workplace and that's this was designed to prepare players for. Second, if you know anything about building a team culture it centers around the team and not the individual. You can call it militaristic if you want but most books and programs are designed to teach this method of teamwork. Coach K has several books and videos where he preaches exactly this.
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well, we're not the ones impacted. They are. Who the hell are you and me to tell a black player how they feel and what they've experienced?
 
NCHawker said:
well, we're not the ones impacted. They are. Who the hell are you and me to tell a black player how they feel and what they've experienced?
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“You never walked in their shoes” that card gets over played sometimes, not race specifically, but in general. However, on this one, you are a 1000% correct, you can’t tell someone how they should feel especially with limited knowledge of what their experiences have been.
 
NCHawker said:
well, we're not the ones impacted. They are. Who the hell are you and me to tell a black player how they feel and what they've experienced?
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You’re an idiot if you think something is automatically racist just because it’s interpreted that way. That’s not how this works. Rob would like you to believe he has no unconscious bias, because he just discovered woke culture, but the truth is we’re all guilty of unconscious bias.
 
Rob won’t address Marc Morehouses lead-in racist question to KF, because of course he won’t. He won’t address Marc’s rave reviews of Doyle the past two years, while simultaneously condemning the racist culture he’s known about. Making him complicit. Rob won’t do anything unless it’s within his agenda. If you all don’t realize that by now I don’t know what to tell you. Rob works in an Iowa football media that’s 99% while male, and for a company that’s never hired an African-American or a female reporter yet feels compelled to lecture. Do you recognize the irony in all of this?
 
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As much as you keep wanting to make this story about the media, it’s not. It’s about Iowa Football.
 
RobHowe said:
As much as you keep wanting to make this story about the media, it’s not. It’s about Iowa Football.
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It’s become more about the media. It shouldn’t be. But Morehouse told on himself and you seem to get off on this.
 
It's become more about the media for a section of the fan base that wants the focus to be there. I think it's a small section and a vocal minority.

Most fans and former players with whom I speak want Iowa Football to be better and are focusing on that. They're looking at ways to help make that happen.
 
RobHowe said:
It's become more about the media for a section of the fan base that wants the focus to be there. I think it's a small section and a vocal minority.

Most fans and former players with whom I speak want Iowa Football to be better and are focusing on that. They're looking at ways to help make that happen.
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I’m not sure how someone (an Iowa media member) knowing about alleged racism yet publicly defending those individuals until it came to light is not part of the story.
 
Suspecting possible racism and bias doesn’t mean it can be reported. You need sources willing to go on record. That happened last month when players took to social media a year and a half after Iowa had a diversity task force report with many of the same charges.

The media wrote positive stories about Iowa because there were positives. The program was doing plenty right and a lot of players enjoyed their experience. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues.

James Daniels said he wouldn’t be in the NFL without CD and BF. But he said change still was needed. Others have said the same.

That’s why fans saying things like “why didn’t you leave if it was so bad” or “why didn’t you say something to the coaches” is so misguided. It’s victim blaming. Using social media posts by some of these players praising Iowa for the parts of their experience that was positive also doesn’t allow for experiences with multiple layers.

The media has written about the positives. Now it’s writing about the negatives out there while also recognizing the program is working to move forward.
 
RobHowe said:
As much as you keep wanting to make this story about the media, it’s not. It’s about Iowa Football.
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You were stirring the pot and throwing salt on a wound by writing and promoting an article that has no new information. The story is now about you, and it should be, being a social justice warrior on the backs of Hawkeye fans. You belong on the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.
 
cornfedcowboy said:
You were stirring the pot and throwing salt on a wound by writing and promoting an article that has no new information. The story is now about you, and it should be, being a social justice warrior on the backs of Hawkeye fans. You belong on the editorial board of the Des Moines Register.
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I’ve already linked the summary of findings report that was released publicly and then the full report we first released last Monday earlier in this thread as well as it being in the story. Saying nothing is new is inaccurate. And the differences have been explained by me and others.

You don’t like the messenger in this case. That’s your right.

The story isn’t about me no matter how much you want it to be. It’s about Iowa Football, which is undergoing an external review looking into racial bias after undergoing an internal review that showed issues in the Fall of ‘18.

Any insult you hurl at me doesn’t change that. That’s the story.
 

I lost a lot of respect for KMM after learning he supports this pathetic excuse for a Hawkeye website which has directly fired shots at you. Unless someone finds something to support this statement, I don't buy it. In 2012 our receiving corp was shit and that alone was enough justification to fire him IMO.

I don't know if Soup did or didn't leave on his own accord, but JDM provided some sound reasoning for Soup's dismissal in this article.
 
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