Iowa softball’s Interim Head Coach Brian Levin confirmed he has been let go from the program a week after meeting with the team regarding culture on March 1.
“There’s been a cultural problem in the softball program since I arrived,” Levin said in an audio message sent to The Daily Iowan. “It’s a problem in which some players are comfortable speaking up and some players are silenced for having different views or opinions.”
Levin said those tensions came to a head when he called a team meeting between games in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last weekend after multiple players decided to kneel for the national anthem prior to Iowa games. Several Iowa softball players were contacted but were not immediately available for comment.
In the March 1 meeting, Levin, a U.S. Army veteran and former green beret, said he attempted to orchestrate a dialogue among the team about the decision some players had made to kneel. He said when student athletes who had previously expressed concern to him individually about kneeling did not share those sentiments with the group, he grew frustrated over what he felt was sticking up for individuals who, “don’t have my back.”
“That’s not an environment I condone or promote, let alone be blamed for later for creating,” Levin said in the message he sent to the DI. “And not one I want to be a part of.”
At that point, Levin said he then stood up and told the group, “This is the last game I have coached at Iowa,” and started to leave. Levin said players then grew emotional, with one in particular saying he was “leaving us.”
Levin’s bio remained on the Iowa softball website identifying him as the “interim coach,” until Friday afternoon when the University of Iowa officially announced his departure. On Tuesday, according to a text obtained by the DI, Levin messaged recruits saying “I have not officially resigned, nor been let go. My hope is to stay here and get the problem resolved so you can kick butt.”
“Unfortunately, my assumption is that I will not be returning which would indicate there is no plan to improve the environment and it will be swept under the rug for the next coach to deal with,” the message continues. “If so, then my hope is that you will be very cautious about what environment you will be putting yourself into, because there is still time to weigh other options.”
Levin did not make the trip with the softball team for its weekend series in Alabama. By Friday afternoon, he confirmed to the DI he had been removed as interim coach.
Levin took over as interim head coach after head coach Renee Gillispie announced in December she would be stepping down for the 2025 season due to a “personal health matter.” Gillispie’s biography is still up on the team’s roster page. Levin said when the UI offered him the job of interim head coach, he told them, “It would be really hard. There’s a lot of cleanup to do here.”
“I was aware there were some issues on the team that could lead to some problems if not properly addressed and resolved would probably lead to my contract not being renewed because they needed to be fixed and someone needed to do it. Needless to say, I accepted the role anyway.”
Levin said his concerns with culture on the softball team stem further back than players kneeling for the flag. He said during the election, tensions rose among players with differing political viewpoints which “caused a lot of people to turn on each other.”
“A lot of people really, really felt looked down on because they had one view and others had a different view,” he said.
After an 18-28 record last year, the Hawkeyes started the 2025 season with a 14-5 record and won their most recent game in Alabama, 4-2, against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. Prior to joining the Hawkeyes, Levin served as the head coach at Southern Mississippi from 2020-2022 before resigning. He was also previously a head coach at Belmont from 2017-19 and Akron from 2014-16.
With Levin’s departure and Gillispie not currently with the program, Assistant Coach Karl Gollan remains the only experienced coach on the roster. Gollan was named assistant coach in August 2024 after a one-year stint as pitching coach at Ole Miss. Prior to that, Gollan was the head coach at Augustana.
According to a statement from the UI, Gollan will lead the program for the rest of the season.
“I am incredibly proud of the student-athletes and their commitment to focus on competing as Hawkeyes,” Beth Goetz, the UI athletics director, said in the release. “It is unfortunate we needed to make the change in leadership at this time, but providing an environment for our student-athletes to be their best academically and athletically remains our priority.”