Todd Brommelkamp / 1600ESPN
Beth Goetz has a bit of a trolley problem on her hands.
Iowa AD Beth Goetz addresses the media Aug. 22 as football coach Kirk Ferentz looks on.
Iowa’s director of athletics once again found herself sitting in an arena with far more empty seats than those that are occupied when the Hawkeyes hosted Oregon Wednesday night. To say that attendance is merely down for men’s basketball games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena would be akin to saying the Hindenburg had a rough landing. Carver hasn’t been this empty for men’s basketball games since the end of the Todd Lickliter era (or error).
So, what’s an AD to do?
Goetz, as I see it, faces two choices. Both options present outcomes that are less than ideal.
One, kick the school’s all-time wins leader in men’s basketball to the curb with three years remaining on his contract. That move would be costly, put a strong recruiting class at risk and possibly alienate some key individuals close to the department. Chiefly the school’s all-time greatest player in any sport, one who views the McCafferys as family and is likely to become a member of theirs at some point in the future.
The second choice is to run it back another year with McCaffery and hope that this year was truly an aberration that can be chalked up to injuries and underperformance. Understanding, of course, that fans who have become frustrated with the program’s lack of tangible success in recent years would likely view such a move as justification for their continued indifference.
[Note: If it seems like you’ve read much of this before, it’s because you have. Unfortunately, things haven’t gotten better.]
There’s no easy fix for Goetz, who in just over a year on the job has already handled one crisis of confidence within her department quite well. After all, it was Goetz who drew a hard line with former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz and his father-boss. When she announced Brian Ferentz would not return to the Iowa program in 2024, it signaled change was afoot on the west side of the Iowa River. It was, for lack of a better way to describe it, a boss move.
Now the boss has another uncomfortable showdown on her hands.
Little to none of this, of course, is her fault. Support for men’s basketball in Iowa City has ebbed and flowed for the last quarter century since Tom Davis was unceremoniously shown the door following the 1998 campaign. Iowa’s men’s hoops program has gone from merely taking a backseat to football to now riding unprotected in the back of a Ford pickup like so many of my fellow children of the 1980s once did without a second thought to our safety.
Hey, at least we were outside getting fresh air.
Those who oppose a change in leadership like to remind everyone that the grass isn’t always greener. Davis was shunted to the side for Steve Alford because it was believed at the time that the former Indiana star could raise the Hawkeyes to the next level.
Much like members of the purple-robed Heaven’s Gate cult, Iowa fans are still awaiting ascension nearly 30 years later.
If Goetz brings McCaffery back for another season of 3-and-no-D basketball, she’ll do so in large part for financial reasons. Paying McCaffery a buyout for the final years of his deal would essentially be throwing good money after bad. A program strapped for cash would have even less on hand to pay a replacement, build a staff and invest in the transfer portal.
I trust Goetz to do what she believes in her heart of hearts will be the right thing. There’s no perfect outcome here, short of McCaffery swallowing his pride and stepping aside with three years and millions of dollars remaining on his current contract. Every indication I’ve been given is that isn’t an option in the coach’s mind.
The basketball season is almost over. The Hawkeyes are at risk of not even qualifying for the Big Ten tournament, which, now that the league has 18 teams, will only be taking 15 entrants. Carver-Hawkeye Arena remains mostly empty for men’s games, so quiet at times you can hear McCaffery and his coaches calling out instructions.
Listen closely at tomorrow’s game and you may hear something else: A distant train whistle sounding a warning shriek as it chugs toward its final destination. Goetz, her hand on the switch, must decide whether to sacrifice McCaffery or save him at the expense of a growing number of fans who’ve tied themselves to the tracks and said enough is enough.
There’s no way to say what she’ll do at this point. Just know there will likely be carnage one way or another.
Todd Brommelkamp is the host of “The Todd Brommelkamp Show” and can be heard weekday mornings on 1600ESPN from 6:30 to 9 a.m.
