Key questions for Iowa’s next athletic director
Longevity is a staple of the Iowa athletic department. The Hawkeyes have had only two football coaches since Hayden Fry was hired in 1979. Only slightly less impressive is the fact that Iowa has had only three athletic directors since Bump Elliott was hired in 1970.
Last week, Gary Barta announced that he would be stepping down from his position as the director of athletics at the University of Iowa on August 1st. Barta has served in that position for 17 years and the only other person to hold that job since 1970 besides Elliott was Bob Bowlsby.
With all that in mind, it’s fair to say that the world of college athletics is going through a pretty significant change and as such, what you look for in an athletic director nearly two decades ago has changed dramatically.
Gone are the days of hiring someone who can rake in millions in fundraising and engineer capital campaigns for improved facilities. Today, it’s not about the flash of a new practice facility, but the draw of potential financial rewards for student-athletes and the potential that sometime, perhaps in the very near future, those athletes suddenly become employees.
As Iowa looks for their next athletic director, they are presented with an opportunity. Do you stick with the solid and steady choice or do you perhaps go outside the box a bit and hire someone who might challenge conventional thinking and pushes the envelope, so to speak?
At this point we do not know what the hiring process will be for the new athletic director. The last time Iowa hired a new AD it was done by a committee. This time it might be a search firm that handles most of the leg work and then President Barbara Wilson makes the ultimate decision. Or it could be a committee once again.
I think Iowa would like to get this done before Big Ten media days in late July and that seems to be a fairly realistic time frame. Beth Goetz, who took over as the new deputy athletic director from the retired Barbara Burke, is certainly going to be a serious candidate. She left being the AD at Ball State last year to come to Iowa, so she certainly put herself in position to rise to the biggest job in the department.
Former deputy AD and current Kansas State AD Gene Taylor should get a phone call. But, at 65, my sense is Taylor is probably content to continue this work in Manhattan and finish up his career there.
Also, there’s a really strong chance that Iowa gets some contact and interest from other very good athletic directors. The jobs in the Big Ten and the SEC are the best in the business right now simply because they have the largest TV contracts and revenue streams. You can expect that perhaps some very good athletic directors from the ACC or Big 12 or even some fellow Big Ten schools, to reach out to take the temperature of their chances for the job.
While Goetz is the clear front runner and certainly qualified for the job from a resume perspective, it’s always good to see what’s out there and that’s something Iowa will need to do.
What should the folks doing the hiring prioritize when they assess the candidates? I think a couple of areas are extremely important in this new landscape.
First and foremost, a full embrace of the Iowa Swarm and NIL is needed. As I wrote earlier this year, under Gary Barta, Iowa was keeping the Iowa Swarm Collective at arm’s length. There needs to be a full embrace and endorsement.
Under the current rules and regulation if you want your programs to win, particularly in football and basketball, athletic departments need to be fully supportive and encouraging when it comes to collectives. If you don’t then funds could become limited, players will leave, and you will come up empty in the transfer portal. If that happens, there will be more losses and fewer wins.
Second, this next athletic director is going to have to make some massive hires in the coming years. While I am not pushing anyone out the door, the reality is Kirk Ferentz, Fran McCaffery, and Lisa Bluder are not going to coach forever. Ferentz is going to be 68 later this summer. McCaffery just turned 64 and Bluder is 62. Heck Rick Heller is pushing 60.
Those are some massive hires that a new athletic director is going to have to make in the next decade (certainly less than that). While search firms will likely be used, the fact is you have to have confidence in a new athletic director to make these hires. The most important will be the football hire. The others are very significant, but football is always going to be the top job at Iowa.
Third, I think the next hire needs to be able to operate in this new college sports environment. Who would have thought five years ago that players would be making money and it would be completely legit? There are almost certainly going to be more changes. Will there be federal legislation? Will the NCAA still be a governing body for all college athletics?
Bottom line, any athletic director has to be nimble and prepared to react quickly because being left behind or lagging could be a disaster.
Finally, I think a candidate needs to continue to excel in the fundraising game. They need to be able to keep the facilities up to standard. While I don’t think it’s as important, it’s still important. I’d also like to see an athletic director that encourages coaches to be more aggressive in scheduling in the non-conference slate of games. While coaches might want to get wins, to get fans to come out, they want interesting games.
Hopefully at some point this week we get a better idea of the process that will be taking place to hire a new athletic director. But, what is mentioned here should be on the agenda to discuss with any and all candidates for the job.
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