Impermissible contact violations occurred in the Iowa State men’s wrestling program when local regional training center assistant coach Chris Perry had contact with two transfer student-athletes and one of those student-athletes was not yet in the Transfer Portal, according to an agreement released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel.
The school and enforcement staff agreed that the violations in this case occurred after the then-head men’s wrestling coach communicated with an exiting men’s wrestling head coach at another university and expressed interest in recruiting two of that coach’s student-athletes. After that exchange, Perry, who worked as an assistant coach at the Cyclone Regional Training Center (where the then-Iowa State head men’s coach also served as head coach of the training center team) contacted the prospective transfers. Perry called one prospect, who was not in the Transfer Portal, on two separate occasions and texted him 14 times, including requesting that individual’s transcripts, providing information about potential revenue-share payments and cost of attendance, and explaining that the prospect should request a “do not contact” tag when his name was entered into the Transfer Portal. Perry also provided a “commitment” graphic to the second prospect to share on social media when he committed to Iowa State.
Both student-athletes ― who committed to Iowa State on the same day they entered the Transfer Portal ―indicated during interviews with enforcement that Perry was their first point of contact and primary recruiter to the school.
Although Perry was not employed by Iowa State, his work to recruit the student-athletes to Iowa State triggered “booster” status because he was working in an individual capacity to represent the school’s interests in recruiting conversations. As a result, his contact with those prospects constitutes impermissible contact violations, and the contact that occurred before one of the student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal is tampering.
Although Perry reports to the head coach at the RTC, he was not a member of the Iowa State wrestling program and did not report to the head coach in an institutional capacity. Therefore, head coach responsibility did not apply. The school and enforcement staff determined that the head coach had no knowledge that Perry’s conversations pertained to recruiting them to more than the Cyclone RTC. However, the school and enforcement staff agreed that a suspension for the head coach was appropriate in this case.
In approving the agreement, the panel applauded Iowa State’s approach to its infractions case and noted that the case served as a positive example to other member schools.
“Iowa State self-imposed and/or agreed to significant and meaningful penalties that directly relate to and address the conduct in this case,” the panel said in its decision. “In particular, the panel acknowledges Iowa State’s prohibition of all recruiting communication during the first seven days of the wrestling transfer window in consecutive years. Similarly, Iowa State’s decision to self-impose a suspension for the head coach recognizes the significance of the substantive conduct even though that conduct did not result in a head coach responsibility violation.”
This case was processed through the negotiated resolution process. The process was used instead of a formal hearing or summary disposition because the university, coaches and enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.
The parties used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-mitigated penalties for the university. The decision contains the full list of penalties as approved by the Committee on Infractions, including:
- One year of probation.
- A $25,000 fine, plus 0.5% of the men’s wrestling program’s budget.
- Two, one-week bans on recruiting communications with transfers for the men’s wrestling program during the first week of the men’s wrestling notification-of-transfer windows for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.
- Disassociation from the booster for two years.
- A 10% (equivalent of two contests) suspension from the men’s wrestling season for the former head coach, who is now the director of men’s and women’s wrestling, during the 2026-27 academic year.
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and public. The panel members who reviewed this case are Jeremy Jordan, dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport at Syracuse; Kay Norton, president emerita at Northern Colorado; and Mary Schutten, executive vice president and provost at Central Michigan and chief hearing officer for the panel.
