Bohnenkamp: Barta's Legacy Complicated
Gary Barta’s legacy as Iowa’s athletics director can be viewed through a lot of lenses.
You don’t stay 17 years at a high-profile job in college athletics without putting together a complicated resumé of successes and failures, celebrations and embarrassments.
It is the best way to view the Barta era, which will end on August 1 with his retirement that was announced Friday morning.
You can point to the renovated north end zone of Kinnick Stadium and credit Barta. You can point to Iowa’s impressive football facility and credit Barta. You can point to the renovations of modernization of an aging Carver-Hawkeye Arena and credit Barta. You can point to the new wrestling training facility, which will house the first Power 5 conference women’s wrestling program, and credit Barta.
The legacy includes on-field success (four NCAA national team titles, 27 Big Ten team titles, almost 500 All-Americans) and off-field success ($380 million in facility upgrades with more to come, 89% graduation success rate, eight consecutive years of average GPA of 3.0 or higher).
And then you can point to the $11 million worth of lawsuit settlements and blame Barta. You can point to the claims of racial and sexual discrimination, and know that it came under Barta’s tenure. You can point to the claims of nepotism, including the quirky contract stipulations offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will face this season, and know it was in Barta’s tenure.
The drama can overcome the successes, and it felt more and more recently that it was consuming the optics around the program, which is why this announcement seems almost welcoming.
The time is right for Barta, who at age 59 was one of the longest tenured Power 5 conference athletic directors. His contract ran until next June, but he felt it best to step away now.
“It has been an absolute privilege and honor to serve in this role the past 17 years,” Barta said in a statement released by the university. “This decision didn’t come suddenly, nor did it come without significant thought, discussion, and prayer. As I’ve reflected, I came to the conclusion there’s never a good time to step away…because there’s always more to be done. That said, I’m confident this is the right time for me and for my family.”
It comes at a time when Iowa is celebrating its women’s basketball team making a run to the national championship game, its wrestling team finishing second in the NCAA championships, its men’s basketball team getting to its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament. The baseball team is in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and likely headed to the NCAA tournament. The track and field team is having another brilliant season.
There is a stability among the coaches — football coach Kirk Ferentz, wrestling coach Tom Brands, and women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder were here when Bluder arrived, and they’re still here. Barta misfired on his hiring of Todd Lickliter as men’s basketball coach in 2007, then hit with his hiring of Fran McCaffery in 2010.
But Barta will never escape the cloud that came with the $11 million in settlements for lawsuits alleging racial and sexual discrimination within the athletic department.
Lawsuits filed by former field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum and associate athletics director Jane Meyer led to a $6.5 million payout. Iowa had to pay $400,000 as part of a Title IX lawsuit brought by athletes after Iowa cut four sports in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as part of the agreement had to reinstate the women’s swimming and diving program and add another women’s sport.
A lawsuit brought by former football players alleging racial discrimination within the program was settled for $4.2 million last March, which prompted state auditor Rob Sand to call for Barta’s ouster.
"Enough is enough,” Sand said. “Clear personal accountability is necessary. I will not support taxpayers funding this settlement unless Gary Barta is no longer employed at the university and forfeits any severance or similar pay. I encourage you to join me. Real accountability will help prevent discrimination, protecting both taxpayers and future victims."
It was then that it felt like Barta’s clock was ticking louder than ever.
The complicated era of Barta has reached its final days. His successor, whoever that will be, can build on the successes, but will also have to clean up the failures.
A new era will no doubt have its own drama — such is life in college athletics these days.
Iowa could use just a little less of it for a while.
