8 Players Sue for $20 Million

[CP87]

No accident with the timing of it... So what I find telling about it is I don't see DJKs name amongst them... The single largest voice amongst em pretty much if you asked me. Yet he isn't neck deep with his name being apart of this? That has to make some folks stop and say hmmm. And what about that Mr Green character. I wonder what his 'finders fee' cut will be.

Wadley and KMM it sounds like are slimy used car salesman opportunists. Many Hawkeye fans have given them $ for all kinds of signed stuff and they've ghosted em. So needless to say they aren't exactly strait arrows.

Of the names on that list Wadley is the only one that had a sniff of a cup of coffee with the NFL. This feels like it's all about the benjamins to me. If they wanted to have a sniff of credibility they needed to get a guy like Bob Sanders, Desmond King. Josh Jackson, Ojmudia guys like that.

I also wonder what the first number they kicked around was. 50? 40? I mean 20 million is insane. They all want to try and get close to a million a piece. This is their lottery ticket.

It'll be interesting to see how the school proceeds. They told em no publicly already but that doesn't mean they aren't going to negotiate it down and settle. Hell they probably already have had talks/negotiations prior to this.

 

[uihawk82]

This lawsuit is laughable. $20 million?? LOL

I havent read about what is in this letter or heard much about it but if they are trying to prove damages like they didnt get into the NFL that is so hard to prove. If the letter mentions bias against them that hurt their NFL chances I think that is a hard connection to make. I heard Wadley is on this letter and he sure got a ton of carries and pass targets in his career. Yeah he might have been doghoused a couple of times but wow it is hard to show not playing as a freshman, playing some as a soph, playing a lot as a junior and senior and being the #1 back much of those two years is not getting the time from the coaches.

Football is such a team sport and if this goes through then every backup qb who never starts is going for the money.

 

[uihawk82]

Maybe you missed my point. This is all about a money grab from some players that don't want to work and think they can get an easy payday. If this had anything to do about change, there would be no lawsuit as there already has been change. Changes started to happen once several former Hawkeyes went public. You may not be happy or satisfied with the level of changes, but I hardly believe this lawsuit is about anything more than money.

Yours is the second mention of these players "not working". Do you know for a fact that Wadley and KMM are not working and have not been working. I personally do not see the merits in this letter for damages of $20 million especially since Wadley and KMM played A LOT and were highlighted.

 

[uihawk82]

So you are saying that you weren't 'Happy'?

Well we know that Barta isn't afraid to lose a lawsuit. And honestly there's no telling how a jury will look at this. Iowa City is Liberalville USA and those folks are often sympathetic to all that is BLM so.... If Iowa could settle this that'd be ideal (something like this was always going to happen just a matter of when) So far school has said no to 20 million so let the negotiating begin...

I would not settle if there is no merit, that feels like extortion!!!! and giving into extortion.

 

[RyDogg]

Yours is the second mention of these players "not working". Do you know for a fact that Wadley and KMM are not working and have not been working. I personally do not see the merits in this letter for damages of $20 million especially since Wadley and KMM played A LOT and were highlighted.

I don't know for a fact as to whether they are actually working or not, but am assuming that if they are part of a frivolous lawsuit, they are looking to cash in without having to work. Just a speculation.

 

[uihawk82]

You should be sympathetic to some of what blm is. Are you racist?

As a guy who is generally conservative I can say you wouldn't want to live in a US without libs.

Very good point and without ethical people and we can say maybe that is mostly libs then you are getting closer to living in a country where if you are a minority, even a white minority, you might be ostracized. Wrong eye color, wrong religion, wrong level of education, wrong this , wrong that and oooopss you are sitting at the back of the bus or worse.

 

[uihawk82]

Completely predictable.

