Kirk Ferentz is already making a borderline obscene amount of money from the University of Iowa. Now the school is looking into Ferentz hiring his future son-in-law to a football administrative assistant job, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta had no idea that Tyler Barnes was engaged to marry Ferentz's daughter until The Gazette asked him about it, the newspaper said.
Barnes was hired to the temporary position in January of 2012, according to The Gazette, and his position was extended until 2014. Six months after he was hired, he was engaged to Joanne Ferentz.
Kirk Ferentz told The Gazette he "didn’t see any reason to" tell Barta that the young man he hired – without a search, the Associated Press said – was going to be part of his family soon.
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The school is reviewing to see if its policy on nepotism was followed.
“If he’s reporting within football operations and the reporting line goes to the head coach and he’s becoming the son-in-law of the head coach, that becomes a conflict,” Sue Buckley, UI vice president for human resources, told The Gazette.
The Gazette wrote that Kirk Ferentz hired his son Brian to be his offensive line coach in 2012. Brian Ferentz beat out more than 100 other applicants.
This isn't exactly as bad as Bobby Petrino hiring mistress Jessica Dorrell to a job at Arkansas or anything (Barnes' temporary job was for just $32,000, after all, and requires a lot of hours for that pay), but The Gazette's report is bound to raise at least a couple of eyebrows around Iowa.
Barta told The Gazette that Barnes' status going forward is "undetermined."
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