That press conference was more useful than anything Iowa has done since this entire thing broke. My thoughts:
- I wish Pollard and Wintersteen hadn't spent so much time addressing the potential for canceling the CyHawk series. That angle was, from the beginning, a PR stunt and not a meaningful threat from Iowa. Even Harreld knew he'd stepped in it because he walked it back right away. By talking about it, all you do is lend the narrative credibility which then makes Harreld the savior when he "agrees to continue the series," his "conditions" having been met.
- I love that Pollard talked in specifics about the way Iowa, as an institution, treats Iowa's band. Same with the way Iowa's band ignored instructions. Those are all important facts, and you should ignore stupid Iowa fans who invoke "victim blaming/shaming," words they neither knew nor cared about two weeks ago.
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I posted this after the Iowa band director's weird statement from Friday night as my best guess as to what the hell was actually happening, and I'm even more convinced now that it's accurate. Iowa lacked the courage to be forthright with its own students, and ISU's reputation became the collateral damage.
- Iowa, for as monumentally as it's botched the PR surrounding this "incident" (use of quotation marks there is intentional), sounds like they did what they could as far as investigating it. To infer from Pollard's remarks, band members aren't even cooperating with Iowa's administration.
- So, assuming that no police reports are filed - because what exactly are they waiting for? - what are the repercussions for Iowa's band? Probably nothing. But an apology letter for the wall would be nice.
