When will Barta be fired?

[EstronHawkKing]

Meyers said after the trial that she hopes to some day return to the Iowa athletic department!!! I was like WHAT!?!?! She's nuts. She probably hopes Barta gets fired and that would be her chance to come back. Could you imagine the backlash from current employees?

 

[hawkeyemark]

1. Iowa never considered they could lose this case. Nice thinking.

2. The AG that tried this case is inferior by far to what Iowa could have received by outside counsel.

3. Poor jury selection in allowing a HUGE Iowa State fan on the jury. She became the Foreman. Is that cause for
appeal that she was posting during the trial?

4. Remember a while back when Gary Barta was a candidate to be AD at an ACC school?

5. The BOR is discussing Barta's future among themselves now.

6. Can we get Gene Taylor back from Kansas State?

7. Lesbians are a protected class, like it or not.

8. There should never have been a merger of the Men's and Women's Athletic Departments.

Plenty of valid points here with number 8 seeming the most interesting. An increasing number of women run athletic departments these days and I don't know that many schools have separate athletic departments like we did in the old days. Things certainly ran smoothly on the womens side with Christine Grant at the helm and no doubt plenty of women in athletics have followed in her footsteps.

In today's climate and with Title IX requirements I wonder if you would have the same kind of politics that have bogged us down the last few years as a single department. Ideally you have people at the top regardless of gender who see the big picture and care about both sides of it committing to the womens side getting equal treatment and making sure we take care of the mens side and stay competitive in the sports that generate revenue. Complicated situation and one way or the other Iowa has to do things differently moving forward.

 

[Joshbrown]

Plenty of valid points here with number 8 seeming the most interesting. An increasing number of women run athletic departments these days and I don't know that many schools have separate athletic departments like we did in the old days. Things certainly ran smoothly on the womens side with Christine Grant at the helm and no doubt plenty of women in athletics have followed in her footsteps.

In today's climate and with Title IX requirements I wonder if you would have the same kind of politics that have bogged us down the last few years as a single department. Ideally you have people at the top regardless of gender who see the big picture and care about both sides of it committing to the womens side getting equal treatment and making sure we take care of the mens side and stay competitive in the sports that generate revenue. Complicated situation and one way or the other Iowa has to do things differently moving forward.

The problem with having a combined department (and I understand why that is the norm) is that only 1 person can be at the top. If it's a male the automatic assumption is that he can't be fair to females. How do I know that . . . well let's take a look at a recent trial in Polk County, shall we.

 

[hawkeyemark]

The problem with having a combined department (and I understand why that is the norm) is that only 1 person can be at the top. If it's a male the automatic assumption is that he can't be fair to females. How do I know that . . . well let's take a look at a recent trial in Polk County, shall we.

If you have a male at the top you need somebody not so tone deaf like Barta and many schools don't have the kind of issues that we've had. Have a feeling that the Board of Regents will go beyond making decisions about Barta's fate and issue very specific guidelines as to how they want the athletics department run. Hard to say what form that will take but I would guess that the UI president Herreld will have to take an active role overseeing things probably more than he does now. He didn't help the situation either extending Barta's contract the way he did. Part of the good old boy network that one way or the other will likely come to a screetching halt which will affect Kirk Ferentz's world too I would guess.

 

[mrolympia]

The Jury isn't wrong by definition, they are the one who heard the entire case and decided. Just because you or I don't agree wirh then it doesn't change their verdict.

I'm pretty sure they got the O.J. verdict wrong

 

[oregonhawkeye]

GB, as CEO of the athletic dept, is responsible for outcomes. This discrimination verdict is on him. No matter your PC or Anti-PC viewpoint on what happened, this outcome is a shame on Iowa. Perhaps he's so great at his job that the Regents feel they can't get rid of him.
I sure would.

 

[homes]

Random thoughts 1.Technically speaking, the UI wasn't guilty, it was liable. No crime was committed. Same goes for Barta - was he even a defendant.
2. I find it hard to believe that Barta didn't document these things over fear of a FOI request. Not only would that be stupid, that would be deceitful.
3. In personnel matters, there is no upside to acting like Neville Chamberlain. It always comes back to bite you.

 

[deanvogs]

I'm pretty sure they got the O.J. verdict wrong

This wasn't a criminal case. If you are so sure you are going to win that you won't even talk settlement, than you need to be right. You can't bet everything that you are right, let all your dirty laundry to be air publicly and then freaking lose. If I those 8 listened to everything and found Iowa guilty, now the people who didn't hear everything are also going to believe Iowa was guilty.

Perception is reality and in this case Barta looks like he went all in with a horrible hand and got smoked.

 

[deanvogs]

Great summary by Keith Murphy.

 

[Duke]

Patrick McCaffery‏ @patrickmccaff22 9h9 hours ago
this was just sent to me, it is part of a letter from Jane Meyer to Gary Barta... I didn't realize cancer was a popularity contest

 

[BigD]

The whole system needs a good flushing. Not just Barta but also the board of regents. Happy fat cat mindset at IOWA at all levels. Clean house!!!

 

[eledmonster]

I think this is a when question and not if question.

Here is the deal, Barta felt he had a slam dunk case against Meyer. The fact is he didn't and was delusional to think he did. That is why these things are almost always settled in court. Even if Iowa would have won that case they still have a black eye. Even worse was what happened and that was Barta was knocked the **** out. He presented his side and 8 jurors said unanoumously that it was discrimination.

