Last week, college football hit one of its darkest days with the loss of UNI Panthers freshman Parker Sutherland. While paying tribute, head coach Todd Stepsis tried to open up about it during Monday’s press conference with a brave face, but the pain was so immense that he was left fighting back tears.
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“It’s been tough. You know? It’s been a tough couple of days for the team. For the community. For our family. And for obviously Parker’s family. But we’re just, we’re crushed. We really are. Sometimes you wonder why things like this happen. Why it’s, for whatever reason, why it’s somebody’s time to go. So unfortunately for Parker, his time was this past weekend,” the coach said while visibly shaken.
The head coach told everyone that the whole team was just “crushed” by what happened, especially since Parker was only 18 years old and had so much life ahead of him.
Stepsis talked about what kind of person he was outside the football. He called him a “ray of light” and a “one of one” athlete. The coach mentioned that if he could have a hundred players just like Parker, he’d take them in a heartbeat because the kid had a way of making everyone around him feel better just by being there.
An understandably emotional UNI Panther head football coach Todd Stepsis says freshman tight end Parker Sutherland–just 18–died Saturday after collapsing during a workout.
Sutherland is an alum of Iowa City High.
📷 UNI Athletics. @WHO13news pic.twitter.com/3liaikOujz— Keith Murphy (@MurphyKeith) February 16, 2026
The story of what happened is really tough to hear. Last Thursday, the team was doing what they thought was a totally normal morning workout. Everything was going fine until right after the warmup, when Parker suddenly collapsed. The team’s medical staff jumped in immediately to help. But sadly, Parker passed away two days later on Saturday.
Coach Stepsis also shared how the team is trying to lean on each other through the grief. He mentioned that the players all hung out at his house for hours on Sunday just to be together and talk. They’ve been wearing shirts that say ‘Panther Strength.’ Even though Parker was only with the team for a short time, it’s pretty clear he had an enormous mark on the locker room. The coach promised that the program is going to keep celebrating the “bright light” Parker brought to the team for the rest of their lives.
There’s a big celebration of life planned for him back in his hometown of Iowa City on February 22, and you can bet the whole Panther family will be there to say goodbye.
Until then, let’s see what Todd Stepsis is upto and what he did last season with the Panthers.
UNI Pathers review and preview
The UNI Panthers just wrapped up a 2025 football season that was all about starting over. It was the first year with Todd Stepsis after long-time legend Mark Farley retired. Unfortunately, the team just finished with a 3-9 record. A bit of a tough pill to swallow. Then again, you need to cut some slack here for Stepsis for first-year tax. But they did have some bright spots like an opening win against Butler and a nice victory over Eastern Washington.
Looking their next season, the Panthers are clearly in build mode. They’ve got somewhere around 34 new players on the roster, including 11 transfers and a bunch of high school talent. Some of the biggest are Kai Black (TE) from Iowa State, Andrew Price (LB), from South Dakota State and Xavier Terrell (RB) from Florida Atlantic.
The Panthers will play their first game of the season against Iowa State on September 5 on the road. Then they’ll head back to home game against Drake. Their biggest challenges come on 19 of September, as the Panthers will head to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Based on their September stretch alone, merely having a winning season should suffice and be considered successful.
Needless to say, they’ll definitely be playing with “Panther Strength” to honor Parker Sutherfield’s memory.