Gary Barta announces retirement after 17 years as Iowa athletic director

IOWA CITY — For the first time in nearly two decades, the University of Iowa will be seeking new leadership atop its Hawkeye athletics department.

Gary Barta, 59, the athletics director since August 2006 whose tenure saw four NCAA team titles, 27 Big Ten Conference team titles, $380 million in athletic facility upgrades and construction and $650 million in private support for athletics — and other accolades — announced his retirement Friday.

Barta’s retirement is effective Aug. 1, though his contract was not set to expire until June 2024. He earned about $1.2 million in fiscal 2022, according to the state employee salary database. The UI is expected to hire an interim athletics director next week.

Under Barta’s retirement agreement, the university will pay him his “current base salary, deferred compensation and all applicable university benefits for the duration of his employment.” He also will receive compensation for unused vacation and sick time.

The UI agreed to also provide health insurance for Barta and his wife until Sept. 4, 2028.

The agreement also opens the door for him to seek a job elsewhere, waiving a 12-month future employment restriction and a 120-day notice requirement in his contract. If he becomes eligible for health insurance elsewhere, the UI would no longer pay.

⧉ Related article: Barta signed ‘retirement agreement’ last week

Barta did not made a public appearance to announce his departure, but said in a statement his retirement “didn’t come suddenly, nor did it come without significant thought, discussion and prayer.”

“As I’ve reflected, I came to the conclusion there’s never a good time to step away … because there’s always more to be done,” he said. “That said, I’m confident this is the right time for me and for my family.”

Friday’s announcement marked a significant contrast from when Barta earlier this year said he had not given retirement “any consideration.”

“When President (Barbara) Wilson first started, I told her I don’t plan to go anywhere,” Barta told The Gazette after a Feb. 28 Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting. “If she’ll have me, we’ll just keep going.”

Regarding his contract to run out next year, Barta said he was “not too worried about it.”

“I’ve been here 17 years,” he said then.

During Barta’s tenure, the state settled more than $11 million in legal deals over gender and racial discrimination in the athletics department he oversaw. Just last month, Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand voted against settling a football discrimination lawsuit as long as Barta remained on the job. UI Athletics later agreed to cover $2 million of the over $4 million football discrimination settlement.

In a statement Friday, Sand said that “Gary Barta’s departure is a long time coming.”

“Discrimination demands accountability,” the auditor said in a statement. “The University of Iowa should publicly release all terms of his departure.”

Controversies under Bart’s watch include the discrimination lawsuits that resulted in a $6.5 million settlement for former field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum and associate athletics director Jane Meyer; a $4.2 million settlement for former football players alleging racial discrimination; and a $200,000 settlement for former assistant track coach Michael Scott.

The UI also had to pay $400,000, reinstate women’s swimming and diving and add women’s wrestling as part of a Title IX settlement after Barta tried cutting four sports during COVID-19. Men’s gymnastics, tennis and swimming and diving remained on the chopping block.

Also under Barta’s tenure, more than 55 former players came forward with allegations of a culture of racism and bullying in the football program years earlier, with ex-strength coach Chris Doyle at the center of many of them.

And most recently, 26 current athletes and one full-time staff member are included in a sports wagering investigation.

The highlights of Barta’s tenure include Iowa’s national platform, facility improvements and on-field success.

He was an influential voice on the national college sports landscape during his time in Iowa City, with stints as the chair of the College Football Playoff committee and on the NCAA Division I Council.

Barta also oversaw facility upgrades for football, wrestling, soccer, rowing and other sports that totaled more than $380 million.

Women’s basketball is coming off a national runner-up finish and has won several Big Ten regular-season or tournament titles. Football has won two Big Ten West titles.

Men’s basketball won a Big Ten tournament title in 2022 and has four straight March Madness appearances (excluding 2020 when there was no tournament because of COVID-19) for the first time since 1984-89.

“A lot of the success our program has had is a direct result of Gary's vision to improve Carver-Hawkeye Arena,” men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery said in a statement.

Men’s wrestling has had 13 NCAA individual champions and four NCAA team titles. Iowa’s Lisa Cellucci is the only field hockey head coach to lead teams to the national quarterfinals in the last four years.

However, many of the head coaches behind that success arrived at Iowa under previous athletic directors. Women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder was one of Christine Grant’s final hires in 2000. Bob Bowlsby tabbed football coach Kirk Ferentz in 1998 and men’s wrestling coach Tom Brands in 2006.

Barta’s 17-year tenure is among the longest for Power Five athletic directors and the longest at Iowa since Grant was Iowa’s women’s athletic director for 27 years until 2000.

“Gary’s achievements at the University of Iowa are significant, and our coaches and student-athletes have enjoyed tremendous success on and off the field during his tenure,” UI President Wilson said in a statement. “I’m grateful for his leadership as a Hawkeye and I wish him well in his retirement.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com