Iowa football: Dillon Doyle, son of embattled strength coach, enters transfer portal

Dillon Doyle entering the transfer portal means big changes for Iowa.

The Iowa football program we’ve know for the last 21 years is about to drastically change.

With strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle under fire because of racist and bullying tactics commonplace in his program, he has been placed on administrative leave. While Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz sent out a video message over the weekend that it’s time to fix Iowa’s broken culture, he’d already be out of a job if he wasn’t the longest tenured coach in major college football.

So if Doyle being placed on administrative leave and Ferentz having to put out an extremely uncomfortable PSA over the weekend wasn’t enough to signify the wholesale changes inevitably coming at Iowa, look at who just put his name into the transfer portal: Doyle’s own son, Dillon Doyle.

Dillon Doyle enters the transfer portal, leaving Iowa football behind.

Doyle tweeted out his intention to enter the transfer portal on Tuesday evening.

“I’d like to take this time to thank Iowa Football for my time in the program,” Doyle wrote on Twitter. “Growing up in Iowa City, it has always been my dream to wear the Tiger Hawk, and I have taken great pride in representing the state of Iowa for the last two seasons.”

“The relationships I’ve formed through this program will last forever and I’m so incredibly grateful for each of the people I’ve met during my time here. I’d like to thank my teammates and others in the community for the overwhelming amount of support I’ve received the last few days.”

Doyle started three games for Iowa football last year and was expected to have an even larger role in the defense this year. For a kid who literally grew up in the town Iowa football calls home and seemingly every huge football memory he has is at Kinnick Stadium, it’s alarming to see him enter the portal. Then again, it’s totally understandable given the situation at hand.

Doyle has two years of eligibility left. Perhaps a new start for him elsewhere will help him get out of the shadow of his much-scrutinized father? If the strength and conditioning coach’s son is out, so too may his father. Ferentz may have been destined for College Football Hall of Fame enshrinement like his mentor Hayden Fry, but some things are bigger than football.

By Doyle entering the transfer portal, it’s truly the beginning of the end of this era of Iowa football.

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