The University of Iowa Presidential Committee on Athletics head said Peter Gray’s previous employment records should have raised red flags during his rehiring process in 2002.
Gray, a former UI associate director of athletics student services, resigned Nov. 5 amid an investigation on alleged sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace.
He was dismissed from his position of director of advisement and retention for “unsatisfactory working results” after less than a year of employment at Coastal Carolina University, according to records obtained from the South Carolina university.
Gray served as director from July 1, 1998, until May 15 of the following year. Documents said Gray’s “employment was not in the best interest of the institution” and that the school would not rehire him.
Among Gray’s numerous duties as a Coastal Carolina University employee were the development, planning, and implementation of advisement and retention programming, and teaching one “freshman success seminar” per semester.
UI Athletics Committee head N. William Hines confirmed that a national search was conducted prior to the hiring of Gray as an associate director of athletics student services.
Hines was not involved in the search or interview processes of Gray’s hiring, nor was he a member of the athletics panel at that time. However, Hines said he was told that a member was present in the process.
Hines said Gray’s reason for dismissal from Coastal Carolina should have raised some questions during the UI’s consideration to rehire him.
“That would certainly cause me to have further inquiries,” he said. “I’d be very surprised if that information wasn’t a part of the search.”
After Gray’s employment at Coastal Carolina, he went to work at Indiana University from 1999 until 2002. In 2002, he became a member of the University of Iowa Athletics Student Services for the second time.
Indiana University spokesman Mark Land said the university was in the process of gathering records regarding Gray’s employment and that they would not be available until today.
The former UI adviser had worked at the University of Mississippi prior to accepting the position at Coastal Carolina University.
Hines said Athletics Committee members have been very involved in the hiring processes of Athletics Department personnel recently.
“I’ve tapped [committee] members to be involved in the interview process six or seven times this year,” he said.
While the UI has been under scrutiny recently for rehiring Gray in 2002, some former Hawkeye athletes have described Gray as a compassionate and caring individual.
“When I played and studied at the university, Pete Gray was a hardworking, polite, and supportive staff member,” said former Hawkeye basketball player Greg Brunner. “I never once had a negative situation with him.”
In a 2010 interview with The Daily Iowan for a profile story about Gray, Associate Athletics Director Fred Mims described Gray as a “tireless worker as far as being available to interact with students.”
Matt Gatens also touted Gray as a valuable staff member in the same article.
“Win or lose, he’s always there slapping your hand,” said the former Hawkeye basketball player. “It makes you feel good that there’s support, especially from a guy like him who is high up in the administration.”