Beth Goetz creates ‘different look’ for Iowa’s open deputy AD position

IOWA CITY — As Iowa looks for its next deputy athletics director, the position has a “different look” from when Gary Barta led the department.

Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz described the position — officially listed on the university’s job board as the “deputy director of athletics for strategic initiatives” and the No. 2 role in the department behind Goetz — as a more “externally focused” role than it previously was.

“They won’t be as focused on running sort of the day-to-day in the department although they’ll play a role in that to be sure,” Goetz said.

The refocus is a result of “evaluating what the landscape is and then also what are the strengths on our staff,“ Goetz said.

The collegiate sports ecosystem has changed dramatically with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal. More change is seemingly inevitable as the NCAA fends off several legal battles related to athlete compensation.

Goetz’s promotion from deputy AD to interim AD (and then permanent AD) created the vacancy. The last three people to hold this position had past experience as Division I athletics directors — Goetz at Ball State, Barbara Burke at Eastern Illinois and Gene Taylor at North Dakota State.

The position description asks for at least 10 years of “progressively more complex administrative and managerial experience within an NCAA Division I Athletics program and/or related industry.”

“From a skill set standpoint, you’re looking at people who have backgrounds in either fundraising, ticketing, marketing, sponsorship, those type of things,” Goetz said.

This is one of two deputy AD positions at Iowa. Matt Henderson has been Iowa’s other deputy AD since 2021 with the official responsibility of “revenue and external relations.”

“Wanted to make sure we had some additional hands and additional expertise to really partner with Matt in that space to make sure we’re positioning ourselves well for the future,” Goetz said.

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