At the beginning of last week, as social unrest around the country started to spill over into the Twitter accounts of current and former college football players, Iowa would have seemed an unlikely place to search for resentment seeping out of its foundation.
From the outside, the image of Iowa’s program has been as steady and low-key as that of its coach, Kirk Ferentz, who does not self-promote, does not allow his players to self-promote and whose ethos has revolved entirely around the consistent grind of 8-5 seasons, give or take a couple wins. Boring was the brand Ferentz has packaged and sold time and again as his contract grew longer and his power over the Iowa athletic department deepened.