America is on the hot seat. Over the last couple of weeks, social injustice has been brought to the forefront of citizen’s everyday lives. The murder of George Floyd a few weeks ago has created a push for reform in the country. This allowed for former and current University of Iowa football players to make sure their voices were heard. Stories of racism about strength and conditioning coach, Chris Doyle, were told.

The Iowa Hawkeye football program had never been involved in a scandal that grabbed the nation’s attention. That was until earlier in June when some former players took to Twitter and told stories of racism that they had dealt with within the program.

It was announced that Doyle and the university parted ways June 15.

Chris Doyle has been with Kirk Ferentz since Ferentz arrived as the head coach over 21 years ago. Ferentz had made him the highest paid strength coach in the nation as he was collecting a base salary of $800,000 per year over the last couple of years.

Doyle was great at building players up. Some of the recent messages put out by these athletes, though, put his butt squarely on the hot seat.

Rightfully so, Doyle needed to go. There was no recovering from this MASSIVE issue.

Kirk Ferentz has since implemented a committee consisting of former and current players and coaches to deal with this issue head on. Former players like Desmond King, Mike Daniels and Jaleel Johnson acted fast. They returned to Iowa City to discuss these issues with the staff and help redirect the program.

Current players speak

Clearly, there is still a ton of work ahead of them, but stepping stones are being laid. As for current players, many have said this has brought the team closer together. But Iowa defensive back, Kaevon Merriweather had a strong message for those Iowa fans who are angry at the black athletes.

In a tweet sent on June 8, he said, “If you can not support us right now with this movement and with our team taking a knee during the National Anthem, DO NOT support us during the football season.”

I agree. As an Iowa fan, I don’t want to be associated with anyone who has an issue with the players standing for justice. I know 99% of Iowa fans have the players’ backs.

Firing Doyle was the first step, but more program adjusting moves will be coming I’m sure.