Beth Goetz Starts New Gig with Full Plate

Iowa's Interim Athletic Director Has Plan for Future

Iowa interim AD Beth Goetz listens to Hawkeye football coach Kirk Ferentz speak with reporters during Big Ten Football Media Day on July 26, 2023 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Beth Goetz has barely been on the job as Iowa interim athletics director, but she has plenty to deal with in the coming weeks and months

There is the investigation into gambling by numerous athletes, including some who wagered on football games involving their team.

There is Big Ten expansion — USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will join the conference next season.

And there are the residual effects of the lawsuits settled by the athletics department in recent years.

“Certainly we, just like any other institutions, have had trying moments,” Goetz said during her first press conference in her new position on Thursday. “I think it's important, although I wasn't here for those, that I understand what those issues are, what those issues were like then and try and ensure and help support us in not making any repetitive mistakes.

“But it's always going to be a work in progress. I am incredibly proud of what I see here, the people that I see here, and the belief that we are really trying to serve people the right way, to serve our institution in the right way, and to support our student-athletes and anybody else in a manner that's going to be respectful and inclusive for everybody.”

Goetz takes over for Gary Barta, who retired after 17 years as Iowa’s athletics director. Goetz, who was Iowa’s deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer, was hired at Iowa in September, 2022, after four seasons as Ball State’s director of athletics. Before Ball State, she was the chief operating officer/senior woman administrator at Connecticut from 2016-18, and was Minnesota’s deputy athletics director from 2013-15 and interim athletics director during the 2015-16 season.

And perhaps the biggest issue she has to face is the investigation by the state’s Department of Criminal Investigation and the NCAA into gambling by 26 athletes within the program.

Six current and former football players and one staff member are facing charges of tampering with records, with four football players accused of betting on Iowa games.

Goetz is hoping for clarification soon from the NCAA on the status of the remaining athletes under investigation, including defensive lineman Noah Shannon, who has not been charged but has admitted that he is one of the players under investigation.

“On the reinstatement process specifically, we have submitted all the requested information to date to the NCAA, and we're optimistic that we are just hopefully days away perhaps from getting some feedback at least initially on what that means for our student-athletes who currently are here and have remaining eligibility,” Goetz said. “There's obviously some additional steps in the process once that decision is rendered, but we're optimistic that that might happen here in short order as opposed to a few weeks down the road.”

Goetz said she is unclear on the NCAA’s response.

“I think all of you, as well as we have, have seen what the prescribed penalties are, but part of the NCAA process is always to provide mitigation, so what are the other things that may have contributed to any violation that occurred,” Goetz said. “I think we were as cooperative and as transparent, our athletes were, as well, in this process, and so we're going to respond as best we can to see what that might look like, and if there are additional steps that we need to follow, we'll do so.”

Goetz said the investigations could lead to additional education to athletes about the NCAA’s gambling rules.

“I think any time where you see something like this, it's always a time you want to evaluate and see what practices you have in place and see how you can get better,” she said. “One, I do think we had educational components in place, but the world has changed. The environment that those young men and all of us and women are living in, being bombarded with advertisements and all of the online gaming opportunities, and the fact that it's now legal certainly in the state of Iowa and across many states, the environment has changed.

“So how we educate, how frequently, what that mechanism is I think is going to be important. As we come through this, we know and believe that the integrity of the game, there's just nothing more important than that. We do think there's going to have to be an evaluation of how these rules are applied from the NCAA level.”

Goetz also said on Thursday that Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz will report to her as his direct supervisor, similar to arrangement under Barta because of the university’s nepotism rule.

Ferentz, at the end of last season, had his contract amended after a season in which the Hawkeyes had one of the worst offenses in Football Bowl Subdivision play. Ferentz took a $50,000 pay cut and his two-year rollover was put on hold as part of the amendment, which states if Iowa wins seven games and increases its scoring average to 25 points — points by the defense and special teams included — he’ll be paid a lump sum of $112,500, have his salary raised to $925,000 and go back to having a two-year rolling contract.

Goetz said the amendment remains in the contract.

“Let me lead with this — his goal, and I know because I've sat down with him and I've sat down with Kirk, and really the goal of every coach that we have here is to win games,” Goetz said. “I'm 100 percent convinced I was going into those conversations, and I was going out, that their focus is on how do we win football games and how do we develop these young men.

“As we look at those types of things, just like we would in any sport, you're going to evaluate a season at the end and see how you did. But the goal is to win along the way, and I've won some ugly games as a coach and I never gave any of them back.”