Barta should be fired for this, and immediately if you ask me. Don't appeal the decision, just fire Barta, Pay Meyer and Griesbaum and move on. You have a woman in place as associate AD, now hire someone with a good track record with women as AD and get back to being a university know for equality and fair treatment of all.

It seems like there were some shenanigans on both sides of this and neither side came off looking particularly good. The only things that are abundantly clear here are: 1.) Meyer had better lawyers. and 2.) Barta's days are numbered. Even if the athletic department is making money hand over fist, the university is not going to be happy with this black eye...

 

[David79]

I think this is a when question and not if question.

Here is the deal, Barta felt he had a slam dunk case against Meyer. The fact is he didn't and was delusional to think he did. That is why these things are almost always settled in court. Even if Iowa would have won that case they still have a black eye. Even worse was what happened and that was Barta was knocked the **** out. He presented his side and 8 jurors said unanoumously that it was discrimination.

Barta should be fired for this, and immediately if you ask me. Don't appeal the decision, just fire Barta, Pay Meyer and Griesbaum and move on. You have a woman in place as associate AD, now hire someone with a good track record with women as AD and get back to being a university know for equality and fair treatment of all.

he won't be.

 

[David79]

You have this 180 defrees wrong Pc. Some are too close to the situation to understand that what happen IS WRONG in the minds of unbiased jurors. Like I said I don't think they did anything wrong, but the Jury did. Game. Set. Match. Meyer wins, that is the reality now.

I don't think so. The president ordered an independent investigation into this. Sally Mason didn't think there was anything wrong and either did the current president. Neither did the Board of Regents.

 

[David79]

They should have settled but my guess is Meyer didn't want to settle. i imagine her demands were pretty high for settlement. Probably far more than what she got out of the trial.

 

[BGOLD]

Herreld extended Barta's contract five years for $4.6M guaranteed last February knowing the Meyer and Griesbaum cases were pending.

Is that money still 'guaranteed' after this trial? Seems like this would give rightful cause to get out of that contract.

 

[deanvogs]

They should have settled but my guess is Meyer didn't want to settle. i imagine her demands were pretty high for settlement. Probably far more than what she got out of the trial.

Barta is the one who wouldn't settle, Meyers camp wanted to.

It just makes you wonder about Barta's judgement. He is in charge of a 100 million dollar plus budget overseeing 20+ sports and he and the universities attorneys think they can go to court with a he said she said case? There was no documentation, nothing done by Barta to build a case in this at all. He knows he didn't fire her because of her sex or sexual orientation, but he also couldn't show the documented reasons he did fire a long time employee with good work reviews for years and years.

It is complete incompetence. Anyone who has ever employed people (and HR should understand as well) you document things.

 

[DP5555]

Barta is the one who wouldn't settle, Meyers camp wanted to.

It just makes you wonder about Barta's judgement. He is in charge of a 100 million dollar plus budget overseeing 20+ sports and he and the universities attorneys think they can go to court with a he said she said case? There was no documentation, nothing done by Barta to build a case in this at all. He knows he didn't fire her because of her sex or sexual orientation, but he also couldn't show the documented reasons he did fire a long time employee with good work reviews for years and years.

It is complete incompetence. Anyone who has ever employed people (and HR should understand as well) you document things.

Honestly, I've thought Barta has been somewhat incompetent regardless of the outcome of the trial. I've always felt like Barta has just been going through the motions. I rarely get the feeling from him that he's LEADING the Athletic Department at Iowa. It has always felt like he's just a figurehead in an organization that sort of runs itself. Instead of actually taking control and handling things the right way.

The results of this trial only further clarify that for me. I have no idea how someone in his shoes didn't think that he needed to document remedial discussions or behavior problems. Or how about the freakin' Iowa HR department? Talk about being asleep at the wheel. They are all getting exposed because they failed to do very basic level management stuff. I manage 10 people at my work. It's management 101 to document, document, document. You're just being lazy and/or showing poor judgement if you decide not to.

 

[deanvogs]

Honestly, I've thought Barta has been somewhat incompetent regardless of the outcome of the trial. I've always felt like Barta has just been going through the motions. I rarely get the feeling from him that he's LEADING the Athletic Department at Iowa. It has always felt like he's just a figurehead in an organization that sort of runs itself. Instead of actually taking control and handling things the right way.

The results of this trial only further clarify that for me. I have no idea how someone in his shoes didn't think that he needed to document remedial discussions or behavior problems. Or how about the freakin' Iowa HR department? Talk about being asleep at the wheel. They are all getting exposed because they failed to do very basic level management stuff. I manage 10 people at my work. It's management 101 to document, document, document. You're just being lazy and/or showing poor judgement if you decide not to.

I was in front of the charge to fire Barta and Mason long ago. Backed off Barta with the 12 win season, but was the first to rip his stupid contract to KF last year.

I think this trial showed what was already apparent before that 12 win season Barta really didn't have control of the Athletic department. Obviously KF has a ton of power, but when you also have an employee situation like Meyer, I mean WTH? Not only that but I think there was more of this before some of the other "old guard" moved out of the Athletic department as well. There was a reason the department was drowning from '10-'15. It started with mediocre football, but was also plagued by incompetence to evolve in the AD. It started with cracking down on tailgating and completely ignoring the game day decline overall at Kinnick from horrible video and audio in he stadium.

I think Iowa would be much better off with new leadership at the top. Someone who will have a spine and be able to transition out of the KF era and into the future.

 

[Hawknigh]

The lawyers who represented Barta should be fired. And the law schools who graduated them should lose their accreditation.