Brendan Sorsby saga opens old wound for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz

As NCAA officials, coaches and staffers contemplate their next steps after a judicial ruling that temporarily granted eligibility to Texas Tech quarterback — and acknowledged gambling addict — Brendan Sorsby despite his having placed bets on his former team, the news from West Texas reopened an old NCAA-related wound for Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz.

Three years ago, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation placed a warrantless geofence around the athletic facilities at Iowa and Iowa State and acquired gambling information on hundreds of students. DCI uncovered dozens of athletes placing wagers on sporting events, and the NCAA ruled that 41 athletes at the two campuses were ineligible. Ultimately, 25 were charged with gambling-related offenses.

Multiple football players at both schools were snared, including several who bet on their own team. None of them played Division I college football again. But one Iowa departure bothers Ferentz the most, and that’s defensive tackle Noah Shannon.

“I still see Noah every day, and believe me, you think he’s not watching this and trying to figure out ‘what the hell happened to me?’” Ferentz told The Athletic on Monday. “I don’t know what to say to him, other than ‘you got screwed.’”

Shannon, a two-year starter and recognized team leader entering his final year at Iowa, wagered less than $100 on the Iowa women’s basketball team during the 2023 Final Four. It turned into a lifetime ban.

Throughout summer 2023, athletes at both campuses were in limbo about possible punishments. Shortly before the 2023 football season, Shannon was ruled ineligible. In early October, the NCAA Division I Council announced it would re-examine reinstatement guidelines for suspended athletes engaged in sports wagering. Shannon returned to practice with the Hawkeyes. In early November, the NCAA declined to change its rules, which ended Shannon’s final season without his taking a snap.

For Ferentz, it was like the NCAA toyed with Shannon’s emotions. He called Shannon “one of the best kids we’ve ever had in our program.”

“I don’t think it was intentional, but it sure felt that way,” Ferentz said. “I think there’s a disconnect, and I’m not sure if the organization’s nimble enough to keep up with everything. Our world’s really changing and changing very quickly in collegiate athletics, and nimble is not one of the adjectives I would use to describe the NCAA, quite frankly.”

Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in Division I football, acknowledges he knows little about the Sorsby case and declined to offer opinions on it. But he’s critical of the NCAA and both the selective and erratic enforcement of its policies.

“One thing I do miss about the NFL is there’s not much lack of clarity there,” said Ferentz, who coached in the NFL under Bill Belichick and later Ted Marchibroda for six seasons. “It’s pretty much spelled out. You’re not going to agree with every decision that ever gets made by the legal office, or whatever, but there’s their standard ways of operating in the NFL.

“We’re going in a direction very different than that, and that’s whether it’s coming from a judge or from a governing body or wherever, that makes it tough to navigate things. Big picture-wise, it just makes you wonder a little bit about where we’re heading.”