Barta, Iowa Athletics Department, Hammered by espnW

[Sparky]

That story all but completely ignores the fact that most of those coaches' teams were downright terrible. Dingman never led the volleyball team to a B1G finish better than 6-14, and she won just 5 B1G matches in her final three seasons. The women's golf program is constantly terrible, and so is the rowing team (that coach actually was abusive, too). Blevins was turning the softball program into a 2003-04 JoePa situation. The other thing worth noting is that I believe all but one of the coaches brought in to replace the aforementioned coaches are women.

I'm not saying this Griesbaum ordeal has been nothing short of a hot mess, but to take that and try to turn it into something bigger based on the firings of several other coaches of terrible programs is ridiculous. If we can't fire coaches for sort of pathetic performance record that some of those coaches had, then I ******* give up. We're all dead.

Yeah, but if you go 8-5 in football with the most talented roster Iowa has ever had and then almost kill 13 of your players you get an award.

 

[DDThompson]

These coaches also say that Barta rarely engaged them while they were on staff, that he and his top administrators were almost exclusively concerned with football and men's basketball. Griesbaum said this led to an almost unmanageable imbalance, and that coaches of smaller sports felt isolated and unsupported. "A men's coach can sit in the same meeting and challenge the athletic director with his words, but if I challenge the athletic director, am I looked at the same as my male counterparts? I would say I was not.".

best thing I have read about barta is that his focus is on football and men's basketball. You know, the sports that make money rather than the revenue draining sports.

 

[Rifler]

Something was going on here that had the potential to embarass the school, and considering the excessive politically correct environment that exists on the Iowa City campus I seriously doubt that it is simply related to this coaches sexual preferences. If anything, being a lesbian probably caused the administration to walk even more softly around her. I suspect that she did something administratively that they couldn't accept, and to fully disclose the reasons for her dismissal would have required the college to go public with things that they would prefer not to get into.

 

[hawkfan340]

How does a powerful organization allow an employee to have a long term romantic relationship with a superior in her department? That is just insanely stupid on its face, let alone anything else that happened with the students.

 

[Thawki]

The president of the university was in full support. SHE and HER involvement weren't referenced in the article. And, you talk about 'not having' an advocate in the department.... You mean, sleeping with the #2 in command, and the point person for women's athletics isn't and advocate?

I was simply pointing out what might explain the chain of command issue. I am not attempting to place blame in that regard. And, by the way, I was pointing out that dealing with the second in command outside the chain might explain that, since one can make the case (these female coaches certainly are trying to do so) that they need an advocate because they aren't getting the help they need through the normal means. Again, I am not saying this is what happened or isn't. I am just saying if that was happening, this might be the reason. There may very well be a legitimate reason for the dismissal which would explain the full support of the president, if it in fact exists.

However, at the bare minimum, it certainly looks stange, the way it all unfolded. And it certainly isn't a stretch to think female coaches from non-revneue sports are treated differently or not given resources that male coaches might get in the male-dominated world of college athletics. Again, I am not saying this is the case, but given what has transpired, it is certainly something that can merit an ivestigation/article or whatever.

And there is no denying that Barta has huge revenue streams and our non-revenue sports performace is not good. That has nothing to do with anything that is questioned about this situation. It is simply a fact.

 

[hawkfan340]

The null hypothesis is that all non-revenue generating coaches are treated the same. I've yet to see anything that would cause me to reject that notion.

Also, the minute it becomes known that you sleep around with your "advocate" in the office, you've sabotaged all influence she has with her boss regarding any matters involving you.