what will barta's legacy be

hawkeyemark said:
Reading the tweet about security getting involved in a donor chasing down Greg Davis before the half in one of the suites yesterday makes me think twice about the big money people not caring. I think the overall culture at Iowa puts more emphasis on developing student athletes and doing things the right away than it does winning and Barta, Ferentz and McCaffery all fit that mold pretty well. At some point the big money people want to get a return on their investment and at least in football I sense some growing impatience. It will start to get really interesting if we don't make the NCAA tournament this season and attendance in basketball starts to slide. Not sure Barta got that hire right either.
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Do you honestly think that the big-time donors are looking at a charitable donation to write off on their taxes as a return on their investment? I don't. They went to Iowa and got to their current economic level because of what they learned at Iowa or because of the contacts they met while at Iowa or because of some opportunity that opened the doors while they were at Iowa, and they want the next person to have the same.

While I'm not a big-time donor to Wartburg, that's exactly how I look at my donations. I don't expect ROI.
 
doclee said:
If you had written this post rather than your original, I would not have leveled any criticism at you, even though I don't totally agree with your conclusions. As to your first paragraph, only you can judge whether or not you have the strength of character it takes to be a big time athletic director; and, I stick to my guns on anonymous internet posts.
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Signed: Anonymous Internet Poster.

The same could be said for the holier than thou posters.
 
coralville said:
Last in directors cup year after year. Gave us an football coach immune from the ax
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But doing very well in Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate on the football team (which the AD is responsible for). Of the top 25 universities in football atheletes' graduation rates:
B1G: #1 Northwestern, #7 Rutgers, #8 Penn State and #17 Iowa.
SEC: #14 Vanderbilt and #25 LSU
Big 12: #22 West Virginia and #24 TCU. (Where is Iowa State?)

Of the bottom 25 universities in football athletes' graduation rates:
B1G: None.
SEC: #11 Arkansas, #16 Georgia Tech and #23 Tennessee.
Big 12: #3 Oklahoma, #23 Texas and #12 Kansas State.

bleacherreport.com/articles/1731218-college-football-schools-with-the-best-and-worst-graduation-rates

This is last year's data, but it likely hasn't changed much. And in the comments there are a bunch of commenters talking about how it hurts these numbers to have players leave early for the NFL. Funny, when you look at the worst teams like Ball State, UAB and Central Michigan are on there and there aren't that many guys leaving those schools for the NFL.

So from your comment I guess you want winning over having a program you can be proud of. Yeah, it's really nice to win but I'll take the program I can be proud of every time.
 
Tierney said:
He will be a respected man of the community, wherever he decides to retire to. He will be a very wealthy man. Hopefully, he will be loved by family, friends, and God. What is it you want to be remembered for? He seems like a fairly intelligent man, and I don't think he is to worried about what a bunch of fans think. Hopefully, Fran and the football coach aren't to worried about it either.
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Well, they'd BETTER care what the fans think (are they arrogant enough NOT to?) because when you start seeing fans dressed up as empty seats, that's when people start losing their jobs.
 
Knight78 said:
But doing very well in Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate on the football team (which the AD is responsible for). Of the top 25 universities in football atheletes' graduation rates:
B1G: #1 Northwestern, #7 Rutgers, #8 Penn State and #17 Iowa.
SEC: #14 Vanderbilt and #25 LSU
Big 12: #22 West Virginia and #24 TCU. (Where is Iowa State?)

Of the bottom 25 universities in football athletes' graduation rates:
B1G: None.
SEC: #11 Arkansas, #16 Georgia Tech and #23 Tennessee.
Big 12: #3 Oklahoma, #23 Texas and #12 Kansas State.

bleacherreport.com/articles/1731218-college-football-schools-with-the-best-and-worst-graduation-rates

This is last year's data, but it likely hasn't changed much. And in the comments there are a bunch of commenters talking about how it hurts these numbers to have players leave early for the NFL. Funny, when you look at the worst teams like Ball State, UAB and Central Michigan are on there and there aren't that many guys leaving those schools for the NFL.

So from your comment I guess you want winning over having a program you can be proud of. Yeah, it's really nice to win but I'll take the program I can be proud of every time.
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The two go hand in hand. Sorry, but I don't watch Iowa sports because they are good students.. I watch them and root for them to win. That IS the end goal of playing sports, but I think more and more that some fans and those in the UofI's administration have lost sight of that. If the sports teams continually lose, there's little reason for me to keep watching.

