Iowa’s search for next deputy athletics director already underway

IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa’s search for its next deputy athletics director is already underway, athletics director Gary Barta said at a news conference last week.

Barbara Burke, 64, announced last month she will retire by the end of her contract in June 2023, creating a future vacancy in one of Iowa’s two deputy AD positions.

Barta said the retirement may happen sooner than June 2023, but no later than that.

“It won't surprise me if she goes all the way (to June 30, 2023),“ Barta said.

The goal is to have some overlap between the hiring of the new deputy AD and Burke’s retirement.

“Barbara will be working with this new person,” Barta said. “We'll just have that much more expertise on the ground every day.”

Burke joined Iowa Athletics in 2016 and was promoted to deputy AD in 2017.

“Barbara Burke has been amazing,” Barta said. “She’s done an incredible job. She’s had a wonderful career, and I’m going to miss her. We’re going to miss her.”

Since 2014, Iowa has had a former athletics director in that deputy AD position.

Burke was the AD at Eastern Illinois from 2008-14, and her predecessor Gene Taylor was the AD at North Dakota State from 2001-14. Taylor left Iowa in 2017 to be the AD at Kansas State.

“When I created the position at the very beginning, I said one of the things that I was looking for was really important to me was someone who was either currently an AD or has been an AD,” Barta said. “If you would ask our staff, and I certainly will tell you, those two were rock-star employees. … My goal and my expectation is to go find that third person that's just as good.”

Matt Henderson has held Iowa’s other deputy AD position since 2021. He previously worked in various roles in Iowa’s athletics and advancement departments since 1994.

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