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University of Iowa spends $125K on athletics director search, which resulted in retention of Beth Goetz
UI chose TurnkeyZRG for search after firm’s work on several high-profile searches in collegiate athletics
John Steppe
Jan. 19, 2024 4:33 pm
IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa spent $125,000 on the search firm it consulted to find a permanent athletics director — a search that concluded Thursday with the appointment of interim director Beth Goetz — according to university documents.
The search fee for Haddonfield, N.J.-based TurnkeyZRG is in addition to reimbursements for “any direct out-of-pocket expenses for any approved expenditures directly related to candidate/consultant travel, as well as any expenses stemming from third-party candidate background checks,” according to the search authorization form.
TurnkeyZRG has conducted several other high-profile collegiate athletics searches, including for the president of the NCAA and for the commissioners of the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 conferences.
“We have considered other search partners, but TurnkeyZRG provides a unique skill set, understanding and familiarity with the collegiate sports environment that other academic search firms don’t possess,” the UI said in a purchase justification document signed by Peter Matthes, the vice president for external relations.
Nicole Grosland, chair of the UI’s search committee, said in a news release Thursday that the search “produced an impressive group of candidates.”
“The committee had an opportunity to interview multiple sitting athletic directors from across the country,” Grosland said. “Beth emerged as a finalist with a strong vision to lead the department at this crucial time.”
UI President Barbara Wilson has past experience working with TurnkeyZRG’s Chad Chatlos. The then-Korn Ferry consultants principal led the search for Illinois’ athletics director in 2016 while Wilson was the interim chancellor there, according to the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette.
A six-figure search fee is not unusual for a high-profile position at the UI. When the UI sought a vice president for medical affairs last year, for example, it spent about $300,000 on a search firm.
When including Goetz’s base salary, possible performance incentives and deferred compensation, TurnkeyZRG’s $125,000 search fee is equal to about 10 percent of her first-year compensation. Goetz, under her contract, will earn a base salary of $850,000.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com