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The University of Iowa has wrapped a weeks-long investigation into a January workout that sent 13 Hawkeye football players to the hospital. All players have been cleared to return to practice, but one says they're not back to full strength.
Ahead of its self-imposed 90-day deadline, the University of Iowa is releasing the final report on a January workout that sent thirteen Hawkeye football players to the hospital with rhabdomyolysis. Their findings: That a certain squat workout was to blame for the players' kidney malfunctions (in addition to unspecified injuries to other players); that no player's condition was exacerbated by drugs or supplements, and that the university's response to the incident was, obviously, less than ideal. Our Iowa blog wraps up this unfortunate chapter in Hawkeye history:
The story here, in both the rhabdomyolysis outbreak itself and the University of Iowa's handling of it, is one of poor preparation. The report doesn't explicitly say it, but it certainly implies that the players didn't return from three weeks spent at home eating turkey prepared to jump into heavy workouts. The report essentially admits that the strength and conditioning staff wasn't prepared for, or even knowledgeable about, rhabdomyolysis, and had no response when it began spreading through the team. And the report didn't need to tell us what the FOIA requests had already confirmed, that the athletic department wasn't anywhere near prepared for what to do once the press and public had it.
For more on the report itself and further discussion, visit Black Heart Gold Pants, where we're sure they're thrilled to not have to type "rhabdomyolysis" ever again.
With the release over the weekend of the 13 hospitalized Iowa football players, laid low last week by a kidney ailment commonly linked to overexertion, and with both the head coach and the athletic director actually back in Iowa and available for comment, it's time for everybody's favorite part of any unfortunate incident: Catty recriminations! Here's Kirk Ferentz, leading things off with an unprecedented display of real-seeming human emotion:
These young men and their families have been through a difficult and trying time. They are under my supervision and watch, and I am truly sorry for what they’ve experienced. They trained extremely hard and ended up in the hospital, and there is no indication they did anything wrong. So, I’m pleased they are progressing well and I look forward to seeing all of them being back to normal.
But it wouldn't be an Iowa football crisis without some ill-placed swiping at the chattering class, who just refuses to let Kirk Ferentz get on with his life and Iowa football hospitalize its players in peace!
Now that these students are out of the hospital and on the road to recovery, we can devote our full attention to determining what happened, and making sure it does not happen again. There has been a lot of speculation by those who don’t have the facts and it is unfair and inappropriate for anyone to make wild guesses about what happened.
What, like the associate AD implying that the players were at fault because they didn't keep up their conditioning over winter break? That kind of speculation?
As near as local media outlets can determine, the first five players were released Friday, six on Saturday, and the last two Sunday. Join SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants in wishing them all a speedy recovery.
Five Iowa football players have been released from the hospital following a bout with rhabdomyolysis, a severe kidney disease brought on by stress to the body. In total, 13 Iowa players were sent to the hospital after a going through a workout that reportedly involved doing 100 squats at 240 pounds in a short amount of time.
According to the Sporting News, the players' injuries were serious enough that it made menial tasks nearly impossible after the workouts, with many struggling to function normally.
"Guys couldn't get out of bed," the source said. "Guys couldn't put on their socks. Monday and Tuesday, kids were lying here all wrapped up."
The situation took another odd turn on Friday after it was revealed the hospitalized players' medical records may have been compromised. University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the facility the players have been hospitalized, has opened an investigation into the matter after reportedly discovering someone may have gained unauthorized access to the players' records.
While five players were well enough to head home, eight still remain hospitalized. It's unknown when they'll be released, but head coach Kirk Ferentz was optimistic they'd be released in the days ahead.
For more on Iowa football, check out SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants.
Drug tests for the 13 hospitalized Iowa football players have reportedly come back clean. The players haven't yet been released, but there's one of many possible causes for the widespread collapse off the board:
The tests were issued at the behest of doctors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to help determine causes of the muscle and kidney ailment that brought the players to the hospital. Cocaine and other amphetamines are known to exacerbate cases of rhabdomyolysis, the condition that likely befell the players after intense offseason workouts in the last week.
The test results do not rule out the possibility that over-the-counter supplements might have played a role in the players’ poor health.
Suppose the school will have to go back to calling them lazy now, no?
Elsewhere in the saga, Iowa has set a 90-day timeline for an investigation into the incident, and SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants has some harsh words for the Hawkeyes' SID.
The latest Iowa athletic department press conference, held Wednesday afternoon to address the hospitalization of 13 Hawkeye football players, was quite the eye-opener, with all relevant personnel on hand to answer any -- I'm sorry; I'm being told that this is still Iowa football, and it was therefore nothing like that. No Kirk Ferentz. No athletic director. No strength coaches. Just the hapless-appearing director of football operations, who seemed put-upon to even acknowledge that Something Happened.
SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants states flatly, "It's pretty obvious by now that Kirk Ferentz doesn't care about PR," and points out what's really been bothering us about this whole episode: That the university seemed to taken aback at having to respond in the first place:
The university expected nobody to reveal that the hospitalization was the proximate result of severe training right off a break that was allegedly intensified by peer pressure without S&C coach intervention. That secret, obviously, didn't stay secret.
