against a female ex-employee." In 2017, NPR featured Barta in "A man's game: Inside the inequality that plagues women's college sports." It noted that there was a growing concern that "at Iowa, female coaches were losing ground. Barta had forced out five female coaches in six years. The place that was once a model for gender equity was starting to look a lot like the rest of the country." NPR noted, "Barta replaced two of the five female coaches he ousted with men – and paid those men 25 percent more than their female predecessors. For the three he replaced with other women, he paid those women 13 percent less, according to public salary data. By comparison, when Barta replaced male coaches with other men, he paid the new male coaches 10 percent more." Nevertheless, Barta told NPR that his desire is "to hire the absolute very best, most qualified person available." On why he has replaced female coaches with men, he said, "It's a national phenomenon, not just a problem at Iowa. Are we nationally concerned that there aren't enough women coaching women's sports? The answer is yes," Barta said. "But 50 percent is higher than the state average, it's higher than the Big Ten average and it's higher than the national average." Nepotism Concerns see also: Kleptocracy In January 2012, head football coach Kirk Ferentz hired his son, Brian Ferentz, as the offensive line coach. While the younger Ferentz had experience coaching in the NFL, the hire breached UI nepotism rules and guidelines. In response, Barta claimed that he, not Kirk Ferentz, had made the decision to hire Brian for the job. This was almost immediately contradicted by Brian Ferentz at his introductory news conference, where he stated that his father had "reached out" to him about the job: "Once he had an idea of what he wanted to do, he reached out to me... It was a no-brainer. You can't say no to your father." Barta then instituted a management plan wherein he would act as the younger Ferentz's boss, rather than the head coach Kirk Ferentz, skirting the nepotism laws. During the 2022 season, during which the Iowa offense again ranked among the worst in FBS in points, offensive efficiency, and offensive yardage, the issue of nepotism became a local and national concern. Local reporters called for an "overhaul" of Iowa's "broken" offense. National outlets such