Iowa will support appeals for suspended athletes amid sports gambling investigation, per statement
Amidst a spate of suspensions for Iowa athletes across a number of sports as a result of an investigation into improper sports gambling, the school’s athletic department issued an official statement on Tuesday attempting to clarify some details. The statement came hours after six Iowa wrestlers were suspended.
The university and athletic department have been cooperative with the NCAA, the statement said, specifically the student-athlete reinstatement (SAR) staff. Further, the school will support any students suspended for gambling throughout the appeals process for reinstatement.
“NCAA guidelines set forth a process for an appeal of the SAR staff’s decision. The University will support student-athletes choosing to move forward with this process,” the statement said.
NCAA punishments for improper sports wagering among athletes include a lifetime loss of eligibility.
“The University of Iowa and the UI Athletics Department have been working cooperatively with the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement (SAR) staff to determine the eligibility of student-athletes who were involved in sports wagering. The institution has received the SAR determinations for the 11 individuals who are current student-athletes,” the statement said. “Because this information is protected through the Family Education Right and Privacy Act (FERPA), specific information will only be released once we have received the student’s consent.”
A number of athletes alleged to have placed improper wagers while at Iowa have since transferred to other schools or graduated. The statement from Iowa indicates that, among current athletes enrolled at the school, 11 have gotten a ruling, of sorts, from the SAR wing of the NCAA.
Iowa interim AD Beth Goetz provided an update on gambling investigation, possible suspensions last week
Gary Barta retired as athletics director over the summer and Beth Goetz is took overas interim AD Aug. 1 after serving as deputy AD and Chief Operating Officer for the last 11 months.
The timing of the transition is interesting considering the investigation, which has seen multiple current and former Hawkeyes named in various lawsuits on records tampering allegations. Thursday — just over a week away from Week 0 — Goetz addressed the status of the investigation during her introductory press conference.
The process was still ongoing, but she indicated a decision could be coming soon.
“On the reinstatement process specifically, we have submitted all the requested information to date to the NCAA and we’re optimistic that we are just hopefully days away perhaps from getting some feedback at least initially on what that means for our student-athletes who currently are here and have remaining eligibility,” Goetz said. “There’s obviously some additional steps in the process once that decision is rendered, but we’re optimistic that that might happen here in short order as opposed to a few weeks down the road.”