Iowa State and coach Matt Campbell are still waiting on the results of an investigation into players’ alleged sports betting.
Both Iowa and Iowa State announced in May that athletes at the schools had allegedly made online sports bets. Iowa State said that “approximately 15” active athletes allegedly placed wagers that violated NCAA rules and that at least one football player was in that group.
Campbell was asked about the investigation Thursday at Big 12 media days and said it was still ongoing. The question also asked Campbell “specifically” about the status of starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers and Campbell did not mention or address Dekkers at all as part of his answer.
“Yeah, you know, right now for us, that investigation is ongoing,” Campbell said. “Just continues to not really have a lot of clarity to it, but I think we’re getting closer to getting clarity.”
“The appreciation that I have is they’ve kind of given me the opportunity to be removed from that process and just give me the results once the results come our way.”
“I think what I would just say for any of our young men that either are or aren’t involved in this is it’s a great learning lesson. Part of what I love about teaching is you’re teaching 18 to 22 year old young men. There’s rules and regulations.”
“We’ll kind of learn what happened in that situation here shortly, but it’s a great teaching moment, and how to handle things when it doesn’t go well, and how do you respond from that.”
“Once it’s time to have clarity to that and then respond to that the right way, I know our football team and certainly the young men in our team will do a great job of that.”
Dekkers has not been directly linked to the allegations. He was not one of Iowa State’s player representatives at media days. While it’s not unprecedented for a returning starting quarterback to not attend preseason media days, it is uncommon. Dekkers played in all 12 of Iowa State’s games in 2022 and threw for 3,044 yards and 19 TDs with 14 interceptions.
The NCAA announced new gambling penalties in June for athletes who violate gambling rules. A player who wagers $200 or less is required to undergo sports wagering rules and prevention education. A player who wagers between $200 and $500 loses 10% of his or her eligibility. A player who wagers between $500 and $800 loses 20% of a season of eligibility and a player who wagers more than $800 can lose 30% of a season of eligibility.
If a player is found to have egregiously wagered over $800, the NCAA has the ability to lengthen a suspension beyond 30%. Previous NCAA rules didn’t address bet amounts; a player could lose a season of eligibility for making a small bet.