I see two things here:

1. Disgruntled players that see an opportunity to "stick it" to the Iowa program and gain a lot of money doing so, and,

2. A program that may have to continue to learn the harsh lesson about the importance of listening and responding to its players. Are the potential ramifications disproportional to what occurred? Probably, but that's a harsh lesson that the coaches have brought upon themselves. Racial and social awareness, and the need to be cognizant of what you say or do, should be a prerequisite for a coaching staff, not something that is later learned through a harsh consequence.

Yes, well said, and there were coaches at and still at Iowa who were very insensitive to the point of being close to racist.

 

[ModebaSan]

The leader of BLM in St. Louis once said that the rich white people should give their homes to black people. LOL! I look at this lawsuit like that. Totally laughable. Desperate attempt to take advantage of a situation to make a money grab. This lawsuit is frivolous and has no merit. I guess a free education and an opportunity to chase their NFL dreams is not enough. If they didn’t take their opportunities serious, they don’t make it, and they didn’t make it. That’s on them. The University shouldn’t pay for their lack of success. They got their educations so it’s time for them to use that knowledge and put it to work in the real world like the rest of us. These latest generations feel so entitled that they think everything needs to be handed to them on a silver platter. Reality is starting to set in for them and they don’t like it. Too f*cking bad! Welcome to the real world guys. You don’t get to start at the top.

 

[RobHowe]

I think some of you guys having the idea that this is a long shot lawsuit need to step back and realize that we see this thing through Iowa glasses. The rest of the country (which includes juries and judges) don't have any sentimental connection to Iowa athletics and they don't give two shits if a handful of internet dudes think the program is bulletproof.

Pretty easy for us to kick our feet up and say, "This thing doesn't have a chance in hell."

Jury selection is going to make damn sure there are people on the squad who haven't even heard the name Gary Barta let alone can tell you what he does for a living. Jury members aren't going to know who Brian is and they damn sure won't have an opinion of him as a hard-nosed but fair football coach who was taken out of context. They're going to see a dickhead football coach who stifled black players' shot at the NFL and made off color comments insinuating that black players are all gang bangers who steal whatever they have.

They aren't going to see KF and GB as guys who've made changes and are doing everything they can to save the integrity of the program, they're going to see two guys who made sure a guy calling players the N-word got a couple million bucks and a year and a half of medical insurance as a parting gift to sweep everything under the rug.

What does he do for a living?

 

[Fryowa]

What does he do for a living?

I like this new you...

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

What does he do for a living?

Ha! I've been having that conversation (or joke?) with friends for months now. I don't know how anyone in a position of leadership could have met with Daniels and not asked some tougher questions after listening to him. There should have been huge red flags about the risk posed to the university - at that point Barta needed to know names and the exact actions/behavior associated with those individuals. Actually, I'm not gonna go further down this rabbit hole. There are too many examples. Although quickly cutting a bunch of sports was a nice cherry on top. No real attempt to maneuver, get creative, empower fundraising from alumni of those teams, etc. Uh, dude, you are the athletic director. You are supposed to advocate for the university sponsoring sports, and for those student-athletes on the teams. An athletic director who quickly eliminates athletic teams, and then walks out 15 minutes after breaking the news to the student-athletes? What kind of directing of athletics are we doing? What would you say you do here, Gary?

 

[DMLadyhawk]

Does anyone know if any of these 8 players earned a degree? Barta said they would all be welcome to complete their degree free of charge so it makes me think a number left before graduating. And maybe overestimated their future in football. Just wondering

 

[HawkGold]

Does anyone know if any of these 8 players earned a degree? Barta said they would all be welcome to complete their degree free of charge so it makes me think a number left before graduating. And maybe overestimated their future in football. Just wondering

Wonder...what does it matter?

 

[Fryowa]

...quickly cutting a bunch of sports was a nice cherry on top. No real attempt to maneuver, get creative, empower fundraising from alumni of those teams, etc. Uh, dude, you are the athletic director. You are supposed to advocate for the university sponsoring sports, and for those student-athletes on the teams. An athletic director who quickly eliminates athletic teams, and then walks out 15 minutes after breaking the news to the student-athletes? What kind of directing of athletics are we doing? What would you say you do here, Gary?

