CLEVELAND — Ten hours before Iowa’s women’s basketball team faced UConn in the NCAA Final Four, new athletics director Beth Goetz was helping to prepare the next generation of women’s basketball coaches.
Goetz, 49, served on a panel offering advice to newly hired coaches. She once was in their position as a young soccer coach after graduating from Clemson. This is her way of giving back. But it didn’t distract her from what would take place on Friday evening — a 71-69 Iowa win against UConn.
In one of the most impactful eras in collegiate sports, Goetz has three layers of issues with which to concern herself. There is the local day-to-day responsibility of managing an athletics department that generated $167.4 million in fiscal year 2023. There’s a new-look Big Ten on the horizon, which includes four new universities and countless logistical challenges. Finally, there are existential issues at the national level regarding pay for play.
In Goetz’s interview with The Athletic, which took place before her panel discussion, most of the topics related to Iowa athletics. Our conversation runs in two parts. The first deals with both women’s and men’s basketball and Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The second portion, which runs later this week, revolves around football and…
