Gary Barta

In 2010, a former member of the women's crew, Margaret Krusing, filed a lawsuit against the University of Iowa for permanent disabilities she received as a result of participating in a team-training program that was poorly supervised by medical and athletic training personnel. The two sides settled the lawsuit for $300,000 in October 2013. The athletic department had also previously agreed to pay $60,000 to Krusing by keeping her on her athletic scholarship after she left Iowa to finish her degree at Marquette University.[5]

In November 2012, Peter Gray, associate director of athletic student services, resigned from University of Iowa after an internal investigation accused him of sexually harassing male student-athletes. Gray was also accused of giving football tickets to someone outside the university in exchange for nude photographs. He also had pictures on his work computer that were considered "suggestive in nature", including a picture of the men's swimming team he used as a screen saver and two showing individuals engaged in sexual acts with toys or stuffed animals.[6]

On 6 November 2013, athletic department accountant, Kathleen Willier, was fired after an audit showed $66,000 of department funds were not accounted for. The funds were cash payments from ticket sales for the Hawkeye Express commuter train used to transport fans to and from Kinnick Stadium for home football games[7]

On 4 August 2014, Barta fired field hockey coach, Tracey Griesbaum, following what he said were allegations from a group of former players who complained that Griesbaum had been verbally abusive to them, and had created an atmosphere of intimidation within the program. This led to a vocal outcry from many current and former players and other supporters who called for the immediate reinstatement of Griesbaum as the head coach.

The Iowa Board of Regents and then University of Iowa President Sally Mason refused to hear or consider any appeal to the dismissal. This led to four current and former field hockey players filing, on 28 January 2015, a formal Title IX Civil Rights complaint to the U.S Department of Education. After an initial inquiry, the US Department of Education informed the University of Iowa on 22 May 2015, that it will conduct a formal investigation to determine if gender bias was a factor in the firing of Griesbaum and other female coaches at Iowa.[8][9] On 5 May 2016, a story by Annie Brown of the Center for Investigative Reporting was published on the organization's Reveal website and carried on its radio program. Brown said the names of those who made the allegations were never revealed. She sought to find them. Reaching out to 60 of Griesbaum's former players, "hoping to find one who complained or thought the allegations of verbal abuse or forcing athletes to play injured were justified. Twenty-four agreed to speak, but none had anything negative to say about Griesbaum," Brown reported. The story noted that Barta has fired 5 female coaches since becoming athletic director, but when pressed by Brown, Barta declined to discuss the number of females at the university, saying the issue is a national problem.[10]

On 27 July 2015, Griesbaum filed a formal civil rights complaint against the University of Iowa with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. This was the first step required by Iowa law to ultimately file a civil lawsuit regarding her termination. On 24 January 2016, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission announced their findings in the Griesbaum complaint and indicated that she has a "reasonable possibility" of proving that gender or anti-gay discrimination played a role in her firing. Griesbaum filed a civil lawsuit against the University of Iowa on 7 March 2016.[11][12][13]

On 4 November 2015, former associate athletic director, Jane Meyer, filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against the University of Iowa, the Board of Regents, and the State of Iowa. This was a result of being reassigned from the department of athletics in anticipation of her domestic partner's, Tracey Griesbaum, anticipated lawsuit against the athletic department for wrongful termination.[14]

On 27 January 2016, the athletic department agreed to a $200,000 settlement in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by former women's assistant track coach, Michael Scott. Scott had been hired on an interim basis but was passed over for the permanent position due to a university mandate that a female be hired for the position.[15]

When Barbara Burke became Iowa deputy athletic deputy director in 2017, USA Today noted "she was promoted to the No. 2 position in the University of Iowa athletic department the same week the department went on trial for discriminating against a female ex-employee."[16]

In 2017, NPR featured Barta in "A man's game: Inside the inequality that plagues women's college sports." It noted that there was a growing concern that "at Iowa, female coaches were losing ground. Barta had forced out five female coaches in six years. The place that was once a model for gender equity was starting to look a lot like the rest of the country." NPR noted, "Barta replaced two of the five female coaches he ousted with men – and paid those men 25 percent more than their female predecessors. For the three he replaced with other women, he paid those women 13 percent less, according to public salary data. By comparison, when Barta replaced male coaches with other men, he paid the new male coaches 10 percent more."

This decision to replace female coaches with men has not led to success on the playing fields. "While women's teams earned 27 Big Ten titles during Grant's 27-year tenure, they have earned only four in the 10 years since Barta took over – three out of the four from the field hockey team under Tracey Griesbaum."

Nevertheless, Barta told NPR that his desire is "to hire the absolute very best, most qualified person available." On why he has replaced female coaches with men, he said, "It's a national phenomenon, not just a problem at Iowa. Are we nationally concerned that there aren't enough women coaching women's sports? The answer is yes," Barta said. "But 50 percent is higher than the state average, it's higher than the Big Ten average and it's higher than the national average."

Finally, NPR noted that while the number of women coaches continues to drop at the school and across the nation, "for Barta, things are looking up. At the beginning of 2016, Iowa rewarded him with a five-year contract extension and will boost his base pay from $400,000 to $550,000. It also increased his annual deferred compensation to $250,000 and his potential bonuses. His colleagues around the country have been equally impressed. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics named him an athletic director of the year for 2015-16."[17]