Not defending GB by any stretch of the imagination (I thought he should have been gone after Greasebombgate), but those sports and any others that don't make enough money to support themselves should be either cut or made club-level. Football and MBB should not have to pay the way for twenty some sports. At Iowa you can throw wrestling in the mix because they sell Carver out and per event make a bigger share of BTN revenue than basketball.

College sports began and were always intended to be amateur level recreation while attending college, not a reason to travel the country at the university's expense and get your college paid for. Almost all of those sports were started separate from universities by student clubs and were coached by the same student athletes. Football and men's basketball enjoy a high level of luxury, but that's because those sports are popular enough to generate self-sustaining and even profitable income.

Pool jumping, monkey bars, boat rowing, and tiddly winks should do the exact same thing as bowling and hockey. Go club-level, fundraise, and play those sports on their own dimes. If your sport becomes successful enough and popular enough, then it's time to consider being university-sponsored. People advocating for those sports shouldn't be mad that they got cut, they should be thankful that football has existed profitably as long as it has to support their sports.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I would not settle if there is no merit, that feels like extortion!!!! and giving into extortion.

This is the type of lawsuit that you cannot under any circumstances settle or else you'll get sued at least a hundred more times. It's like Monsanto/Bayer with those Roundup suits. The moment you settle one you will get inundated with more suits.

 

[Ree4]

These latest generations feel so entitled that they think everything needs to be handed to them on a silver platter.

This is such bullshit, the millennial generation has 1/4 of the wealth that your generation had by the time they were 34 years old - it's not because they aren't working hard.

"Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, currently control ten times more wealth than millennials, whose 72 million workers make them the most represented group in the workforce. Although it's not unusual for younger age groups to have less money than their elders, the average Baby Boomer working in 1989 during their early 30s had quadruple the wealth of what millennials have at that same age today. Three millennials—Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, who co-founded Facebook Inc., and Walmart Inc. heir Lukas Walton—hold $1 of every $40 among their generation."

Link

"Although it’s often said that Millennials are different from older generations, there’s little evidence to support it. Most studies purporting to show differences between Millennials and the Gen X and Boomer generations actually just show differences between young people and older people; as they age, young people in many respects become more like their elders."

Link

“If you look back 20, 40 or 60 years, the same pattern of differences shows up again and again,” says Costanza, who co-authored an influential study on generational differences in 2015. “The youngest generation is always the least dedicated, the least satisfied and the most mobile. Twenty years ago, that was Generation X. Forty years ago, it was the boomers. Now it's the Millennials.”

Link

 

[CP87]

Not defending GB by any stretch of the imagination (I thought he should have been gone after Greasebombgate), but those sports and any others that don't make enough money to support themselves should be either cut or made club-level. Football and MBB should not have to pay the way for twenty some sports. At Iowa you can throw wrestling in the mix because they sell Carver out and per event make a bigger share of BTN revenue than basketball.

College sports began and were always intended to be amateur level recreation while attending college, not a reason to travel the country at the university's expense and get your college paid for. Almost all of those sports were started separate from universities by student clubs and were coached by the same student athletes. Football and men's basketball enjoy a high level of luxury, but that's because those sports are popular enough to generate self-sustaining and even profitable income.

Pool jumping, monkey bars, boat rowing, and tiddly winks should do the exact same thing as bowling and hockey. Go club-level, fundraise, and play those sports on their own dimes. If your sport becomes successful enough and popular enough, then it's time to go university-sponsored. People advocating for those sports shouldn't be mad that they got cut, they should be thankful that football has existed profitably as long as it has to support their sports.

