Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is ready to retire, as reported by way of 247Sports’ Hawkeye Insider. Barta, who has held the function since 2006 and chaired the College Football Playoff variety committee for 2 years, is expected to step down on August 1st in accordance to The Athletic.
During Barta’s tenure, the Hawkeyes’ soccer, males’s basketball, and girls’s basketball techniques have noticed training steadiness. However, the athletic department has additionally confronted a number of controversies, together with doable violations throughout the department comparable to sports activities wagering and racial discrimination allegations that have been settled for $4 million.
The girls’s basketball crew has skilled good fortune underneath trainer Lisa Blunder, with megastar guard Caitlin Clark rising as a outstanding determine nationally. Men’s basketball, alternatively, has certified for 4 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, however has no longer made a Sweet 16. The soccer program has been constantly robust underneath trainer Kirk Ferentz, however contemporary racial discrimination allegations and offensive struggles in 2022 have posed demanding situations.
Barta got here to Iowa in 2006 after serving as Wyoming’s athletic director for 3 years. Hawkeye Insider has recognized Deputy Athletic Director Beth Goetz as a possible alternative.