By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Since 1960, the University of Iowa has had six athletic directors, including Dr. Christine Grant, who served as the Iowa women’s athletic director from 1973 until 2000.

Forest Evashevski held the title as athletic director from 1960 to 1970, and was then followed by Bump Elliott from 1970 to 1991; Bob Bowlsby from 1991 to 2006; Gary Barta from 2006 to 2023; and now Beth Goetz, who was named the Iowa’s athletic director on Jan. 24, 2024.

Goetz had served as the interim athletic director for five months before being promoted.

She joined the University of Iowa as deputy athletic director and chief operating officer in 2022,

It was widely assumed when Goetz came to Iowa that she would ultimately succeed Barta, and it took less than two years for that to happen.

Barta retired after a polarizing reign at Iowa that was tarnished by costly legal settlements, and by his decision to hire Todd Lickliter as men’s basketball coach and Marla Looper as the Iowa softball coach.

Barta excelled as a fundraiser, however, and he made up for the Lickliter debacle, which only lasted three seasons before he was fired, by hiring Fran McCaffery as men’s basketball coach in 2010.

Fran McCaffery would go on to lift the Iowa program from the ashes, and he is now the all-time winningest coach in program history.

But Fran McCaffery was also fired by Beth Goetz the day after the 2024-25 season ended.

Iowa had failed to make the NCAA Tournament in McCaffery’s last two seasons and home attendance was disturbingly low as many of Iowa’s home games were played with Carver-Hawkeye Arena nearly two-thirds empty.

Goetz wasted no time in landing McCaffery’s replacement as Ben McCollum was hired away from Drake barely a week after Fran McCaffery had been fired.

It was the first big move that Goetz has made since being named Iowa’s athletic director and she acted quickly and decisively.

Whether it was the right move will be determined with how well McCollum performs over time.

Goetz also promoted Jan Jensen to head women’s basketball coach on the same day that Lisa Bluder retired in May 2024.

However, that hire was a foregone conclusion and had been in the works for years.

So it would be hard to judge Goetz based on how Jensen performs her duties because anybody in Goetz’s position would have promoted Jensen under the circumstances.

Goetz made another head coaching hire in late May when she picked former Iowa softball player Stacy May-Johnson to run the softball program.,

Goetz made this hire despite facing strong resistance from some prominent members of the 2024-25 Iowa softball team, who were hoping that interim head coach Karl Gollan would be promoted to head coach.

Gollan had taken over a tough situation when he replaced former head coach Brian Levin, who abruptly left his position just a few weeks into the 2025 season and following a dispute with some of his players over kneeling during the National Anthem.

The team rallied behind Gollan as Iowa would go on to finish 15-7 in Big Ten play.

And while Goetz admired what Gollan had accomplished under difficult circumstances, and respected the opinion of the players, she still hired Stacy May-Johnson because Goetz obviously felt she was the best candidate.

The hire has certainly come at a price, though, as some of Iowa’s top players, including two-time, first-team All-Big Ten infielder Jena Young, have transferred to other schools.

Young now plays for Alabama, while former Iowa shortstop Soo-Jin Berry transferred to UCLA and former pitchers Jalen Adams and Talia Tretton transferred to Arizona and Nevada, respectively.

Those are some significant losses for Stacy May-Johnson as she takes over at her alma mater.

But again, Goetz acted decisively in hiring May-Johnson, whose resume, which includes successful head coaching stints at Fresno State and Utah Valley, is arguably more impressive than Gollan’s.

Gollan was in his first season as the Iowa pitching coach when he was named interim head coach under highly unusual circumstances.

Goetz could have easily promoted Gollan to head coach, and few probably would have questioned her decision, and the roster probably would have stayed mostly intact.

But instead, Goetz trusted her instincts and she recognized what May-Johnson had accomplished while climbing the coaching ladder.

During her time in Fresno, May-Johnson saw the Bulldogs improve their win total year-over-year, notching 112 victories in four seasons. In 2025, she led Fresno to 37 wins and to the Mountain West Championship title game.

In her two seasons at Utah Valley, May-Johnson coached seven All-WAC selections.

She was also the associate head coach at Eastern Kentucky (2018-19), an assistant at Purdue (2017), Louisville (2015-16) and Iowa (2011-14) and a volunteer assistant at Louisville (2008-10).

“Stacy is a proven leader with a deep understanding of what it means to be a Hawkeye,” Goetz said in a statement announcing the hiring. “Her experience as a standout student-athlete, combined with her coaching success and commitment to developing young women on and off the field, makes her the ideal person to lead our program into its next chapter. We are excited for the future of Iowa softball under her leadership.”

Time and performance will ultimately determine if Goetz made the right decision in hiring May-Johnson, who played at Iowa from 2003-06 and was a three-time All-Big Ten selection and the 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

May-Johnson also played at Iowa under legendary head coach Gayle Blevins, and that might have helped her cause.

Perhaps what is most impressive about Goetz’s body of work so far is that she has been willing to make tough and awkward decisions, most notably her decision to fire Brian Ferentz as the Iowa football team’s offensive coordinator with four games left in the 2023 season.

Kirk Ferentz certainly didn’t agree with the decision to fire his son, and he probably wouldn’t have ever done it on his own.

So, Goetz took action with support from the UI administration.

Goetz did what Gary Barta probably never would have done to Kirk Ferentz’s son.

“Making this known today is in the best interest of the program and its loyal fans; it provides clarity during this pivotal time in the schedule,” Goetz said in the statement announcing the firing. “It is not my practice to be involved in assistant coaching decisions and certainly not to make public such a change during a season.

