Tyler Barnes has a new title with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz announced in his Media Day press conference that Tyler Barnes is now Iowa football’s chief of staff and general manager.
“The other announcement to make, Tyler Barnes has a new title. It’s football chief of staff and general manager, which is kind of the vernacular, I guess, across the country now. Basically what it is, it’s just a reflection of his changing jobs, the changing role, and I think probably bigger picture, it’s just the changing of college football, the way things have changed.
“We still play with 11 guys. I think it still takes the same amount of guys to coach, although we did add the extra coach a couple years ago. That was a smart move. Coaching is still coaching, but what has changed is the world of recruiting, and that was even a challenge 25 years ago. Pat Fleury was our recruiting coordinator and the first year he had a hard time getting out of the office with all the paperwork that has to be done, all the bureaucracy when it comes to recruiting. It was pretty obvious at that point we were going to have to change our approach, and we’ve done that and that’s kind of evolved,” Ferentz said.
Barnes had served as Iowa’s director of recruiting since April of 2016. Now, while Barnes retains his focus on recruiting for Iowa, he also serves as the main contact for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities between the program and interested parties.
“I never dreamt we’d have a social media department, but we do, and you have to, so I get that. It’s the same thing going back to Tyler. Tyler basically is really helpful in overseeing our entire personnel group. Used to just be recruiting, now you’ve got NIL, you’ve got portal, there’s all kinds of stuff, all kinds of moving pieces. Having him in place really allows me to do some of the things I want to be doing.
“I think the other thing I would just mention, the recruiting calendar has changed a lot. Certainly different than 25 years ago. I would say different than five years ago,” Ferentz said.
As Ferentz pointed out, Barnes’ role is vital in today’s college football with so many roster elements to juggle as a staff. Having Barnes in place allows Ferentz and the rest of his coaches to focus strictly on coaching.
Barnes’ role and importance to the program isn’t lost on Ferentz.
“With all these changes, the work that Tyler and his staff do is really critical because it allows our coaches to actually coach the guys that we recruit to come here, and when we do recruit players, we promise them and their families that we’re going to try to coach them and try to move them forward. To do that, you have to be here, and you have to be present mentally and physically.
“It’s really interesting how things have shifted a little bit, and I think it’s a bigger challenge now than ever. Really I want to give compliments to our personnel department. They’re doing a good job, and it allows the coaches to do, I think, what they enjoy the most and hopefully what they do best,” Ferentz said.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.
Follow Josh on X:@JoshOnREF