On June 6, 2020, Ferentz placed strength coach Chris Doyle on paid administrative leave after a number of former players identified Doyle and Brian Ferentz as contributing to a program culture that was hostile toward black student-athletes. On June 15, Doyle was released from the program after a 21-year stint. On July 27, 2020, ESPN published an article citing instances of racial inequities levied against black players throughout Ferentz's tenure as a head coach. One former player, Dace Richardson, was quoted saying "I've talked with guys and they talked about how they were made to conform to what Coach Ferentz wanted or what they expected white players to be like, we had a lot of guys on our team that had personalities and they weren't allowed to be their natural selves. I never had issues with that because I kind of just conformed to what the team wanted."