Four years have passed since former University of Iowa athletics director Gary Barta announced University of Iowa Athletics was cutting four varsity sports. The Daily Iowan has spent the past several months tracking down the student-athletes whose NCAA careers were forced to move elsewhere or were stopped altogether. The following story is the second of a three-part series documenting the lives of some of these athletes since that point.

Charlie Feller 

In August 2020, Charlie Feller was just another college freshman moving into the dorms. In the back seat of his family’s car, surrounded by bags of clothes, Feller was about an hour in on the drive to Iowa City from his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, when he received a text that foreshadowed a seismic shift to his collegiate career. 

The message was only four words, sent from a friend and former Iowa men’s swimmer Logan Samuelson: “Dude, I’m so sorry.” 

Startled, Feller instantly responded, “For what?” and was told to check his team’s group chat. There he found an article that shortened his future four years of swimming at Iowa to just one — all before he had even arrived on campus.

The Iowa men’s swimming and diving program would be cut after the end of the season. Feller was the first in his family to receive the news. 

“My first thought was, ‘How am I going to tell my parents?’ because I’m in the back of the car,” Feller, now a swimmer at UC Santa Barbara, remembered. “I didn’t really know what to say and I didn’t want to freak them out.” 

But inside Feller’s mind, panic began to set in, at least for a moment. The word “transfer” rang in his head as he pondered what schools he had talked to during the recruiting process, or if he even wanted to make a move at all. 

About 45 minutes later, Feller told his parents the news and was promptly bombarded by questions and condolences. The next 90 minutes were quiet, giving Feller time to stare out the window and reflect. 

“I distinctly remember thinking, ‘Just chill out,’” Feller said. “Just get there, meet everyone. And at the very least, you have a year to figure things out. Just take this time to enjoy living away from your parents for the first year of your life being a semi-adult.”

“Just see how you like all these people,” he continued. “Try as hard as you can in swimming and school, and see what happens for you.” 

Embracing this mantra, Feller attacked his first season with the Hawkeyes with vigor, competing in the Big Ten Championships and making indelible memories, most of which didn’t even involve swimming. 

Once Feller and his parents arrived to move him into Catlett Residence Hall, Feller said he was in a better mental-emotional state than others, but still conflicted over how his young collegiate career had panned out.  

“It was scary, uncertain,” he said. “I felt like I had done all this work, it was a little embarrassing …  I [had] told all my friends I had to go to training camp … and then I got cut that day. It was a mix of emotions for sure.” 

That night, the men’s and women’s teams held a gathering at a teammate’s house as a way for new student-athletes to meet their squads. Feller said some groups discussed the cutting of their sport as others walked into the house with bloodshot eyes from crying. 

“Not everyone was talking about it,” Feller said of Barta’s decision to cut certain sports. “But put it this way, no one at the house was smiling or laughing. It was a weird vibe. I don’t know if you can call that a party or whatever that was, but I’ve never been in a situation like that.” 

Feller’s first months at Iowa saw teammates and friends transfer to new schools right away and some who walked away from the sport altogether. Practices were already limited in number and participation size because of COVID-19 restrictions. With that in mind, Feller entered the portal that September and started emailing schools, betraying his earlier promise to himself. 

But it didn’t take long for Feller to refocus on his time with the Hawkeyes. In fact, the words of then-assistant coach Brian Schrader were the spark of his recommitment. That September, Schrader gave the team a speech that Feller still recalls today. 

Feller recalls Schrader saying that ultimately everyone on the team had the opportunity to swim for one more year. Swimmers could either be upset about a decision out of their control or put their feelings aside and continue all the work they’ve put in during their careers. 

With Schrader’s words echoing in his mind, Feller said he stopped worrying about what the future might hold and instead enjoyed the opportunity in front of him and the company around him as the team started its meets that January. 

After posting a 1-2 record in a pandemic-shortened regular season, the team embarked to Columbus, Ohio, for the Big Ten Championships, where they placed eighth. Feller placed fourth on the squad in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke and posted a career-best time in the 200-meter individual medley. 

The swimmer said these times helped boost his resume during the transfer process, but said he can hardly remember what those numbers are now. Rather, he can still picture the support from the Big Ten community. 

Feller recalled how Big Ten rivals such as Michigan wore masks displaying the message, “Save Our Sport,” in advocating for the Iowa and Michigan State programs, both of whom would be cut at the end of the season. On the last day of the tournament, Feller said everyone in the building was cheering for the Hawkeyes and Spartans as they completed their final relays. 

After hugs, tears, and a team photo on the pool deck, reality began to set in for Feller.

“I was, like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing after this,’” Feller said. “This was the buildup I’ve been working toward and now it’s all up in the air and I finally have to figure it out.” 

Feller talked with Penn State and Minnesota, but as the calendar flipped to April, he had his sights set on McGill University, a school in Montreal that doesn’t compete in the NCAA. Feller said he liked the Redbirds coach and had his application accepted, but then experienced what he called a “moment of apprehension,” as he began to question if he was making the right choice. 

With his future once again in doubt, Feller turned to then-Iowa head coach Marc Long, who he said openly encouraged his athletes to talk about their transfer aspirations that season. When Feller brought up UCSB, Long said he knew one of the Gauchos’ assistant coaches, Mark Stori, who swam at Iowa in the 1980s. The next day, Feller received an email from Stori and the pair hit it off. 

“It was a six-to-seven-month waiting period of being in the dark and not knowing where I wanted to go; then it was a two-week process,” Feller said. 

The scene at Feller’s first meet with UCSB was a far cry from what he saw at Iowa. The pool was smaller and outdoors, with no spectators allowed. The swimmer said the overall atmosphere felt a lot more low-key, in contrast to Feller’s nerves that day. 

“I felt I had a lot more to prove because I was transferred,” he said. “There’s not as big expectations when you’re coming in as a freshman and you’re already committed, but when you transfer to a school, you take up a spot and they take a chance on you.” 

The swimmer strived to make the most of his next opportunity, posting six top-10 finishes over his first two seasons in Santa Barbara. But making the move out west wasn’t a simple task, especially after all he experienced in Iowa City. 

“I had contended early on with the idea that it would be a one-year thing [at Iowa], but that didn’t make it any easier to leave,” Feller said, adding that he took a visit back to Iowa City in August 2023 to see old teammates. 

“Looking back, probably the most growth I’ve experienced in a year was my time at Iowa.” 

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r