Beth Goetz ready to ‘impact winning’ as Iowa’s interim athletics director

IOWA CITY — Well before Beth Goetz arrived at the Staybridge Suites in Coralville last fall — the then-Iowa deputy athletics director stayed there until finding a place to live — she was familiar from a distance with the Iowa Hawkeyes’ winning ways.

“I came here a good handful of times and usually left on the losing end of the scoreboard,” said Goetz, a former interim AD at Minnesota.

While on the NCAA’s Division I women’s basketball committee in 2021, she “watched a lot of Iowa women's basketball” and was a “huge fan” of star guard Caitlin Clark’s game.

Now watching as the interim athletics director rather than as an opposing administrator or committee member, Goetz is focused on “what’s going to impact winning” in her first month leading Iowa Athletics.

“When I say impact winning, I mean winning in the classroom, winning on the fields of competition and winning in helping to develop these young men and women as future leaders,” Goetz said.

The 49-year-old athletics director — and the only woman AD in the Big Ten — takes over while embracing the changing college sports landscape rather than running away from it.

Goetz wants to be “great partners” with the Swarm Collective, which raises money via name, image and likeness for Hawkeye football and basketball athletes. (It is a sharp contrast from predecessor Gary Barta’s frosty relationship with the collective.)

“When it comes to name, image and likeness, it's a critical, critical piece for our student-athletes and our success competitively,” Goetz said. “It's just as important these days as scholarships and facilities and any other needs.”

Goetz wishes she “knew the exact answer” to what athlete compensation will look like down the road, but she thinks “college athletics needs to evolve.”

“We can provide greater resource, greater revenue opportunities — whether that's within or outside the athletic department — and still embed this experience with the components that tie it to education and make it different than pro sports,” Goetz said.

Goetz’s background includes experience as a past AD, administrator, coach and athlete. Her coaching background has especially earned her respect from coaches, whether it be at Iowa or at her previous stops.

“I also understand what it's like when you have a student-athlete you've really been working with and maybe something doesn't go exactly the way you want,” Goetz said. “When you get that phone call from the recruit that you've been chasing for a long time that says, 'Hey, I've made a different decision.'”

Many of her past colleagues, including Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens and legendary UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma have raved to The Gazette about Goetz’s leadership.

“I’ve told everybody that would listen everywhere she’s been and everybody I know that she’s one of the best administrators and leaders I’ve ever worked with,” Stevens said in a phone call earlier this summer with The Gazette.

Goetz joins the late Title IX pioneer Dr. Christine Grant as the only women to work as ADs in the University of Iowa’s history. Grant led the women’s athletic department from 1973-2000. (The men’s and women’s departments merged upon Grant’s retirement.)

Grant died about nine months before Goetz started as deputy AD at Iowa, but Goetz met Grant once as a young administrator.

“You go to conferences across the country, and (Grant) was a big draw,” Goetz said. “I still remember the first time I had a chance to listen to her speak and engage with her briefly, never knowing I'd actually have a chance to walk among the places that she had a part in developing.”

Now, Goetz has the “privilege to be at the place that she started that legacy.”

As Goetz looks to continue that legacy, she is leading a department under some challenging circumstances.

Iowa is coming off some turmoil under Barta’s watch, including multiple seven-figure discrimination lawsuit settlements and a Title IX settlement that forced Barta to reinstate women’s swimming and diving and add women’s wrestling.

“Certainly we, just like any other institutions, have had trying moments,” Goetz said. “I think it's important, although I wasn't here for those, that I understand what those issues are, what those issues were like then and try and ensure and help support us in not making any repetitive mistakes.”

The law enforcement and NCAA investigations into alleged sports wagering by Iowa athletes during Barta’s tenure are still looming. Iowa also must adjust to continued conference realignment and the aforementioned changes to the collegiate athletics model.

Goetz is not losing sight of what is most important as interim AD, though.

“Regardless of what might be a hot issue of the day, first and foremost your priority is how do you best support the success of your student-athletes and your teams, and that's where your focus lives day-to-day,” Goetz said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com