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Iowa softball interim head coach Brian Levin no longer with program
Hawkeyes also are without head coach Renee Gillispie, who stepped away for 2025 season due to ‘personal health matter’
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
IOWA CITY — Iowa softball interim head coach Brian Levin is no longer with the program, the athletic department confirmed Friday in a statement.
“It is unfortunate we needed to make the change in leadership at this time, but providing an environment for our student-athletes to be their best academically and athletically remains our priority,” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said in the statement.
The Hawkeyes are already without head coach Renee Gillispie, who stepped away from the program for the 2025 season due to a “personal health matter.” That leaves the team with Karl Gollan as the only coach on staff, according to the team’s online roster, along with director of softball operations Miranda Miller and softball operations assistant Sammy Diaz.
Gollan “will lead the team for the remainder of the season,” per the news release.
Levin, in an audio message sent to the Daily Iowan, said there has been a “cultural problem in the softball program since I arrived.”
“It’s a problem in which some players are comfortable speaking up and some players are silenced for having different views or opinions,” Levin said to the student newspaper.
He held a March 1 team meeting about some players’ decisions to kneel during the national anthem and became frustrated when players who expressed concerns with him individually did not express those concerns with the group.
He told the team in the meeting that “this is the last game I have coached at Iowa” and started to leave, according to the Daily Iowan.
Levin was on Gillispie’s staff for two seasons as an assistant coach. He previously was the head coach at Southern Miss, where he had a 65-62 record in three seasons before resigning in 2022. He also had head coaching stints at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Belmont.
Iowa is 13-5 so far this season, with all five losses coming against ranked opponents. The Hawkeyes will begin Big Ten play on March 15 at Indiana.
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