June 23, 2006

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The University of Iowa announced Friday that Gary Barta has been named its new athletics director, replacing Bob Bowlsby.

Barta, the athletics director at Wyoming, will begin his new duties on Aug. 1, at an annual base salary of $295,000.

"Gary Barta stood out as the best candidate in a very competitive pool of candidates following a national search," interim University of Iowa president Gary Fethke said in a statement. "He has the qualities it takes to improve on an athletics program that is already considered one of the nation's best."

Barta, 42, has been Wyoming's athletics director since Sept. 2003. Before that, he spent seven years as an associate A.D. at the University of Washington.

Barta has strong Iowa ties. From 1990-96, he served as the director of athletics development and external relations at the University of Northern Iowa, where he managed all fundraising, marketing and promotions, and media relations activities.

"I look forward to working on a successful transition with Bob Bowlsby, for whom I have the utmost respect," Barta said. "I'm eager to get to know our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and the other members of the athletic department and the entire University of Iowa community."

Bowlsby announced in April that he will take over as athletic director at Stanford.

Barta is a native of Minneapolis. He is a graduate of North Dakota State, where he helped lead the school's football team to three Division II national championships.