IOWA CITY, Iowa — For the better part of a decade, any time something went awry with Iowa’s athletic department, knee-jerk speculation immediately snapped toward athletic director Gary Barta and his job status.
There were legitimate reasons for that rationale, related to eliminating four sports during the pandemic and settling lawsuits totaling around $11 million. There were also eye-rolling situations, such as the department’s providing 70,000 red, white and dark blue poms during the annual “Blackout” football game against rival Wisconsin. (Hint, the blue washed out amid the black.)
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But now with Barta’s announcing his retirement effective Aug. 1, it’s fair to properly assess his era. He’s the fifth-longest tenured Power 5 athletic director and second longest in program history. Barta, 59, and Kirk Ferentz make up the nation’s longest-serving athletic director-football coach combination. Barta is one of only three athletic directors at Iowa since 1970. But his career accomplishments coincided with conflicts, both self-inflicted and those beyond his control.
In a word, Barta’s legacy is polarizing, and that assessment won’t change over time. Nor should it. He has plenty of detractors, but Iowa has enjoyed sustained competitive success in its highest-profile sports. That shouldn’t be overlooked.
It’s easy to point out the negatives, and we’ll go over those in detail. But from retaining high-level coaches to spending nearly $400 million in facility improvements, Barta enjoyed several achievements. And in almost every case for criticism, there’s a counterpoint. Let’s take a look at these issues with some good old-fashioned both sides-ism.
Coaching
Barta’s Iowa tenure began Aug. 1, 2006, after he served as Wyoming’s athletic director. When he arrived, coaches in Iowa’s four most visible sports were Ferentz, men’s basketball coach Steve Alford, women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and wrestling coach Tom Brands. Today, the coaches in those sports are Ferentz, Bluder, Brands and men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, whom Barta hired in 2010.
Multiple times in the past decade fans and media mocked Barta for extending Ferentz to 10-year deals. But Ferentz’s first lifetime contract took place in 2010 when he was coming off 71 wins and four top-eight finishes in eight years. The second happened in 2016 after Ferentz won 12 games the previous season. Perhaps it was a one-sided negotiation, which is hardly unusual in an industry in which athletic directors routinely are de-pantsed by agents. But considering Iowa football was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in 2021 and has won the third-most games among Big Ten teams the past five years, extending multiple decadeslong contracts to a coach two wins shy of 200 appears smart in retrospect.
Former athletic director Bob Bowlsby made the difficult choice to fire wrestling coach Jim Zalesky in April 2006 and then hire Brands four months before Barta took over. Barta continued to extend Brands, who has won four national titles, and now construction is ongoing on a $28 million wrestling-only facility. Bluder was one of Title IX pioneer Christine Grant’s final hires in 2001. Both coaches led their teams to NCAA runner-up finishes this spring. Barta kept them at Iowa during his 17 years, and that’s as good as making the hires himself.
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Men’s basketball contains more nuance. Barta successfully nudged the unpopular Alford to New Mexico in 2007 and didn’t have to pay him a buyout. That’s a win. Hiring NABC national coach of the year Todd Lickliter, who was fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance, looked solid at the time. It was a disaster with Lickliter’s going 38-58 in three seasons. Barta fired Lickliter, which classifies as a failure. But Barta cut his losses after three seasons rather than let the program further disintegrate. Barta then hired McCaffery, who is on the cusp of setting the program record for career victories but has yet to reach the Sweet 16.
Barta hired other coaches who were runaway successes such as baseball’s Rick Heller, track and field’s Joey Woody and field hockey’s Lisa Cellucci. Others, such as softball’s Marla Looper and every volleyball coach preceding the newest leader, didn’t work out.
Since 2020-21, Iowa’s primary four sports all were ranked in the top three nationally. The field hockey was ranked No. 1 in 2021. The baseball team beat No. 1 LSU this year and likely will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The men’s track and field program has won two of the past four Big Ten titles. Competitively, this era is the equivalent of the 1980s, long considered the golden age of Iowa athletics. Barta might not have hired three of his most successful coaches, but he didn’t have to pick their replacements, either.
Lawsuits
Barta has faced his share of disputes during his 18 years, the most serious of which involved gender equity, Title IX and racial discrimination lawsuits.