Did Lickliter's basketball program make you proud? It made me want to wear a paper bag over my head.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
I know this won't be popular either, but why the hell is he giving Fran an extension after losing 7 or 8 games down the stretch. We lost to a horrible NW team in the B10 tourney and it cost us an actual invite in the 64 teams. I know we made the tournament...but you know what I'm saying.
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Standard Operating Procedure for an AD to extend a coach's contract for recruiting purposes.
 
QuadCityHawkeye said:
A good fundraiser who wasn't good at hiring coaches. Also, he gave a football coach a outrageous contract that allowed average seasons to continue.

Barta is a terrible AD and I've been saying that for years.
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I think this is about right. Good fundraiser, runs a fairly clean department. Poor evaluator of coaching talent and really not a very good negotiator or manager of the wealth. Finds himself over the barrel often; apparently likes it.
 
Tierney said:
He will be a respected man of the community, wherever he decides to retire to. He will be a very wealthy man. Hopefully, he will be loved by family, friends, and God. What is it you want to be remembered for? He seems like a fairly intelligent man, and I don't think he is to worried about what a bunch of fans think. Hopefully, Fran and the football coach aren't to worried about it either.
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Maybe he could care about doing a good job as athletic director.

I'm not sure you know what legacy means. What people think of him is his legacy.
 
A guy that probably knows how to shmooze. Even when he recognizes a problem I am not sure he could make the right decision to fix it.

We have so many problems it is not funny. The President and university that do not care in the least about athletics. Zip-zero-nada. The Board of regents appears to be anti U of Iowa by being content to let a failing President stay in place?
 
hawkeyemark said:
Reading the tweet about security getting involved in a donor chasing down Greg Davis before the half in one of the suites yesterday makes me think twice about the big money people not caring. I think the overall culture at Iowa puts more emphasis on developing student athletes and doing things the right away than it does winning and Barta, Ferentz and McCaffery all fit that mold pretty well. At some point the big money people want to get a return on their investment and at least in football I sense some growing impatience. It will start to get really interesting if we don't make the NCAA tournament this season and attendance in basketball starts to slide. Not sure Barta got that hire right either.
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The donor was chasing down the wrong guy. When are we going to stop blaming the coordinators?
 
At some point the big money people want to get a return on their investment and at least in football I sense some growing impatience. It will start to get really interesting if we don't make the NCAA tournament this season and attendance in basketball starts to slide. Not sure Barta got that hire right either.
Knight78 said:
Do you honestly think that the big-time donors are looking at a charitable donation to write off on their taxes as a return on their investment? I don't. They went to Iowa and got to their current economic level because of what they learned at Iowa or because of the contacts they met while at Iowa or because of some opportunity that opened the doors while they were at Iowa, and they want the next person to have the same.
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Knight78 said:
While I'm not a big-time donor to Wartburg, that's exactly how I look at my donations. I don't expect ROI.
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Taxes? Really? That doesn't make any sense at all. NONE. If you think that the success or failure of a school's team has any influence on the amount that a donor can write off on their taxes, then anybody who has a diploma from Wartburg should burn their diploma. If they gave one to you it's meaningless.

Anybody with a 4th grade level reading comprehension can see that by saying, "Return on their investment," they meant a winning football program. For instance if you give large amounts of money to a program with a coach who is making what Ferentz is but the team hasn't even been in the top 25 for years and gets beat by one of the worst teams in any of the power conferences (Iowa State) more then you've beaten them..you are not getting a good return on your investment.
 
You have to keep in mind the total lack of tolerance this fan base, the University in general, media and Regents has for any problems. We are held to a much higher standard than other programs. Everything but winning.

Recruiting the best players might mean you end up with some problems. You might end up with guys who do not want to go to class or have true aspirations on an education. You have to accept these things. Look no further than Jok and the OWI on a moped and how many posts and articles wanted to see him gone for this. What message does that send to players the staff is trying to recruit about being player friendly and having a players back? Legit serious crimes are one thing but kids being stupid is a part of the deal if you want to win. When was the last time you heard that the IC police contacted our coaches when there has been a problem to discuss it first? Our players are just arrested.

Now how does the fan base feel after losing? Do you care about moped violations?

Winning means your hands could get dirty and you have to accept that. The programs that compete against you want you to feel bad about that fact because they do not want you to win. They instill that 'doing it the right way' mindset which equals losing. We fell into this trap some time ago of listening to this and now we stink at almost everything.
 
tweeterhawk said:
I think this is about right. Good fundraiser, runs a fairly clean department. Poor evaluator of coaching talent and really not a very good negotiator or manager of the wealth. Finds himself over the barrel often; apparently likes it.
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My sense is he also won't be recalled as a terribly driven man. My sense is that he gets less pressure from the president's office about winning than he does about doing things in a PC way.
 
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