Beth Goetz named interim Iowa athletic director
Once Gary Barta announced that he would be retiring from his position as Iowa’s athletic director on August 1st, it was not going to be surprising to see deputy athletic director Beth Goetz take over the top job in the short term.
That took place on Thursday when Iowa announced that Goetz would be elevated to interim athletic director for the University of Iowa upon Barta’s retirement.
“Beth is a talented and respected leader not only at Iowa, but also at the national level in college athletics,” says UI President Barbara Wilson. “I am grateful she has agreed to lead this crucial part of our university and I am confident she will generate a lot of excitement and forward momentum for our student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff, and Hawkeye fans.”
Goetz left her position as athletic director at Ball State to join the Iowa athletics as the deputy athletic director to replace the retiring Barbra Burke. Prior to Ball State, she served as the chief operating officer/senior woman administrator in the University of Connecticut athletics department from 2016-18. She previously served as the University of Minnesota’s deputy athletics director from 2013-15 and interim athletics director during the 2015-16 season.
Goetz was named to the NCAA Competition Oversight Committee in 2018 and served as vice chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee in 2021-22. She was named by Women Leaders in College Sports as the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS Nike Executive of the Year and recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as one of the publication’s 2021 Women of Influence.
A former soccer student-athlete and college coach, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Clemson University in 1996 and a master’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2000.
“I want to congratulate Gary Barta on his long career at Iowa and thank President Wilson for putting her trust in me and the tremendous people we have here at Iowa,” Goetz says. “The Hawkeyes have a proud and storied tradition with the greatest fan base in the country, and I am appreciative of the opportunity to lead the department. I am committed to supporting our talented coaches, staff, and student-athletes as we build on the positive trajectory of athletic and academic excellence.”
What is interesting to see is that according to the press release regarding Goetz becoming the interim athletic director that Iowa doesn’t expect to hire a permanent replacement until early 2024.
Goetz is expected to be a leading candidate for the job, but the release says that they want to run a national search, which makes sense. What is surprising is that it is expected to take six months or more to hire a new athletic director. Goetz is totally prepared and ready to run day to day operations in the interim and is qualified for the full-time job, but the length of the search seems to be excessive.
Also not in the release is what the search will include. Will it be a committee conducting interviews and participating in the search process? Will it be a solo operations by President Wilson?
It will be interesting to see how this develops in the coming weeks and months.
