"They better name her the full-time AD. I don't want to put any pressure on anybody, but she's as good as it gets". This was a comment from Boston Celtic president Brad Stevens several years ago as Beth Goetz was being promoted in her job responsibilities to interim athletic director at the University of Iowa. That's the kind of respect Goetz had come by in her sports administration life. What was Beth's first big task?
The first big hurdle in her Iowa career involved the Hawkeye football team. Last fall, things had reached such a head with OC Brian Ferentz that University President Barb Wilson directed Beth to dismiss him at the end of the season. Brian had entered the season with a clause in his contract that the offense needed to average 25 points per game. When it was obvious they were going to fall short, rumor has it, head coach Kirk Ferentz lobbied for another year as a prove-it for his son. Wilson put a quick end to that notion instructing Beth to meet with both son and father and deliver the edict. For Beth it was a defining moment, and she came through the situation stronger and more focused. No doubt it led to her promotion to lead Hawkeye Athletics in January of 2024.
Next up was Women's Basketball. After two seasons of runs to the National Championship title game with Caitlin Clark, things seemed like they were continuing upward to compete with the top programs in the sport. Iowa Women's Basketball was selling out and a stellar recruiting class was coming in. Nothing looked better. Then on May 13th, Head Coach Lisa Bluder offered her resignation. Days before that, there had been several meetings to with Bluder and Goetz to fine-tune a successor. Their back and forth led to the perfect person, Jan Jensen. Not only did Jensen's appointment help retain the players that were returning but also kept every last recruit in the fold.
Then came Fran McCaffrey. The 2024-25 season was one riddled with injuries for the Big Ten squad. When it was all said and done, the Hawkeyes finished 7-13 in the league and 17-16 overall. Data showing tickets scanned for Big Ten home games on Saturdays average 8,172, while all other days during conference play averaged 4,655 tickets scanned. These numbers simply became something Goetz could not ignore. Additionally, Fran was not a public relations person. His demeanor on the bench and at press conferences lack emotion or any sense of passion. And it became obvious when the season concluded there would be a change at head coach. Iowa made the conference tourney on the final game of the season by beating Nebraska and then won their first game at the Big Ten's knocking off Ohio State. In the early morning after losing to #24 Illinois 106-94, Beth returned home to Iowa City.
Here is where the first part of the apologies needs to be offered.
The team flew back several hours later after Beth left Indianapolis with McCaffrey on board. A meeting with Beth was to take place on his arrival back in the early afternoon. Around the plane touchdown in Cedar Rapids at 12:30 p.m. a story moved from Pete Thamel from ESPN that McCaffrey had been dismissed....according to sources. Where he came by that information, I'm not sure. No local reporters were saying anything publicly, if they knew. What is rather irksome of this news is that both Beth and Fran weren't accorded an opportunity to conduct this coaching change in the right manner. Rather awkward wouldn't you say with both parties knowing word had leaked out before they even met? After 15 years, Fran deserved better. And as a young AD, Beth did too. Here are the details:
1. Fired, not a resignation: ESPN reported that McCaffrey was fired, not that he resigned or retired.
2. Buyout: McCaffrey's contract had a buyout clause, which Iowa had to pay to terminate his contract.
3. Buyout Amount: The buyout was estimated to be around $4.2 million
4. Reason for Firing: The Hawkeyes had a disappointing season, missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, and finished with their lowest wins and lowest Big Ten regular season finish in seven years
5. Contract Details: Fran's contract was through 2028. His base was $2.1 million for 2025-26; $2.1 for 2026-27 and $2.2 for 2027-28.
So, Pete Thamel, I believe an apology is in order. Your words caused undue harm to many who deserved a little compassion at the time. Most importantly do you realize, Pete, how many coaches, families and friends were affected by your quick release words. In this day and age, it's better to be correct than the first to throw out words to a story.
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| Battle tested Beth leads the Hawks |
So, with that debacle behind her, Goetz set sail to hire her first head coach where she did the lion's share of the search work. It was in many aspects her first real hire.
Hawkeye fans were fraught with delight. The favorite in fan land was West Virginia head man, Darian Devries, a former Drake coach, that had always dreamed of leading Iowa. It was an added plus that Darian had his son, Tucker, a smooth as silk forward, available to come with him. Tucker had sustained an injury early in the 2024-25 making him eligible to petition for another year. The message boards became a sea of support for DeVries. Anybody else would have been a disappointment. But there was another head man sitting quietly in play, his team in the NCAA Tourney, Drake Head Coach, Ben McCollum. It looked like #1 Devries and #2 McCollum for the Iowa job until out of nowhere came the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana felt Darian possessed all the characteristics they wanted in a head man. They began finalizing a contract for DeVries and then who should appear, but Pete Thamel, saying Devries was no longer a candidate for the Iowa job. That cleared the way for Indiana to offer DeVries. Of course, many Iowa fans wondered who this Pete guy was again.
It suddenly became a Ben McCollum or have egg on your face for Beth. But here is where I offer a feeling, I had from the very beginning of this Iowa coach search. I think Ben was Goetz's first choice all along. McCollum was born in Iowa City, raised in Storm Lake and went to college at NIACC in Mason City. As a youngster he attended a Hawkeye Basketball camp and had his picture taken with Coach Tom Davis. But fans were feeling letdown. Not sure why, because his creative half-court offense had led to success over the years at Division II, Northwest Missouri State. McCollum won four national titles in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. And most importantly, McCollum had just completed a 31-4 mark at Drake. The buyout for DeVries at West Virginia of nearly $6 million combined with McCaffrey's $4 million might have been the death blow to landing Darian. Message boards were ripe that Beth was in over her head and her plan or plans were quickly evaporating.
On Sunday morning, a Hawkeye website reporter dropped information that Iowa and McCollum were finalizing details on a contract. Hawkeye fans were reinvigorated! One hour went by, then another and then a report from Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register brought things to a halt. "Not so fast", he intimated. Things weren't in the finalization stage, but they were talking. A deal could be had soon, possibly. Through the remainder of the day into the evening, the message boards and internet were ablaze. Was there going to be any good news coming? Was West Virginia making a strong pitch for Ben? It wasn't until the wee hours of Monday that McCollum accepted details of the contract.
But she came through and it's here where apologies can certainly be offered again. I think she got it right. In the end, McCollum earned the job, and he's a very fitting coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Will we ever know how close Beth came to losing McCollum to a late bid from West Virginia? Most likely not. In the end, we know Goetz knocked it out of the park with a quality hire to energize the Hawkeye faithful.
Interesting that the last three Drake coaches will now be leading Big Ten programs in 2025-26. Niko Medved at Minnesota; DeVries at Indiana and McCollum at Iowa. Sure, says something about the Bulldog program.
What's next on the Beth Goetz calendar? Will she need to look to replace Rick Heller the tremendously successful Iowa baseball coach? Or will it most likely be the future of Hawkeye football head man, Kirk Ferentz. He's just a couple of wins from becoming the winningest coach in the Big Ten history. He has 204 victories and Woody Hayes has 205. Ferentz is also close to qualifying for the College Football Hall of Fame. He needs to boost his all-time record to a 60%. If he does that and qualifies for the Hall, does he look to hang it up?
Stay tuned!
And watch, Beth will have a solid plan in place. She's as good as it gets. I heard that once.
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