NCAA Announces Tampering Violations Committed by Iowa's Kirk Ferentz

In a press release on Tuesday, the NCAA announced tampering violations committed by the Iowa Hawkeyes football program under head coach Kirk Ferentz.

The release says Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr had “impermissible contact” with a student-athlete who was already enrolled at another school and had not yet entered the NCAA transfer portal. These tampering violations were determined by a Division I Committee on Infractions hearing panel.

Following the “impermissible contact” from Ferentz and Budmayr, the student-athlete entered the transfer portal and committed to Iowa.

Here’s the timeline of events, per the NCAA’s release:

“The school, individuals and NCAA enforcement staff agreed on the facts and violations in this case. The parties agreed that throughout November 2022, Budmayr participated in 13 phone calls with the student-athlete and/or his father, as well as sending two text messages. Budmayr also arranged for the student-athlete to speak on the phone with Ferentz, who assured him that he would have a home at Iowa.

“After those communications, the student-athlete entered the Transfer Portal and a few days later transferred to Iowa. Under current NCAA rules, when a student-athlete transfers to a school that engaged in tampering, the student-athlete becomes ineligible pending reinstatement. The student-athlete competed during the 2023 season before being reinstated.”

Both Ferentz and Budmayr resolved their cases through “negotiated resolutions and served suspensions.” Both coaches missed the program’s 2024 season opener under a self-imposed one-game suspension.

At the time, Ferentz publicly took accountability for his program’s actions.

“I frequently tell our players to abide by the rules, and in this instance, I did not.” Ferentz said in a statement in 2024. “In 26 years as a head coach at Iowa — and more than four decades as a coach — this is my first potential Level II NCAA infraction. I made a mistake and would like to apologize to our players, University leadership, and our Hawkeye football fans. I know Coach Budmayr echoes those sentiments.”

Here’s the full list of penalties served by the program:

• One year of probation.
• A fine of $25,000 (self-imposed by the school).
• A two-week ban on all football recruiting communication during the 2026 calendar year (self-imposed by the school).
• A 24-day reduction in recruiting person days, including two weeks during which Ferentz was prohibited from off-campus recruiting activity in 2025, as well as four days during which Budmayr was prohibited from recruiting during the 2025 spring evaluation period (self-imposed by the school).
• A vacation of all records in which the student-athlete competed while ineligible.
• A one-game suspension for Ferentz and Budmayr during the 2024 football season (self-imposed by the school).

Iowa will begin its 2026 schedule with a season-opening matchup against Northern Illinois on Sep. 5.

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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 1:48 PM.