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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A big year from Iowa's football and basketball teams means a big raise for athletic director Gary Barta from his new boss.
A document obtained by The Associated Press shows that Iowa President Bruce Harreld and Barta reached a five-year contract extension last month. It guarantees Barta $4.6 million in compensation through June 30, 2021.
The deal increases Barta's base salary from $400,000 to $550,000 in July and nearly doubles his annual deferred compensation to $250,000. Both amounts will then jump by $50,000 in 2018.
Barta will remain eligible for up to $110,000 in annual bonuses for academic and athletic achievements spelled out in his earlier contract. But the new deal adds an additional $40,000 in potential bonuses based on whether he meets yearly goals established by Harreld, a former IBM executive who was hired as school president last fall.
Barta, who took over for Bob Bowlsby in 2006, was considered embattled just a year ago after a few uninspired seasons from Iowa's football team and a controversy surrounding the abrupt firing of a popular women's field hockey coach.
Despite fan unrest, Barta stuck by longtime football coach Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz led the Hawkeyes to 12 wins and a Rose Bowl appearance, and Iowa heads into spring practice as the early favorite to repeat as Big Ten West champion.
Barta's made his biggest hire, basketball coach Fran McCaffery, in 2010. McCaffery took the once-moribund program to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, and the Hawkeyes are currently atop the Big Ten and ranked fourth in the country.
Barta also helped oversee the fund-raising and construction of new facilities for the football and basketball programs, and his hiring of baseball coach Rick Heller revived that program.
Still, Barta has faced criticism of other personnel matters, including his firing of field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum and decision to reassign her partner, former senior associate athletic director Jane Meyer, outside the department.
Barta is facing serious leadership challenges in the months ahead, largely stemming from those cases.
Griesbaum is expected to join Meyer in filing a lawsuit in the coming days. The Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education is also investigating allegations that female student-athletes haven't been offered equal opportunities during Barta's tenure and is due to visit campus in April. Members of the field hockey team filed the complaints that led to the inquiry.
Iowa spokesman Steve Roe told the AP that Barta is on the football team's annual cruise with the coaching staff and fans and is unavailable for comment.
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Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP and follow Ryan J. Foley at www.twitter.com/rjfoley
