FanPost

On Iowa conduct

I am likely asking for trouble but I have often wondered about the arrests, DUI's, public intoxication, etc. that seem to have followed the two major programs at Iowa for over a decade now. Growing up in the Chicago area, I had siblings and friends that ended up at schools all over the Big Ten, Missouiri Valley, MAC and OVC and I was able to visit many of them at one point or another. The culture and behavior at these schools, while not entirely uniform, was still more similar than not. Why are there seemingly so many more legal problems for Iowa athletes than at these schools?

I have heard stories about how when players under Hayden were picked up by IC police that they were driven straight to his house rather than the police department. After Fry "redirected" the young men in question, they were allowed to go home and avoid the negative publicity while also having the fear of God put into them. I don't know if that's the stuff of Iowa legend and I also don't know if I advocate skirting legal protocol, but it would certainly explain the increase in reported incidences after he left. Under Alford, it was easy to see his slick, disingenuous demeanor and translate it into a culture of poor character recruits, but that has also continued to a degree under Likcliter. I have also often heard about the "boredom" factor of Iowa City, and Madison it is not. However, Urbana-Champaign, West Lafayette, Bloomington or East Lansing (to name a few) are hardly overflowing with points of interest for young athletes.

OK, so the nature of my (ahem) logic is scattershot at best and this post has clearly devolved into a state rambling at this point, but I guess my larger question is this; do Iowa City police and (for the most part) University of Iowa officials just not turn the blind eye to their student athletes' behavior that authorities on other campuses do? Is it possible that because the "old guard" of Fry and Davis are gone, past "understandings" with law enforcement have gone by the wayside? Am I just grasping at straws? Theories, facts and mockery are welcomed.

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