“Our priority is to put all our student-athletes in the best position to have both short-term and long-term success, on and off the field. Our football team has a group of outstanding young men and talented athletes, who at 6-2, have a lot to play for. As a former athlete, I know every opportunity to put on the jersey is a cherished one.”

In fairness to Kirk Ferentz, he has accepted the decision and has hired what appears to be a worthy replacement in Tim Lester, who was the head coach for Western Michigan from 2017 to 2022 and a former star quarterback for the Broncos in the 1990s, passing for over 11,000 yards.

The Iowa offense showed significant improvement in Lester’s first season as offensive coordinator as former Hawkeye Kaleb Johnson led the Big Ten in rushing last season.

In evaluating Goetz to this point, there is certainly reason to be encouraged.

But her body of work still is too small to know for sure how she is handling her job.

The performance of the Iowa athletic directors since Evashevski took over the position has produced mixed results.

Evashevski was clearly a better football coach than athletic director based on his track record at Iowa.

He led the Iowa football team to its only wins in the Rose Bowl following the 1956 and 1958 seasons, but his decade-long run as athletic director was filled with controversy and failures.

It was no secret that Evashevski wanted to be both head coach and athletic director at Iowa, but he was kept from gaining that dual role perhaps out of concern he would have too much power and influence.

Evashevski was described as being combative and at times petty and vindictive while serving as the Iowa athletic director.

The Iowa football program also struggled during his time as athletic director, finishing with just one winning season from 1961 to 1969. The lone winning season was in 1961 when Iowa finished 5-4 under first-year head coach Jerry Burns.

However, the 1961 team was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press at the start of the season but dropped out of the polls after losing four consecutive games. 

Following a 1-9 season in 1965, Burns was fired and replaced by Ray Nagel, who would go on to have troublesome relationship with Evashevski. They were both relieved of their duties in May 1970 following an investigation by the state auditor into alleged padded expenses.

Evashevski and Nagel had an ongoing feud in which Nagel shortly after being fired blamed his dismissal on the general disharmony and lack of trust and cooperation within the athletic department.

The black player boycott in 1968 also occurred during the Evashevski-Nagel era.

And though Evashevski’s time as athletic director was tumultuous, and counter-productive at times, he did hire Ralph Miller as the Iowa men’s basketball coach in 1964 and that certainly proved to be the right decision as Miller would go on to lead Iowa to its last outright Big Ten title in 1970.

Evashevski’s problem as athletic director, oddly enough and much to his doing, was football as Iowa would go on to suffer through 19 straight non-winning seasons from 1962 to 1981.

That dubious streak also nearly cost Bump Elliott his job as the Iowa Athletic Director.

After replacing Evashevski in 1970, Elliott faced the massive responsibility of rebuilding the Iowa football program.

But it almost didn’t happen as his first two head coaching hires – Frank Lauterber and Bob Commings – both were fired after three and five seasons, respectively.

Elliott knew that he had to make the right hire the third time or he would almost certainly lose his job, which he acknowledged publicly.

Fortunately, for Elliott, and for Hawkeye fans, he made the right decision by hiring Hayden Fry, who would go on to become a Hawkeye coaching legend.

Elliott also hired Lute Olson to rebuild the Iowa men’s basketball program and that certainly turned out positive, though Olson did bolt for Arizona after the 1982-83 season, much to the anger of some Hawkeye fans.

It could be argued that an athletic director is only as good as the head coaches he or she hires.

Bob Bowlsby led the charge to hire Kirk Ferentz as the Iowa football coach in 1998.

And while some fans were disappointed that Ferentz was hired instead of former Iowa defensive back Bob Stoops, who was a rising star in the coaching profession at the time, Ferentz would go on to become Iowa’s all-time winningest football coach, and he needs just one win to tie Woody Hayes as the Big Ten’s all-time winningest head coach.

Entering his 27th season as the Iowa head coach, Kirk Ferentz is the longest-tenured head coach in the country and he has 204 wins as a Big Ten head coach.

Bowlsby also has on his track record the decision to hire Steve Alford as the Iowa men’s basketball coach in 1999.

It was a popular decision at the time because Alford was considered a rising star as a head coach. He also had instant credibility as a former All-America guard under Bob Knight at Indiana.

Alford had his moments as the Iowa head coach, including leading Iowa to two Big Ten Tournament titles.

But he was also self-absorbed and had a bad habit of blaming his players publicly after losses.

And worst of all was his handling of the Pierre Pierce sexual assault controversy.

Alford never recovered from the bad publicity, and when Gary Barta sort of put him on the hot seat following the 2006-07 season, Alford accepted the head coaching position at New Mexico to stay one step ahead of the posse.

However, whatever goodwill Barta had earned from getting rid of Alford quickly vanished due to Lickliter being a colossal failure.

Barta also hired Marla Looper to replace Gayle Blevins as the Iowa softball coach in 2010.

To say that was a bad decision would be understatement as Looper compiled a 172-247-1 record over eight seasons before being fired.

But on the other hand, Barta also hired Joey Woody to run both the Iowa men’s and women’s track and field programs, and Woody so far, has been up to the challenge as he has led the Iowa men to four Big Ten team titles.

And though Evashevski’s time as athletic director was tumultuous, and counter-productive at times, he did hire Ralph Miller as the Iowa men’s basketball coach in 1964 and that certainly proved to be the right decision as Miller would go on to lead Iowa to its last outright Big Ten title in 1970.

As for Beth Goetz, assuming she stays at Iowa for the foreseeable future, she will eventually face the daunting task of hiring Kirk Ferentz’s replacement and a replacement for Iowa wrestling coach, Tom Brands .

Those hires, along with her decision to hire Ben McCollum, will ultimately determine Beth Goetz’s legacy more than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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