Fryowa
Administrator
Miller's tweet explicitly says that Iowa knew it was a mental health issue and "worked with" him to say it was something else.
Whether it's true or not is up to you to decide, but there's no way to read that statement other than the university helping him lie about it. That statement is way too specific to be misspeaking, and the fact that he retracted it so soon after makes it obvious that someone from the U contacted him and wanted it quashed.
I asked an acquaintance of mine about the issue of mental health waivers (he is a coach at a D3 school in SW Minnesota), and he told me that a mental health waiver is way tougher to get because 1) it requires way more diagnosis (you have to see a bunch of mental health professional type people and get reports, diagnoses that agree, etc. and 2) You have to prove that it occurred at a finite time during the year. For instance if the kid had a documented history of depression or anxiety prior to this, or if it's something that came on outside the current season etc. it stands a greater chance of getting denied. It's not as easy to pinpoint as a guy who tears an ACL or gets mono.
My guess (which is my opinion so don't @ me) is that Iowa told him, "We'll go with the back injury thing to save some time and hassle getting this waiver, and then no one has to go through talking about your emotional problems," and then he naively spilled the beans on Twitter not knowing that he was potentially fucking himself and maybe Iowa football. Then someone from the U called him and said, "Holy shit, dude, you better hurry up and retract that statement because it ain't gonna be good for you or us if you don't."
I think if it was going to be a big deal it'd be on the sports news media already, hopefully the NCAA either doesn't see it or doesn't think it's worth their time.
