Longtime University of Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is expected to announce his retirement Friday, sources told ESPN. He’s expected to officially step down on Aug. 1, per sources.
Barta, 59, has been the athletic director at Iowa for 17 years, making him the second-longest tenured AD in the Big Ten conference behind Ohio State’s Gene Smith.
Barta has played a big role in college athletics overall, including a recently completed three-year stint as a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee. He served as the CFP committee chair in 2020 and 2021.
His tenure included strong success on the field. Per his Iowa bio, the school has won 11 Big Ten championships since the fall of 2020. Iowa’s women’s basketball team, led by star Caitlin Clark, played for the national title in 2023.
Iowa’s men’s basketball team has won at least 20 games in each of the past four seasons and won the Big Ten tournament title in the 2021-22 season.
Meanwhile the football team has authored 10 consecutive winning seasons under coach Kirk Ferentz. That success included a 2015 season that saw the team make an appearance in the Big Ten title game and earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. The Hawkeyes also played for the Big Ten title in 2021.
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