Gary Barta’s head coaching hires included some hits, some misses

IOWA CITY — As Gary Barta is likely done head coaching searches, barring any unforeseen circumstances, as his 17 years as Iowa’s athletics director comes to an end this summer.

While not the only aspect of his legacy, his head coaching hires will be a significant part of it.

Here is a breakdown of how the head coaches Barta hired have fared during their time in Iowa City. Football, women’s basketball, men’s wrestling and gymnastics still have head coaches chosen by previous athletics directors and therefore are not included on this list.

Men’s basketball

Barta’s first men’s basketball hire did not work out so well.

Todd Lickliter went 38-58 overall and 15-39 in Big Ten play in three seasons before Barta pulled the plug. It was the first time Iowa had losing overall records in three consecutive seasons since the Great Depression.

Then Barta hired Fran McCaffery, who has gone 437-261 in 13 seasons on the Iowa sidelines. McCaffery led the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten tournament title in 2021, and Kris Murray is expected to be McCaffery’s fourth player drafted in the last three years.

However, Iowa has not advanced past the first weekend of March Madness in any of the seven appearances during the McCaffery era.

Women’s wrestling

Clarissa Chun, previously an assistant coach for USA Wrestling and a two-time Olympian, was named Iowa’s inaugural head women’s wrestling coach in 2021.

Women’s wrestlers competed unattached in 2022-23 and are slated to begin team competition in 2023-24.

Volleyball

Barta has hired four non-interim volleyball head coaches — Sharon Dingman, Bond Shymansky, Vicki Brown and now Jim Barnes.

None of them had winning records.

The best one, Dingman, had a .346 overall winning percentage. (Shymansky’s would have been higher had it not been for the NCAA vacating 33 of his wins.)

The sample size remains small for Barnes, who went 10-21 in his first season in 2022.

Track and field and cross country

After longtime coach Larry Weiczorek retired in 2014, Barta hired Joey Woody, who has taken the program to new another level.

The men’s team has won indoor Big Ten titles in 2021 and 2022 and outdoor Big Ten titles in 2019 and 2021 under Woody’s tutelage.

The women’s team has finished third in the Big Ten five times — 2018 outdoor, 2019 indoor and outdoor, 2021 indoor and 2023 indoor — after never surpassing fourth with previous coaches.

Field hockey

After Barta’s controversial firing of Tracey Griesbaum in 2014 — the fired coach later received a seven-figure gender discrimination settlement from the UI — he hired Lisa Cellucci to take the reins of the program.

Cellucci, who had been on Griesbaum’s staff, has thrived in recent years after taking over the program under difficult circumstances.

Iowa has been the only program to go to reach the NCAA quarterfinals or farther every year since 2019.

Baseball

Barta hired Rick Heller after not renewing Jack Dahm’s contract in 2013.

Heller has elevated the program since then. He managed teams that earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2015 and 2017, becoming the second Iowa head coach to lead a team to the tournament. The other was Duane Banks, the namesake of Iowa’s baseball stadium.

Softball

After Gayle Blevins’ retirement after the 2010 season, the results have not been the same with Marla Looper and now Renee Gillispie.

Blevins, a Grant hire, took the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Regionals or Women’s College World Series 16 times in 23 years.

Iowa has not repeated the feat in Looper’s eight years and the five years so far with Gillispie.

Looper had an all-time Big Ten winning percentage of .375. Gillispie’s is .389 — better than Looper, but still a long way from Blevins’ .693.

Men’s golf

One year into Barta’s tenure as AD, he hired Mark Hankins as head golf coach.

Hankins had just been named Big Ten Coach of the Year at Michigan State. At Iowa, he took the team to the NCAAs in six of seven seasons before taking on an administrative role in the department in 2014.

Tyler Stith has taken Iowa to the NCAAs five times in nine seasons, excluding the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.

Women’s golf

Kelly Crawford’s hiring was officially a few weeks before Barta’s start date in 2006.

Crawford’s teams finished eighth or worse in four of five years. The lone exception was the fifth-place finish in 2009.

In the 13 seasons since then with Megan Menzel at the helm, the Hawkeyes have finished no higher than ninth in the Big Ten.

Rowing

After rowing coach Mandi Kowal’s resignation in 2012, Iowa has gone through three rowing coaches.

Steve Pritzker spent one year in Iowa City. His team finished sixth in the Big Ten before Pritzker left to take an administrative role in Virginia’s athletic department.

Then Andrew Carter took over the program for nine years, leading the team to three NCAA Championships berths. In Jeff Garbutt’s first two seasons, Iowa has finished fifth in the conference.

None of them have topped Kowal’s best postseason finishes, though — fourth in the Big Ten in 2003 and ninth in the NCAAs in 2001.

Soccer

Barta made his first and only soccer hire in 2014 after Ron Rainey left to take over the women’s soccer program at Dartmouth.

In nine seasons, Dave DiIanni’s teams have finished fifth or better in the Big Ten regular season standings three times and appeared in the NCAAs twice. The Hawkeyes won the Big Ten tournament title for the first time in program history in 2020.

Tennis

When Barta brought on Katie Dougherty ahead of the 2009-10 season, things appeared to be going in the right direction. Iowa earned an NCAA team appearance after finishing fourth in the Big Ten.

The rest of Dougherty’s tenure did not go as well. When she resigned in 2016, she had an all-time record of 71-92, including a 19-57 mark in Big Ten play.

Sasha Schmid has a 78-72 record in seven seasons at the helm of her alma mater. Iowa’s fourth-place finish in 2021 was tied for the Hawkeyes’ highest finish since 2006. Alexa Noel’s 2021 NCAA singles appearance was Iowa’s first in a decade.

Swimming and diving

Marc Long “declined the opportunity” to continue coaching women’s swimming and diving in 2021 after Barta cut the men’s team and unsuccessfully tried to cut the women’s team, too.

In Nathan Mundt’s first two seasons leading a program once on Barta’s chopping block, his teams have gone 0-7 and 1-7-1.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com