The NCAA has discovered that five former and current staff members of the Iowa State football program placed wagers on the college’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, breaking NCAA rules. They were found to have made more than 6,200 bets in total across various professional and college sports between 2021 and 2023, with combined stakes exceeding $100,000.
NCAA implementing a one-year show-cause order on each of them
Mason Williams, Kyle Highland, Michael Dryer, Chase Clark, and Jace Heacock all pled guilty to the charges, with the NCAA implementing a one-year show-cause order on each of them. This means that they will need to go to an annual NCAA Regional Rules seminar if they ever want to join another athletic department in college sports before serving a two-week suspension.
Jace Heacock, defensive coordinator Jon Heacock’s son, is the only one of them still working at Iowa State, recently taking up the position of director of football analytics.
This is not the first time that the university has been embroiled in a betting-related scandal. Many football players were caught betting on games, including some in which they were playing. The most high-profile of them was the then-starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers, who was recently invited to the New Orleans Saints’ rookie minicamp.
