For Noah Shannon and Iowa Football, the Gut Punch Parade Continues
In the latest farcical twist of the Noah Shannon saga, Iowa's sixth-year defensive tackle must now wait at least one more game to find out whether he's allowed to be eligible to play college football again.
The NCAA announced Wednesday afternoon that a planned vote on amending gambling penalties — and, crucially, retroactively restoring eligibility to athletes like Shannon — had been postponed for two weeks, meaning Shannon's eligibility would not be decided until just three games remained in Iowa's regular season.
Spoke the NCAA (via the Des Moines Register):
"The council agreed with commissioners earlier this month that the penalties for wagering violations in limited circumstances should be adjusted and the respective committees moved quickly to recommend possible changes. However, the CCA executive committee, today, requested a brief delay to allow more time for membership feedback on the proposed adjustment, and the coordination committee voted to honor that request. The coordination committee reemphasized the need for the Association to move deliberately and have in-depth conversations about the current wagering landscape."
No, really. Two more weeks "to allow more time for membership feedback." "The committee reemphasized the need for the Association to move deliberately." The NCAA decided it had an abundant luxury of patience as Shannon's eligibility continues to evaporate.
That doesn't sound like an organization that "continue[s] to put student-athlete well-being front and center," and if that wording sounds familiar, it's because that's how the NCAA was just patting itself on the back when it first announced it was reconsidering the gambling penalties.
What good is restoring an athlete's eligibility if the NCAA can't even figure out how to do it in time?
Wednesday's news was only the latest in a string of dreadful occurrences befalling the Hawkeye football team. In just over two months' time, Iowa fans have had to endure the following gut punches:
Noah Shannon held out
Cade McNamara injury I
Shannon suspension for season
Shannon suspension upheld
Luke Lachey injury
Cade McNamara injury II
Erick All injury
Iowa's offense bottoming out
Cooper DeJean punt return overturn
Minnesota winning the game
The Big Ten defending the call
Seriously — the Big Ten citing the overhead view of DeJean's gesture as proof of a good overturn will live in CYA infamy.
But at least it's an attempt.
The NCAA, on the other hand, offers not even an acknowledgment that any athletes' eligibility is hanging in the balance. Certainly no sympathy, or better yet urgency.
Perhaps it is better that Ferentz's weekly Hawk Talk radio show is off for the bye week; on a regular week's cadence, he would have been going on the air with less than two hours to process the NCAA's postponement, and there's no telling what trouble his candor could have led to.
After all, we're certainly not suggesting the NCAA has essentially tacked one more game onto Shannon's suspension as a way to spite Ferentz for being insufficiently grateful for its reconsideration (and for daring the Big Ten to fine him with his post-loss referee comments Saturday). There's no evidence that suggests that's what the NCAA is doing here.
Nonetheless, some Iowa fans may undertake a thought experiment about how this would look any different if the NCAA were operating out of spite.
Hypothetically, of course.
If there's one silver lining, it's that Iowa's miseries have yet to fully derail the team's goals. Iowa still sits at 6-2 (3-2), not quite first place in the Big Ten West but likely to slide back into the driver's seat unless Wisconsin can upset No. 3 Ohio State at Camp Randall on Saturday.
There's some perverse curiosity involved in this Iowa team playing for a Big Ten title in Indianapolis against the best the loaded Big Ten East has to offer — almost certainly Michigan or OSU, after the Buckeyes dispatched Penn State with relative ease Saturday. And sure, that game might get uncompetitive.
At least it would be an opportunity for Iowa to put its players on the field and decide their own fates, though. And after eight weeks of misery, injuries and injustices for Shannon and his teammates, the chance to compete on a level playing field must sound like the freshest breath of air.