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Iowa’s replacement for Gary Barta may already have replaced him
UI interim athletic director Beth Goetz has a resume, and has strong praise from her previous boss, the president at Ball State
Mike Hlas
Jun. 3, 2023 6:02 pm
Is Beth Goetz replacing Gary Barta as the University of Iowa’s athletic director a fait accompli?
Goetz became Iowa’s interim AD Thursday. In the eighth paragraph of the university’s news releasing announcing that expected news, it was mentioned that a national search for Barta’s permanent replacement is planned for sometime in early 2024. In my racket, that’s called burying the lead.
Since this is June 2023, it would be appear UI President Barbara Wilson feels quite comfortable letting Goetz get used to the AD’s office.
Given that Goetz had been Iowa’s deputy AD since last September, that will mean she’ll have had about a year-and-a-half at the school when the national search starts. That’s a nice head start.
Certainly, Goetz was looking for higher ground than being Iowa’s deputy AD when she left the AD’s job at Ball State nine months ago.
If Iowa engages in a true national search, it will be interesting to see the caliber of candidates. When Barta was hired in 2006, he was the AD at Wyoming. The other two finalists were the AD at the University of Denver and an associate AD at Kentucky.
Goetz, meanwhile, was the head women’s soccer coach at the same time she was an assistant athletic director for much of her 13 years working at Missouri-St. Louis. She was an associate AD at Butler University. She was Minnesota’s deputy AD for two years before she spent nine months as the interim AD. She was the chief operating officer for Connecticut’s athletic department for two years.
Then it was on to Ball State as its No. 1 person in athletics for four years. She hired eight head coaches. She implemented a program to prepare the school’s student-athletes for NIL. She launched a five-year strategic plan to foster overall success in the athletic program.
School president Geoffrey Mearns hired Goetz. Friday afternoon, Mearns was leaving Cleveland, where the Mid-American Conference held its annual Jacoby Award presentations the night before. The awards were for the MAC women’s and men’s all-sports standings for the school year.
With almost all of Ball State’s teams coached last season by people Goetz hired or inherited and kept, its women finished first of the 12 MAC programs, and its men were second.
“We had not gone 1-2 in women’s and men’s since 2001,” Mearns said by phone. “It was a reflection of Beth’s hiring of coaches and the expectations she had of the coaches.”
Goetz hired eight head coaches at Ball State. Included was Michael Lewis, whom Goetz named men’s basketball team a month before she left for Iowa. Lewis’ first Cardinals team was the program’s first 20-game winner in six years.
“I hired Beth because she had a wide range of extensive experience in athletic administration at large institutions,” said Mearns, “higher-level Division I programs with FBS football.
“Also, she was a student-athlete and a coach. But what particularly impressed me during the interviews and was confirmed over four years was her excellent leadership skills and exceptional character.”
Mearns started at Ball State a year before Goetz. They were at the MAC’s only school without an indoor football facility. When she took the job in May 2018, Goetz said changing that was her top priority.
One year later, the $15 million project was approved by the school’s board of trustees, with 90 percent of the funding already secured from donations.
“Beth accomplished the fundraising and construction within 18 months,” Mearns said. “Her predecessors were not able to make any progress for probably 10 years.”
It’s safe to say Goetz would use Mearns as a reference should she pursue Iowa’s full-time AD position.
“Beth is one of those special leaders,” Mearns said. “She makes us better at the jobs we do. I think I’m a better leader because Beth was on my team.”
There are just five female athletic directors among the 65 in Power Five conference schools. None are in the Big Ten. Yet, almost half of the athletes are female.
Instead of defending against discrimination lawsuits by women, maybe it’s time Iowa’s athletic department is led by one.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com