I agree...but where does that leave us with FB and BB? It really doesn't make any sense for a non-profit academic institution to be supporting a purely for-profit entertainment product. Isn't the logical extension that college sports needs to disappear and be replaced by developmental pro leagues?

I think that would ultimately be a much more honest approach to the whole thing, but I would still miss the pageantry of college sports. But in my mind that nostalgia is not enough reason to continue the charade that is amateur collegiate athletics.

Can you think of any model that allows a University sponsored pro team to continue to exist? Seems like a stretch any way I can imagine it.

 

[Fryowa]

I agree...but where does that leave us with FB and BB? It really doesn't make any sense for a non-profit academic institution to be supporting a purely for-profit entertainment product. Isn't the logical extension that college sports needs to disappear and be replaced by developmental pro leagues?

I think that would ultimately be a much more honest approach to the whole thing, but I would still miss the pageantry of college sports. But in my mind that nostalgia is not enough reason to continue the charade that is amateur collegiate athletics.

Can you think of any model that allows a University sponsored pro team to continue to exist? Seems like a stretch any way I can imagine it.

I think it's perfectly fine to have 3 sports sanctioned. It will never happen, but I think it'd be fine.

There's a huge demand from the Iowa fanbase for FB, MBB, and wrestling. And I don't think it has to be for profit necessarily; any revenue gained by not supporting a cadre of other sports can be put right back into those three main programs. It's already a net zero athletic department that spends every dollar coming in, so it'd just be a bonus. Really there'd be no difference at all.

Keep in mind that we'd obviously have to keep just enough chick sports to satisfy scholarship requirements, but the rowing and WBB teams would take care of that. The rowing roster is huge.

 

[Stanzi]

Does anyone know if any of these 8 players earned a degree? Barta said they would all be welcome to complete their degree free of charge so it makes me think a number left before graduating. And maybe overestimated their future in football. Just wondering

I believe all but Wadley and KMM transferred out because they weren't good enough to get playing time. There's a reason they all transferred downwards and not parallel or upwards.

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

Not defending GB by any stretch of the imagination (I thought he should have been gone after Greasebombgate), but those sports and any others that don't make enough money to support themselves should be either cut or made club-level. Football and MBB should not have to pay the way for twenty some sports. At Iowa you can throw wrestling in the mix because they sell Carver out and per event make a bigger share of BTN revenue than basketball.

College sports began and were always intended to be amateur level recreation while attending college, not a reason to travel the country at the university's expense and get your college paid for. Almost all of those sports were started separate from universities by student clubs and were coached by the same student athletes. Football and men's basketball enjoy a high level of luxury, but that's because those sports are popular enough to generate self-sustaining and even profitable income.

Pool jumping, monkey bars, boat rowing, and tiddly winks should do the exact same thing as bowling and hockey. Go club-level, fundraise, and play those sports on their own dimes. If your sport becomes successful enough and popular enough, then it's time to go university-sponsored. People advocating for those sports shouldn't be mad that they got cut, they should be thankful that football has existed profitably as long as it has to support their sports.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but Gary Barta was hired to manage an athletics department (multiple sports and associated coaches and staff) - which gets back to the question of what exactly he does for a living? I think it makes total sense for Iowa (and other schools) to transition those non-revenue sports to more sustainable models with far less travel and other expenses. And it would have been great if Gary Barta wanted to lead that charge, you know, as director of athletics. Perhaps he could have even provided a model for other schools to follow.

But he didn't. The first real sniff of major financial issues and he cut and run, which takes zero skill. And he didn't even stick around, after delivering the news to the student athletes, to answer any tough questions. Or even easy questions. Or to provide a few tissues and a brawny shoulder to cry on. So I wouldn't say he's exactly got the soft skills mastered either.

And not sure I completely see your link between Barta and football profitability. Barta does what - turns on the spigot where the $60 million a year from the Big Ten Network comes pouring out? At least after he turns on the spigot, he stands out of the way and doesn't do anything to actually COST the university money...