Gary Barta

[olivecourt]

I don't think so, in fact I'd go so far as to remove Basketball from the question. The most important role of the AD in todays world, like it or not, isn't the academic aspect and survivability of sports as a whole. It's all about revenue and specifically the football program which is paramount to that success.

And yet with 2 disappointing seasons in a row we are still one of the few athletic departments to turn a profit.

And you should ask the board of regents and Sally Mason if they care about the other sports. They do. They also care about whether our athletes graduate (which they do) and whether we get penalized by the NCAA (which we don't). They don't give a flying flip about whether we take a knee with 30 seconds left in the first half, which seems to be about the only thing fans on this board care about.

Don't project your concerns onto the people who actually make decisions, because they aren't the same.

 

[olivecourt]

I would give him probably a C+.

In 2009-10, we had $88 million in revenue vs. $74 million in expenses. Explain your C+.

 

[ChosenChildren]

You have to give him an A because the overall program makes a profit. That is all that matters. Football drives the bus. If people stop buying tickets and making contributions, the grade comes down, obviously.

He also made a good hire with McCaffrey. You have to give Fran 5 to 6 years to turn this around -- it will take that long to bring in better players and see an impact!!!

 

[ICHawk24]

I would give him probably a C+.

So you judge an AD solely on financials. Iowa had something like the 15th or 18th highest revenue last year. And thats a C+?!?!?!?

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

Hard not to give him an A when you look at the financial state of the department (and graduation rate and lack of NCAA penalties).

I also give him fairly high marks for his moves with the men's basketball program. He found a way to wash his hands of Steve Alford without costing the university a dime. God bless him for that alone.

The Lick hire didn't work out, but I'm not sure there were any red flags that Barta missed with his research on that one. Plus he acted decisively when he needed to.

And I still think he absolutely knocked the ball out of the park with his McCaffrey hire. The 2012 class is Fran's first true recruiting class, the guys he was able to get in on as juniors to be in high school, which is about the latest you can hope to establish connections with highly ranked players these days.

Coming off an 11 win season, Fran recruited a what, top 15 or so class as his first true class? It includes a commitment from a young man offered a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. To play basketball!

Remember little Lick trying to bring the ball up the court against Illinois in front of about 4,000 people in Carver a couple years ago?

Barta found a coach who convinced a kid to pass up North Carolina and sure thing Final Fours for an environment only a little ways removed from Little Lick and the morgue that was Carver Hawkeye Arena.

 

[vegashawki]

I like the guy, we are upgrading our facilities and seems very involved (going to the football practices). Solid A

 

[hogeye]

So you judge an AD solely on financials. Iowa had something like the 15th or 18th highest revenue last year. And thats a C+?!?!?!?

Primarily on financials, absolutey. And yes, a C+, he was basically handed a package that was put together by the previous AD and has managed it. He hasn't taken the program to any new level of success by his own doing.

Any modicum of success over his tenure has been predominantly attributed to Ferentz's success on the field (and he wasn't responsible for his hire, so I can't credit him for that), and financial success of the BTN, not something that he has had a direct hand in.

He's spent some money on some upgrades that were due. He's screwed up a basketball hire. Seriously, what landmark achievement does he have to his name that he is directly responsible for?

I don't give A's for maintaining what was already established.

 

[VHSHAWK]

I'd actually give him a good B+ for the overall improvement of the facilities since he's been here-
Updated Carver
Practice Facility for Volleyball
New Pool
New Field Hockey field
New Track (had some help from mother nature there)
New Rowing Building
New Tennis Facilities

I will give him an A++ for keeping every sport viable- for being one of the few remaining Men's Gymnastics Teams in the NCAA, and the ONLY DI Men's swimming and Baseball teams left in the state.
You look at the Moo U or UNI athletic websites- ISU has 6, count em, 6 male sports. Same as UNI. Hell, DRAKE has 6 male sports. You're talking NCAA DI minimums at 3 of 4 schools in Iowa.