Still, they concede, the already-icy backlash could have been so much worse:
Imagine if Barta and Ferentz were there and they stonewalled on the "I wasn't there" front as badly as Federici and Holmes did.
Which is not to say this isn't bad. Because it is. Very bad. And all too typical.
[People] want to see public demonstrations of positive values at every opportunity, and Kirk Ferentz has generally succeeded there. But he doesn't go out of his way to do so, which again speaks to his mostly Iowan/Midwestern value set, but which also opens him up for serious criticism when things start going bad. And when the UI can't even communicate the fact that Ferentz has contacted the parents of the afflicted players or that they want to get out of the hospital and back to workouts until a parent says so at a press conference, the athletic department only magnifies the perception problems facing Ferentz.
For more on this and for all your Iowa Hawkeyes athletics news needs, visit SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants.
The 13 (not 12, as had been reported) Iowa Hawkeyes football players who were mysteriously admitted to local hospitals Monday night were indeed suffering from a kidney condition brought on by excessive exercise, as had also been reported. The school announced on Wednesday that the players were afflicted with rhabdomyolysis.
Ahh, rhabdomyolysis. You “breakdown of muscle fibers resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream” according to Google Health, you. In English, rhabdomyolysis is a condition that causes an individual’s innards to mingle in unpleasant, but not typically lethal, manners, and is caused by overdoing it during a workout.
The school also said that players are still in safe and stable condition, but did not announce the names of any specific players.
Black Heart Gold Pants wonders where Hawkeyes football can possibly go from here and laments Iowa’s sad, strange history of weightlifting disasters. Meanwhile, Every Day Should Be Saturday introduces you to Uncle Rhabdo.
The 12 Iowa Hawkeyes football players who had to be hospitalized Monday night were admitted for a kidney condition brought on by excessive exercise, according to a report by Adam Jacobi (a report which lines up with that one Black Heart Gold Pants commenter’s claim). Jacobi:
A source close to the team confirmed to CBSSports.com that the malady afflicting the players is a kidney condition brought on after an excessively intense offseason workout.
Freshman Hawkeyes linebacker Jim Poggi was also quoted by Hawkeye Nation as discussing the ailment on Facebook. According to Poggi, one observed symptom has been brown urine and some players will have to stay in the hospital Tuesday night.
The exercise, as mentioned by BHGP, was some sort of extremely competitive squat sprint, though who knows for sure at this point. They do crazy things for fun in Iowa, y’all. The more news that comes out on this, the more it sounds like everyone is going to be OK.
News broke Tuesday that 12 Iowa Hawkeyes football players were hospitalized Monday night with an unknown affliction. University athletic director Gary Barta has shared his gladness at the positive response of the affected players to hospital treatment. Barta:
Our No. 1 concern is the safety of our student-athletes, so we are pleased with the positive feedback. Our next step is to find out what happened so we can avoid this happening in the future.
Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz is on the road recruiting, and hasn’t been able to comment or visit his players yet.
There’s still no report on what caused these players to need to be admitted en masse, with flu, food poisoning, staph infections, and the like all being mentioned. Though of course Black Heart Gold Pants has a medically informed theory:
Apparently they were puking and peeing blood after competing in a 100-squat exercise.
Hospital physicians are not sure when players will be cleared to leave.
It's been a rough few months for the Iowa Hawkeyes football program, and today could be one of the most unpleasant days yet. The university announced 12 football players have been hospitalized, but isn't yet saying why. They were admitted on Monday night. There's been no word on which players have been affected.
The university's release only noted that the players are "recovering," while a staff physician was quoted as saying they are in "safe and stable condition" as of Tuesday. Some have speculated food poisoning could be the culprit, though the word on the street is that it's not.
Last month Iowa football saw a player suspended for violating team rules, watched another player arrested on drug charges, and had to announce its drug testing program may have been compromised. All that plus losing three of their last four games have made for a hard winter in Iowa City.
For more on Iowa, join Black Heart Gold Pants.
Iowa's Willie Lowe To Transfer, Says Rhabdo-Stricken Players Aren't Fully Recovered
Iowa's infamous January workout that hospitalized thirteen Hawkeye football players already cost them one player of the future in blue-chip recruit Cyrus Kouandjio. As of late Tuesday night, it appears at least one present player is out the door as well: Rising senior defensive back Willie Lowe, who was stricken with rhabdomyolysis along with a dozen teammates, has requested his release from the program. To hear the way he's talking to Joe Schad, it sounds like we might not see Lowe on the field this season at all:
It's grim news for a program that seems as eager to move past the incident as it was to gloss over the problem in the first place altogether. The school has cleared the hospitalized players for spring practice, but if Lowe is still this far from full strength, who else might be ailing under the radar? SB Nation's Black Heart Gold Pants has a bad feeling about whatever news comes next:
Visit BHGP for more on the "rhabdo thirteen" and other Iowa Hawkeyes athletics news.
Apr 06 9:40a by Holly Anderson - 0 comments