Gary Barta: Foundation still strong enough with Ferentz

Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta wanted to talk to the media Friday, and says he will do again Saturday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena before the Hawkeyes' men's basketball game there.

It's been a week of discontent in Hawkeye Country in the aftermath of Iowa losing a football game to Nebraska after leading by 17 points, and after going a disappointing 7-5 this season.

A 25-minute phone interview I had with Barta Friday morning boiled down to one thing: Barta said he has evaluated that Iowa's coach of 16 years, Kirk Ferentz, will not only continue to be the coach, but will return the Hawkeyes to higher levels they have previously reached under Ferentz's leadership.

Here is the transcript of the interview:

Q: What has the volume and the tenor been from fans in the last several days?

Barta:

The volume of advice has been high. The tenor of advice, which is always how it works, has been ‘We didn't get it done in 2014 in a sense that we haven't been meeting expectations for the past few years.' I don't ever get emails, very rarely do I get feedback, when we win a game or play well. After the Northwestern game I don't know if I received anything back.

So the volume has been high. The tenor has been negative. But that's to be expected.

I care deeply about the program. My expectations are high. I do expect us to compete for championships and win championships. That's a bowl championship, that's a Big Ten championship, and who knows, maybe someday higher than that.

Those are the expectations. We didn't meet those expectations, so I understand. But I go back a couple of years. In 2012 we were 4-8 and I was very concerned about 4-8, obviously, and the way we ended the year. We went into 2013 and we improved significantly, and I was pleased with that. We still didn't win championships but I was pleased with the progress we made. That's one of the reasons there is so much anxiousness about 2014 is because based on how we ended 2013 there were very high expectations. I understand that.

My next step, then, is to say ‘OK, I acknowledge we didn't meet expectations, our expectations are high. So where do we go from here?' Well, I have to evaluate if the current leadership can get it done and do I believe it can, and the answer is absolutely yes. Kirk is somebody that has proven that he can win, he cares about achieving at the highest level competitively, and then beyond that, and you've heard me say this before, he's just a tremendous leader. He's a tremendous teacher, he's a mentor of players, he cares about graduation, he's an ambassador. If I had a son, I'd want him to play for Kirk.

Now, we have to do both. We have to win and do all those other things. I'm convinceds that moving to 2015, he's going to go through the process of making adjustments to offense and defense and special teams. Because he doesn't believe we met expectations, either. I believe 100 percent that he can make those types of adjustments and get us back to where we want to be.

Many see the Nebraska game as a microcosm of the season and the last five years as a whole? How do you view the season and the last five years as a whole?

Barta:

If I go back to 2012 and then look at 2013 and then look at 2014, 2012 we finished poorly, we all felt down at that moment. We made a bounce-back in 2013. I think we took a step back in 2014. I agree, I think the Nebraska game was sort of a microcosm of how it felt. I agree with that.

So moving forward, I have to evaluate. Evaluations are going to last more than a week. The adjustments that Kirk decides to make on offense and defense and special teams, that's his job. My job is to say ‘Do I have confidence in the leadership?' and the answer is ‘Absolutely.'

That doesn't mean I'm accepting the outcome of 2014, it means I have confidence moving forward that Kirk can still get us back to the expectations that I mentioned.

How are you selling hope to the fan base in 2015? Because I've heard from quite a few people who are either on the fence or are adamant that for the time being, they might be done with this.

Barta:

First of all, I don't ever want to lose a fan. I think Iowa is set up in a way, because our population base isn't as large as some of the other places, we talk all the time that we need a higher percentage of our fan base on board than maybe some of our peers in the Big Ten. So I don't ever want to lose a fan and we will work extremely hard to keep them. If we do have some who leave, and I suspect we'll have some, I'd love for it to be a minimal amount. But whatever the number is, our goal is to get them back as fast as possible.

I don't blame fans for being upset because we didn't meet expectations. If we lose some, that's going to hurt emotionally and in the pocket book. But our goal will be to get them back as fast as we can. I just have to make a decision whether or not Kirk can do that, and I believe that he can.

How would you sell that to people? Between now and September, how do you keep those people who are on the fence?

Barta:

We didn't meet expectations. That said, you mentioned Nebraska being indicative of the season. Well, Nebraska, we had the lead and we lost it, but we had the lead. I go back to Maryland. I look at Iowa State. I look at those games that we could have won, and we didn't win them. But we could have won them. We had the talent to win them.

I believe that the talent coming back will have the ability to win those games. We have to close. We have to not let leads get away, and I believe we can do that. We have a pair of returning quarterbacks that are very talented. We have running backs that are talented returning. We have other positions all the way through, our linebackers were young this year. That's not an excuse, but they'll have more experience. We'll have a defense that returns a lot of starters.

