Quick Slants with Gary Barta (football jobs, playoff stance, McCall)

Right off the top the gentleman who leads the Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting said there should be some movement on the Iowa assistant coaches next week.

That's when interviews will take place. The PCA knows this because a member of the committee is on hand for these interviews.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said there could be a decision on the defensive opening as soon as next week, but he wasn't sure on offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

"[Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz] decided his best option was to promote on the defensive coordinator [Phil Parker]," Barta said. "Now that's done, he [Ferentz] turns his attention to the two assistant coaches first, not the offensive coordinator. We have a process on campus, and football follows that process just like everyone else does."

The football team can't sidestep the HR process, Barta said.

"Whether it's hiring a coach or an administrator, we have a process of approval we have to go through," Barta said. "We have to advertise the position a certain number of days and we work with the campus human resources and have done that throughout."

This stands even if it's a promotion from within, with a few slight differences.

Ferentz mentioned "SEC prices moving north" with Urban Meyer and Ohio State shelling out big coin for assistants.

Barta said he's been in constant communication with Ferentz on budget and marketplace.

"We're on the same page in terms of what hiring a new staff may be," Barta said. "I'm supportive of where he's been headed and we'll see where it ends up."

[BTW, during Thursday night's radio broadcast, Iowa hoops radio play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin said the hiring of LeVar Woods as linebackers coach is a forgone conclusion.]

Iowa will bid for NIT, CBI, WNIT home games

The Iowa basketball team is 13-11 (5-6 Big Ten) going into tonight's game at Northwestern. If the Hawkeyes earn the opportunity, Barta said Iowa will make a pitch for NIT or CBI home games.

"We've had that conversation," Barta said. "Whether it's women's basketball or men's basketball, if our teams have the opportunity to play . . . we'll make a hard run . . . at hosting."

Bowls are great, but 4-team playoff is OK

This week, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and the conference's athletics directors let it be known that the conference is OK with exploring the possibility of a four-team playoff.

Barta threw some caveats out on the subject.

"I've never been a big proponent of creating a playoff system. I've always been a big believer in the bowls," he said. "The Big Ten hasn't been supportive of a playoff system and nor have I personally. It's not that as though all the sudden we changed our minds.

"I think what's happening is there's so much national discussion that if a playoff becomes inevitable, we want to make sure we state what would be important to us. I'm saying this for my own personal perspective. I want to make sure we have the Rose Bowl and that we still have bowls. If it is going to go to a playoff and those remain intact, if the proposals make sense, we'll go from there.

"My take on it is if we can preserve the Rose Bowl, because that's one of our historic events between the Big Ten and the Pac-12, if we can preserve the bowl system, then I'm open to the discussion. In essence, we're not talking about adding many more games."

Barta also said he supports a requirement for bowl eligibility to be seven wins, essentially a winning record.

"The six-win concept was developed when we used to play 11 games," he said. "In that scenario, you'd have a winning record, being at least 6-5 to go to a bowl. Several years ago, we added a 12th game, but we didn't change the criteria to go to a bowl and left it at six. My opinion, and I've been talking about this for years now, I think it makes sense to have a winning record to go to a bowl. That's being talked about as part of this whole process."

McCall not suspended for "strait bull#$%@"

Former Iowa running back Mika'il McCall wasn't suspended for a Facebook post that questioned why he didn't play against Michigan last season. [Here's a link to the insanity.]

Barta wouldn't disclose why McCall, who eventually transferred to Southern Illinois, was suspended after Iowa's game at Purdue on Nov. 19, but he did say it wasn't the "strait bullbleep" post on Facebook.

"We do not kick off or suspend student-athletes in any sport for a Facebook posting or a Twitter," Barta said. "We have conversations with them about it."

The Iowa athletics department does discuss social media guidelines with the student group Iowa Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

"They know we're monitoring, but they also know you don't automatically get kicked off a team and it's not against student-athlete Code of Conduct," Barta said. "We also say whatever you say in social media, would you say that in a meeting, would you say that in the library? Whatever you say there, you're going to be held responsible for it.

"Since I've been here, we have not removed someone from the athletic department or from a team for something they said in social media."