Iowa Trimming $15M From Budget With Expenses, Salary Cuts

Gary Barta is taking a 30% paycut on his $1M salary as part of Iowa's cost cutting measuresGETTY IMAGES

The Univ. of Iowa will trim $15M from its "athletic budget for the coming year," according to Mark Emmert of the IOWA CITY PRESS-CITIZEN. Iowa AD Gary Barta yesterday said that the savings will occur in "operating expenses and in salary reductions, including a 30% cutback of his own," which was scheduled to hit $1M this year. Barta said that this forecast "assumes that football and basketball games will occur in their entirety with fans in attendance." Emmert notes Iowa's "original budget for athletics" in '20-21 was $127.5M, but that has been "scaled back" to $112.5M. Top-earning head coaches Lisa Bluder (women's basketball), Tom Brands (wrestling), Kirk Ferentz (football) and Fran McCaffery (men's basketball) have "agreed to a one-year, 15% base salary reduction" as well. Other salary cuts are "spread across the athletic department on a graduated scale" (IOWA CITY PRESS-CITIZEN, 7/1).