Documents show Iowa contacted search firm 2 days before Lickliter was fired

University of Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta made initial contact with Dan Parker of Parker Executive Search two days before former men's basketball coach Todd Lickliter was fired, according to documents supplied to multiple media outlets -- including The Gazette and GazetteOnline -- via the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents, which included 31 pages of Barta's phone records, provide a rough daily timeline of the coaching search, which lasted 13 days. Other documents provided by the university include coaching recommendations by community members, travel records and a memo of understanding between Barta and new coach Fran McCaffery.

Barta was out of the office and unavailable for comment, according to Mark Abbott, Iowa's associate athletics director for legal affairs. Abbott verified the documents, which were supplied by the University of Iowa, as accurate. He could not verify the context of the phone calls, however.

In previous interviews Barta declined to talk about specific candidates and said all meetings between them were confidential.

According to Barta's phone records, Barta called Parker at 9:24 a.m. on Saturday, March 13, three days before Barta hired Parker's firm for $50,000 to conduct the coaching search. Throughout that day and into the evening, Barta called several University of Iowa officials, include President Sally Mason and Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Doug True. He called Mason, True and Parker multiple times on Sunday, March 14.

Barta and Lickliter met at 9 a.m. on March 15. Within six minutes a phone call originated from Barta's office phone. He then called Mason, who then was in Lafayette, Ind., from his cell phone at 9:09 a.m. Lickliter was seen walking to his office at that time by two reporters affiliated with The Gazette/GazetteOnline/KCRG/KCRG.com before leaving the building minutes later.

Five hours later, Barta held a news conference to announce Lickliter's firing. He said he consulted with Mason about Lickliter's status and said he "finalized" his decision to fire Lickliter that morning.

Records show Barta began calling current players and incoming recruits on March 16. Barta made multiple calls to former Coach Tom Davis and his son, Keno, the current head coach at Providence within days of Lickliter's firing. Records show he also spoke with Tom Davis two days after McCaffery was hired.

Also in the documents included a trip for Barta and associate athletics director Fred Mims to Atlanta on March 22-23 to conduct interviews at Parker Executive Search. On March 22, Barta phoned Utah Athletics Director Chris Hill from Atlanta. Barta interviewed McCaffery and reportedly interviewed Utah Coach Jim Boylen in Atlanta.

On March 24, Barta made calls to Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa Coach Doug Wojcik also was considered a candidate but it is undetermined if Barta spoke with Wojcik.

On March 27, Barta spoke with Fran McCaffery for 38 minutes late afternoon. Barta then followed with multiple calls with Sally Mason, wrapped around a 12-minute phone call to Dayton, Ohio. Dayton Coach Brian Gregory was considered a finalist. At least one story had Gregory as Iowa's top choice, but he declined to interview with the school until his season was completed.  

On March 28, the day McCaffery agreed to terms, Barta had a 41-minute phone call with McCaffery, beginning at 7:47 a.m. They also spoke five more times that day.

Iowa officials also supplied a memo of understanding, which is a working agreement between McCaffery and the school until a contract becomes official. It states McCaffery will make $1.1 million in each of his first two seasons, then his compensation escalates to $1.15 million in year three, $1.2 million in year four, $1.275 million in year five and $1.35 million in year six. There also is an option for a two-year extension following a two-year review.

Iowa also pay McCaffery's buyout of $240,000 to Siena. Iowa also has to pay Lickliter $2.4 million in three installments after firing him with four years left on his contract.

The total amount of documents (57 pages) was significantly smaller than during Iowa's last coaching search in 2007 (around 400). Abbott said he is unaware of any consideration to avoid a paper trail.

"You commit to paper what you need to," Abbott said. "I don't know that there was a conscious effort not to do that, it just didn't need to be done."