Commentary
by Ian Murphy
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Two lawsuits, both alleging some form of discrimination, raise some question.
An elephant exists in the room the size of a Department of Education investigation, or maybe that elephant grew to be both the investigation and the size of a ending lawsuit brought forth by a former volunteer coach.
A question needs to be answered, and for the Iowa Athletics Department, the question needs to be answered soon.
The firing of former field-hockey head coach Tracey Griesbaum and the subsequent Title IX complaint and Department of Education investigation have been well-documented.
The university contends it fired Griesbaum for alleged mistreatment of athletes. Griesbaum and her attorneys contend that she was fired for being gay. Athletes filed a Title IX complaint, and the Education Department opened the investigation.
But now, a former volunteer track coach is alleging he was passed over for a job because of his sex, raising the question, What is going on in the Iowa Athletics Department?
The answer could be nothing. The other applicants for the track and field coaching job could simply have been better.
Or, as the Associated Press reports, there could have been a concerted effort to hire a female coach rather than a male coach, shutting the door for former interim assistant Mike Scott to garner full-time employment.
According to the AP, emails in the department made specific discussion of hiring a female coach. It was called a university mandate.
“In all searches conducted by the university, there is a commitment to recruit a diverse pool of qualified candidates. If a search pool does not reflect diversity, it is not uncommon for a search to be delayed and additional candidates recruited.
“In the end, the Athletics Department hired the assistant coach it deemed the most qualified for the position,” a university statement said in response to the AP. The university and Athletics Department do not comment on specific cases.
That seems to be a good hiring practice. Recruiting more candidates seems to be the responsible thing to do. Not commenting on individual cases protects the university. .
Still, the matter of Griesbaum persists, as do allegations that female coaches have been held to higher standards than their male counterparts.
Allegations were also made against Griesbaum of bullying and mentally abusing former players, something many players have since denied. The former coach was so popular, players wore shirts in support of her when warming up last season.
Isolate either incident and not much might be made of it, but to have two separate discrimination cases filed in two years puts the microscope squarely on the department
The combination of lawsuits come at an interesting time for the department. The semester is still in its infancy, A new university president will be announced Thursday, and Athletics Director Gary Barta has one year left on his contract.
A case can be made for both parties in both suits. There may have been a better candidate to fill the track role, and the allegations against Griesbaum may have been true.
But the possibility of a concerted effort to hire a female coach puts the department in a bigger bind than ever, and with its hiring and firing practices already under fire by the Education Department regarding the Griesbaum case, the question, what is going on in the Iowa Athletics Department, will arise.
The answer should come soon after.
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