A Division I Committee on Infractions hearing panel determined that Iowa will have to vacate four wins from its 10-win 2023 season, the NCAA announced Tuesday. The penalty stems from the Cade McNamara tampering case, for which Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr already served self-imposed one-game suspensions at the beginning of the 2024 season.

While Ferentz previously took ownership of the misstep, and Iowa agreed on the violations in the case — the program contacted McNamara and his father in 2022, while McNamara was at Michigan and before he entered the transfer portal — the tampering case was ultimately resolved through an infractions hearing because Iowa didn't agree with the vacation of records penalty.

In its release Tuesday, the NCAA outlined the full list of prescribed penalties as such:

• 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)

Matthew Holst via Getty Images

Throughout November 2022, when McNamara was backing up J.J. McCarthy at Michigan, Budmayr had 13 phone calls with McNamara and/or his father, in addition to sending two text messages, per the NCAA.

Budmayr, then an offensive analyst and now entering his third season as Iowa’s wide receivers coach, set up a phone call between McNamara and Ferentz, who, according to the NCAA’s findings, assured McNamara he’d have a home at Iowa.

Near the end of the month, McNamara put his name in the transfer portal. A few days after that, he committed to Iowa.

When a student-athlete transfers to a school that tampered, that student-athlete becomes ineligible until they’re reinstated, per current NCAA rules. In this case, according to the NCAA’s findings, McNamara participated in the 2023 season before being reinstated.

McNamara started the first five games before suffering a season-ending ACL tear against Michigan State. The Hawkeyes went 4-1 along the way, hence the vacation of four of their wins that season.

Deacon Hill replaced McNamara as Iowa’s QB1, and defense and special teams carried the program to its eighth 10-plus-win season in Ferentz’s soon-to-be 28-season tenure.

But, due to Tuesday’s decision, Ferentz technically now has only seven of those campaigns to his name.

Ferentz was dismayed by the ruling.

"I am disappointed by the NCAA's decision today," Ferentz said in a statement, via ESPN. "Throughout the process, our program has been open and honest about my mistake — contacting a potential player in the hours before it was permissible by NCAA rules.

"I felt it was important to make amends for the issue, which is why I voluntarily served a one-game suspension to start the 2023 season. I believe today's decision by the NCAA vacating four wins in our 2023 season is overly harsh and inconsistent with the violation.

"As I tell our team and staff, it is how you respond and move forward that defines you. Our focus is on the 2026 season and that is how we are moving forward."

Ferentz has the support of his higher-ups, as both university president Barb Wilson and athletic director Beth Goetz communicated similar feelings in a joint statement.

"We are very disappointed in today's ruling by the Committee on Infractions," the statement said, per ESPN. "Throughout this nearly two-and-a-half-year process, the University has fully cooperated with the NCAA enforcement staff. More importantly, when the facts revealed that violations had taken place, the institution and the head coach publicly accepted full responsibility and self-imposed several significant sanctions, something few others have done.

“We believe the decision of adding the penalty of the forfeiture of wins is unwarranted. The matter is now closed, and we have moved forward."