The reason that I'm going to be optimistic is that Kirk's leadership has shown he can rebound to bring a team back to win. I know that the fundamentals will be there. I know the environment will be there. The foundation is still strong. We have a lot of returning starters. And the schedule, like this year, the schedule sets up that there are games we can win. We just have to get over the hump, whatever that means. We have to play consistently better.

I look at the Wisconsin game and the Northwestern game, we played terrific football. Even though we didn't beat Wisconsin we played some very good football. We played at times good football against some other teams. We have to do it more consistently. But I think we can correct the consistency, reduce the turnovers, play better on special teams, et cetera, et cetera.

A lot of people find that too often the offense is very frustrating to watch. Don't you have to convince people that's going to change?

Barta:

We have to convince people that we can play offense in a way that wins football games and I feel we can do that. There were times when offensively we had some terrific moments, some terrific plays, some terrific things we did offensively. We averaged 28, 29 points a game, but we didn't do it consistently enough to win. I think if we'd won those three games, Nebraska, Maryland, Iowa State, are you and I even having this conversation? I don't think so.

But you know that doesn't play. You didn't win those games.

Barta:

We didn't. I'm not leading with that at all. I'm just saying why do I believe 2015 can be successful? We didn't meet expectations, so I'm not backing off of that. I'm acknowledging that, we're owning that.

But I do believe that Kirk's leadership and the people we have coming back can win games. We'll have to wait and see, but whatever adjustments Kirk makes on offense and defense and special teams, he clearly understands the game of football and I believe he can get it done.

He's made plenty of staff-changes the last couple years. Do you expect more?

Barta:

I don't micromanage. He hasn't mentioned to me - I've met with him and talked to him since the end of the Nebraska game. He hasn't mentioned (anything) to me.

He's going to make adjustments. Whatever they are, I'm going to support him. But he hasn't mentioned specific staff changes, so that's my starting point. Whether he does or he doesn't, I know he's going to make adjustments in the offense, defense and special teams, and I'll support it. I'm not going to micromanage it.

The evaluations, during the season you say you do that at the end of the year ...

Barta:

I want to make it clear. At some point every year I have to make a decision of whether or not the leadership of every team is in the right hands, if the foundation is strong and moving forward. I'm telling you now, I've made that determination.

What I'm talking about is, the detailed evaluation is in the hands of the coach. What changes do we need to make in the offense, what changes do we need to make in the defense, what changes do we need to make in special teams? I don't make that evaluation.

My end-of-the year evaluation is expectations for Iowa football are high and we didn't meet them. On the other hand, the foundation is strong, I have great confidence in Kirk Ferentz to lead the program. So that's my evaluation.

Actually we get one more shot (a bowl game). Kirk will go into details about evaluation of specifics.

As you're well aware, you heard what (Nebraska athletic director) Shawn Eichorst said. His quote, 'but in the final analysis, I had to evaluate where Iowa was,” when talking about why the Nebraska win here (didn't save Bo Pelini's job as Nebraska's football coach.) Were you insulted by that or did that reflect a simple truth?

Barta:

Did it hurt to hear it as an Iowa Hawkeye leader of the athletic department? Sure. Do I think it was intended as a cheap shot from Nebraska to Iowa? No.

It's clear if you listen to the context of the entire interview that Nebraska made a change made on several things, not just wins and losses. When I see who they hired, and I knew Mike Riley back when I was at Washington, he's a terrific leader and terrific football coach.

To specifically answer your question, any time you hear a negative comment directed toward your program, of course it hurts. Does it change my thought-process, my evaluation-process? No. Was it intended to be a cheap shot toward us? No. We didn't meet expectations for this year and our plan is to move forward and meet expectations, so that's how I reacted to that.

And a lot of those lines, I know that some of our fans, I don't know how many, some of the advice, some of the feedback is ‘Well, other programs are pulling the trigger and they must care more.' That's not how I look at it. I care deeply. I just told you what my expectations are.

But there's different ways to get there. I've watched programs do it different ways, pulling a trigger in a certain year, not pulling a trigger. I don't want to focus on (who) Michigan hires or not hires, but there's an example of they had a Lloyd Carr, they made some changes, they're now hiring their third coach since then. That's just how that's worked out, I'm not evaluating whether they should have or shouldn't have (hired) each coach. But they're not back to where they want to be.

I've made an evaluation that we're not where we want to be right now expectation-wise, but I still believe the foundation is still strong enough to focus with Kirk.

I think it's tempting to look around and see what others do, and that's OK and that's fair. But at the end of the day I have to decide what's best for Iowa, and that's why I came to the conclusion I've come to with Kirk.

Does it make your job harder, the perception out there that Nebraska and Michigan are quick to make changes?

