In an exclusive interview with The Daily Iowan on Tuesday, University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson said the search for a new athletic director is not underway. She added that she “very much hopes” that current Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz applies for the position.

“I told her when she took this position, ignore the interim and do the job, and she has,” Wilson said. “She’s out and about connecting with community members. She’s giving talks, she’s representing us at the national and at the Big Ten level. And she’s getting out and about and working with all the coaches.”

Goetz took over as interim athletic director on Aug. 1 after former athletic director Gary Barta retired. She previously acted as Iowa’s deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer since Sept. 7, 2022. 

Since Goetz was hired as the interim AD, she has earned plenty of endorsements from coaches across campus. 

“I’m telling you, I think every coach — and it’s hard to get every coach to agree on something — is behind her 100 percent,” Bluder said on Oct. 9. “She’s an unbelievable team builder. She is a great leader. She’s a great communicator, a great listener as well. I just think if we don’t hire her, that would be a really, really not smart thing to do.”

Iowa volleyball head coach Jim Barnes said that Goetz is the “real deal,” and displays attributes like relatability and attentiveness, which is something he appreciates in an athletic director.

Barnes said Goetz also comes to practices and is “very involved.”

Brad Heinrichs, the CEO of The Swarm Collective, told the DI that Goetz “is completely on board with NIL” and has been “very receptive” to his ideas. 

Goetz has had success in her short time at the helm of Iowa Athletics.

The Iowa women’s basketball squad broke the all-time attendance record for a women’s basketball game on Oct. 15 with 55,646 fans. The construction of a new $20 million Gymnastics and Spirit Squads Training Center began in September. And, the UI completed a feasibility study on Carver-Hawkeye Arena to possibly move the student section closer to the floor to create a better fan environment.

Goetz’s first role in an athletics department was from 2001-08 as an assistant athletic director at Missouri-St. Louis. She then transitioned to Butler and acted as the associate athletic director from 2008-2013.

Goetz got her first taste of the Big Ten when she was hired as deputy athletics director at
Minnesota from 2013-15 and then promoted to interim athletic director for the Gophers in 2015-16.

She then acted as the chief operating officer at UConn from 2016-18 and spent four years as athletic director at Ball State before becoming Iowa’s deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer on Sept. 7, 2022.