Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kirk Ferentz sounds off on Iowa gambling investigations

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 8/23/23

It has been a summer of gambling investigations into college students in the state of Iowa. Multiple athletes at both Iowa and Iowa State have been investigated for betting on college sports. Several have received repercussions as a result of those investigations.

Athletes gambling on their own sports — or in general — has been a major topic of conversation in the sports world. It has cropped up in the NFL with suspensions to players like Calvin Ridley and Jameson Williams. Gambling even cost Alabama's baseball coach, Brad Bohannon, his job.

Still, it's worth noting that the state of Iowa has seemingly been hit hard. So much so that Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz mentioned it in a recent press conference.

“I guess we were the chosen ones," Ferentz said.

Kirk Ferentz absolutely sounded off about how ridiculous it is that Iowa and Iowa State are the only schools being investigated for gambling.

“I guess we were the chosen ones.”
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) August 23, 2023

To Ferentz's point, if it's happening in Iowa — it's happening everywhere. It just so happens to be that the Iowa Gaming Commission has drawn a hard line in the sand, apparently.

Still, the evidence suggests that there is a problem at both Iowa and Iowa State. They may be being targeted right now, but it's not as if the Hawkeyes and Cyclones are being targeted unjustly.

At least 41 student-athletes across multiple sports at both Iowa and Iowa State have been reported for gambling activity.

That includes players allegedly betting on games that they played in, such as former ISU starting running back Jirehl Brock, who's no longer with the team.

If this is a witch hunt, it sure has found quite a few witches.

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