Gary Dolphin photo courtesy/hawkeyesports.com
Iowa men’s basketball play-by play announcer Gary Dolphin has been suspended for two games following disparaging comments he made about Iowa’s recruiting efforts and junior guard Maishe Dailey during Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh.
The comments were made during what should have been a commercial break. “Gary knows we are extremely disappointed in the comment he made about Maishe Dailey and the impact his remark had on our players and staff,” said Iowa athletic director Gary Barta. “The two game suspension is a result of those comments, as well as some ongoing tensions that have built up over the past couple of years. This time away from the microphone will allow a chance to work through some of these issues. I truly appreciate the time and energy Gary puts into promoting Hawkeye Athletics.”
Dolphin has called games for the Hawkeye Radio Network since 1997. “We unfortunately encountered a technical error at our network broadcast operations center that allowed off-air comments to be aired during a portion of the first-half commercial break,” said Learfield Vice President-Broadcast Operations Tom Boman. “We thoroughly reviewed the situation here at our Broadcast Ops center to ensure this doesn’t happen again, and we’ve also been communicating closely with Gary Barta and his administration, the entire broadcast team and our local Hawkeye Sports Properties staff.”