okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
2). I have a hard time giving him a ton of credit for fundraising. It's not a particularly tough job at Iowa. People love their Hawkeyes and support them financially. Maybe he didn't alienate or piss off donors who wanted to give money. Sort of a low bar.
The entire revenue model in college football changed during his tenure due to Jim Delany's TV prowess and the seismic shift in the way season tickets are now sold at every legit P5 school whereby a "donation" is a prerequisite to obtaining seats.
The donation side exploded beginning with the 2005 season with the Kinnick reseating and tiered donation requirements. Barta will receive credit for this bince he started in 2006 but it was Bowlsby's brainchild.
Furthermore, the vast majority of Barta's tenure was during one of the largest bubbles that has occurred in the history of the world. The Fed began an unmitigated money printing spree in the spring of 2009 that they have just started walking back in the past 18 months. Farm values skyrocketed. The broad stock market indices have seen about a 3-fold increase. Housing went way up. The largest generation to date has begun reaching retirement and spend down age.
Anyone can fundraise in that environment. Fundraising in an environment where things are tight is much harder and I don't have any confidence in Barta's ability to pull that off.