Our job is hard because whatever happens, the feedback in today's world is heavy and immediate. These jobs are hard because expectations are high at Iowa. If expectations were lower maybe my job would be a little bit easier, but it probably wouldn't be as enjoyable.

Do I receive feedback, yes, but I receive feedback on everything I do.

There are a lot of people who say ‘Kirk's salary is so high that we're not getting a return on investment.' My response to that is if Kirk's salary is half of what it is or twice of what it is, he'll have the same expectations and I'd still make the decision based on whether or not he could get us in the right place, get us moving back to where we want to be. The salary is driven by marketplace, it's driven by when I signed his contract after the Orange Bowl. But I don't make my decision whether or not he can leave the program based on that. I always have to remind people, and I get a lot of feedback, ‘My tax dollars ...' Just a reminder, there are no tax dollars.

I would make the same evaluation if Kirk's salary was half of what it is or twice of what it is.

That contract is a subject that never goes away. Why in 2010 did you extend it to 2020?

Barta:

I've been doing this a long time. I've never in the past given a coach a 10-year contract and I don't know that I ever will again. Not because of a good or bad experience with it.

I saw what Kirk had done over a long period of time. By then I had worked with him, I think, for five football seasons. I've worked with a lot of football coaches for a long time. I've been around dozens and dozens of football coaches. And Kirk goes about his business in the most professional way of whether it's winning, whether it's dealing with student-athletes, whether it's leading, whether it's academics, he's just a tremendous leader. So I made the decision based on results, based on marketplace, and based on my comfort that Kirk would continue to lead us toward expectations.

And some years we do, and some years we don't, and I understand there's angst right now. But at the end of the day I'm still going to make the decision whether or not Kirk's ability to lead the program back is strong or not regardless of the contract.

After the (Nebraska) game, I asked Kirk a direct question, I thought it was an innocuous question why he thought the offense froze up in the second half, and he gave a quote that I think just about everybody said wasn't an answer at all. You heard it. It got kicked around a lot this week. 'That's football, that's ebb and flow, et cetera.” That seemed to incense people. Do you understand why?

Barta:

I do understand that in the spur of the moment right after a loss, a devastating loss, that everything ... I know that everything Kirk says, everything I say is highly scrutinized. Kirk saying that set off ... I received feedback. ‘Boy, he doesn't get it or he doesn't care.' My response is he absolutely gets it, he absolutely cares deeply. I'm with him most days, many times a week.

I understand. That's fair. But I also know that taken in the context of he had just lost a lead, had just lost a game he felt like he could have won, he didn't have a chance to watch tape or film. He's responding on the spur of the moment. So while I understand it, it's not indicative of how he feels overall. He cares deeply. And he's going to break down every piece of this year and see what adjustments he has to make to make sure we're successful in 2015.

I get it. It's one comment. I understand how people could have interpreted it. I'm just confident in saying it's not indicative of how he feels overall.

What is success for Iowa football in your mind?

Barta:

As I said earlier, success to me is competing for and winning championships. That's the highest level of success. There's different degrees. Winning a bowl championship is terrific. Winning a Big Ten championship is even better. And someday I want to be present winning a national championship.

Those are the expectations. To varying degrees, those are really, really difficult to accomplish. Iowa's never won a national championship. The Big Ten, if you look at the different teams that have won national championships, it's a very hard goal to get to. But it's on the list. So because those expectations are high and our fans have those expectations, when we don't make them it hurts.

And it's in varying degrees. We still have a chance to win a bowl. We didn't meet expectations this year, but let's try to win a bowl so we can then use that momentum going into next year.

By the way, that's just the competitive expectations. And those are very important. But I also expect academic success and doing things the right way, and Kirk meets all those expectations. This year we didn't meet the competitive expectations, but we met the other expectations.

You had eight or nine straight years of 70,000 (attendance) and now you've had two straight years of 67,000. If 67 turns into 64, how much would that hurt?

It hurts me to see any seats empty in the stadium. I mean that sincerely. I love that feeling we had against Wisconsin. The environment was great, the football game was great, we didn't win. I don't want to go backward in attendance. Any fan we lose, it's going to hurt.

We're going to do everything we can to get anybody who leaves back as fast as we can, and we hope we lose as few as possible. I'm going to make the decision - and I've already made the decision - to stay with Kirk because I believe we can get back. We can rebuild to get to the point of meeting expectations.

Whatever the (attendance) number is next year, we'll have to live with it, deal with it. I know if we reach our goals, the stadium will fill back up. And again, it wasn't as though it was empty. We definitely are not selling out every game, and a few years ago we were. We want to get back to that. And I want to get back to that. And I believe Kirk can get us back to it.