Lang
3/7/25
A dispute over kneeling for the national anthem has led to a change in leadership for the University of Iowa softball program.
The UI Athletics Department announced on Friday that interim softball head coach Brian Levin is no longer with the program. Assistant Coach Karl Gollan will lead the team for the remainder of the season.
UI Athletic Director Beth Goetz issued a statement saying, “It is unfortunate we needed to make the change in leadership at this time, but providing an environment for our student-athletes to be their best academically and athletically remains our priority.”
The Daily Iowan reports Levin met with the team to discuss its “culture” on March 1st. Levin told the DI that the team has had a culture problem since he arrived, and that some players felt uncomfortable speaking out when they held different viewpoints from other players.
The issues culminated when several Iowa players chose to kneel during the playing of the national anthem at the Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas last weekend. Levin, a former green beret, held a team meeting between games to discuss the decision. He became frustrated when the players who disagreed with kneeling failed to speak up at the meeting, leading to him saying he had coached his last game at Iowa.
Levin took over the program on an interim basis when head coach Renee Gillispie took a temporary leave to deal with health issues. Levin told the DI that when he took over, he told UI officials that a lot of “cleanup” needed to be done. Levin added that even before the anthem controversy, there was tension on the team dating back to players supporting different candidates during the last presidential election.
Levin led the Hawkeyes to a 13-5 record under his leadership.