The University of Iowa has named Gary Barta as the schools its new athletic director. The 42-year-old Barta has been the AD at Wyoming since 2003 and at one time worked at UNI. He replaces Bob Bowlsby, who is leaving after 15 years to become the new AD at Stanford and while the program is in great shape Barta would like to take it to another level. Barta says there’s always room to do better.
Barta feels this job is the right fit for him. He says he believes you can win and graduate, you can win and not cheat. Barta says the University of Iowa and the Bit Ten has a set of values that he believes in.
Barta says this is one of the jobs he circled years ago when he decided he wanted to become an A-D. Barta says the Iowa State University athletic director would like to think otherwise, “but this is a Hawkeye state.”
Barta is a native of the Twin cities and graduated from North Dakota State where he was a quarterback on three division two national championship teams.