NCAA Denies Noah Shannon Appeal

Noah Shannon’s career as a football player at Iowa is officially over after the NCAA rejected his appeal to lift his season-long suspension for violating the organization’s rules about sports wagering.

But Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said on Tuesday that Shannon will still be a part of the program for the rest of the season.

“Our goal is to keep him with the program, keep him close, have him remain as a part of the team,” Ferentz said. “Obviously he can't play, but he's run a heck of a race, and we are really disappointed with the whole thing.”

Shannon, a defensive lineman with 107 tackles in his career, came back to Iowa to play a sixth season. But Shannon, who was one of several athletes at Iowa who were involved in an investigation into sports wagering within the athletic program, admitted to wagering on sports and was suspended by the NCAA just days before the season started.

“I want to apologize to the fans and everyone who supports Iowa Football,” Shannon said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “I made a mistake and I have taken responsibility for it. I am heartbroken that I will not be able to play alongside my brothers again, but I plan to stick with the team and support them any way that I can going forward.

“I want to say thank you to my family, Coach Ferentz, the coaching staff, and all of my teammates and friends for their unwavering support. I am going to make sure that this mistake does not define me or my career going forward.”

Ferentz was angry with the NCAA’s decision.

“He's been honest throughout this whole process, very transparent. About as honest as you can be,” Ferentz said. “I want to emphasize he did not break any laws. My wife made that point a couple weeks ago, just in emphasis. He is guilty of an NCAA violation. Very up front about that.

“Basically I don't agree or understand, quite frankly, the decision, especially when it comes to the severity of the punishment. To me, it's really disappointing, especially considering our current environment right now, which, believe me, the last couple months I'm a lot more in tune to that than previously.”

Asked if Shannon was being made an example by the NCAA, Ferentz said, “ I can't speak for that. I've learned a lot in the last three months.”

Ferentz said that in the days heading into the opening weekend of the NFL season, he heard numerous commercials for betting sites on the radio.

“It's a different world we live in right now,” he said. “We seem to be a little slow to react to it. ‘We’ being the governing body.

“I was hoping the panel, the committee, whoever it is, it's all faceless and nameless, whoever it might be, would dig a little deeper and take a little bigger picture on this whole thing. It's unfortunate. Doesn't change how I feel about Noah, the kind of person he is. There's no law broken here. It's a mistake I'm guessing a lot of athletes have made. He happened to, for whatever reason, turn up in this investigation. It's unfortunate. I think it is a missed opportunity by the NCAA.”

Ferentz thinks Shannon still has a chance to play in the NFL next season.

“I think they do their evaluations,” he said. “The good news is he has a lot of good film, played a lot of good football for us. As I just said, he's a tremendous young man. He made a mistake, like a lot of guys do.”

Ferentz said Shannon could still be a big help within the program.

“We'll put him to work in a lot of ways,” Ferentz said. “To have his experience, expertise with us on a daily basis, mentor some younger guys. Every year we have the young guys that are going through a really tough transition, just like he did six years ago. That could be invaluable.

“We'll keep him busy. I think it's good for him to be busy. He didn't have to come back for his sixth year. All are very appreciative. It is unfortunate, an unfortunate turn of events. We'll put him to work, that's for sure.”