In August 2014, former Iowa president Sally Mason told Barta to fire field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum after multiple accusations of player mistreatment. Barta paid Griesbaum $200,000 for termination without cause. Then-senior associate athletic director Jane Meyer, who is Griesbaum’s longtime partner, and Barta had at least one heated exchange after the coach’s firing. After Griesbaum filed a lawsuit, the state attorney general’s office recommended Barta reassign Meyer. She was transferred out of the department and her university position later was eliminated. Meyer also filed a lawsuit, citing discrimination and retaliation.
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In 2017, Meyer won a jury trial in federal court. Rather than take their chances with Griesbaum’s trial or appealing the verdict, university officials settled for $6.6 million, which depleted department reserves.
In 2020, just 10 days after the Big Ten initially canceled the football season, Barta eliminated men’s tennis, men’s gymnastics, men’s swimming and women’s swimming. Attorneys representing women’s swimming sued the department based on Title IX. A federal judge issued a stay and ruled Iowa’s athletic department had violated Title IX. As part of a settlement, the department reinstated women’s swimming, added another women’s sport (wrestling) and paid $400,000 in attorney fees.
In March, the state attorney general’s office forced through a $4.175 million settlement for a racial discrimination case brought by 12 Black former football players. Initially, the university was set to pay $2.175 million and the state $2 million, but backlash pushed Iowa athletics to pay the state’s share. Legislators and elected officials also called for Barta’s firing.
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Iowa AD Gary Barta to retire after 17 years
Issues and moments
Barta officially supervises Ferentz’s son — offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz — because of university nepotism laws. After consecutive seasons in which Iowa’s offense ranked 120th or worse in most categories, Barta didn’t force any staff changes, but he altered Brian Ferentz’s contract. Barta halted the assistant coach’s two-year rollover, cut his salary by $50,000 and established a 25-points-per-game threshold to ensure future employment. It somewhat placated fans and donors who wanted Brian Ferentz gone, but the situation has driven a wedge between Barta and Kirk Ferentz.
When asked whether he had any response about lawmakers’ demanding Barta’s firing after the racial discrimination settlement, Kirk Ferentz replied, “I really don’t.”
With little in reserve after the Griesbaum-Meyer settlement, the pandemic crushed Iowa’s athletic department financially in 2020-21. Barta borrowed $50 million from the university, which the athletic department will repay for 15 years.
Gambling provided the source of Barta’s first and most recent public scandal. In early 2008, he allowed the Iowa Lottery to use the trademarked “Iowa Fight Song,” whose rights were owned by Meredith Willson’s estate, in commercials. Barta apologized, and the spots were removed. Earlier this month, 26 athletes in five sports were accused of violating NCAA rules for gambling on sports sponsored by the organization. Every athlete was ruled ineligible, and the school awaits NCAA punishments.
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Iowa has enjoyed a facility boom under Barta. He arrived during the finishing touches of an $89 million Kinnick Stadium renovation in 2006 and ushered through another $90 million Kinnick project completed in 2019. New complexes for the basketball and volleyball squads ($47 million) and football program ($55 million) headline more than $380 million in construction and new facilities for golf, swimming, women’s soccer, women’s rowing and now wrestling. A new building for women’s gymnastics is on deck.
Iowa has won four NCAA men’s wrestling championships, 27 Big Ten Conference team titles and compiled nearly 500 All-America honorees under Barta. Iowa has an 89 percent graduation success rate. Barta and his staff have raised more than $650 million in private support for athletics scholarships, operations, facilities and endowments.
Beyond Iowa, Barta participated on the College Football Playoff committee for three years, including two as the chairman. He also served on the NCAA Division I Council for four years.
Going forward
When it comes to Barta’s legacy, few people will change their opinions based on this column or other news reports. His detractors will become more steadfast while those who like Barta will appreciate him more with time. The way he unilaterally eliminated four sports in 2020 is a textbook definition of shoot, ready, aim. There were plenty of other public relations setbacks, way too many to list here. There were numerous positives, too, which is why Iowa employed Barta for 17 years.
But the baggage added up. The department’s tepid reaction based on Title IX concerns to The Swarm Collective’s requests for public awareness highlighted the scar tissue from lawsuits and the need for change. Barta’s strongest supporters were ready for a new voice. With one year left on his contract, even Barta realized it is a good time to leave.
It’s not mutually exclusive to despise Iowa’s fiascos and appreciate the accomplishments. It was time to move on. Perhaps in summation, that simple phrase fits Barta’s polarizing legacy better than the previous 1,500-plus words.
(Top photo: Michael Allio / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
