Athletic Director At Iowa
Elliott became the Men's athletic director at the University of Iowa in 1970, succeeding Forest Evashevski. He came to Iowa in the midst of a feud between athletic director Forest Evashevski and football coach Ray Nagel. Evashevski resigned in May 1970, and Elliott was hired to replace him. On accepting the job, Elliott noted: "It's difficult to leave a town where you’ve lived for 13 years (Ann Arbor, Michigan), but the opportunity is so good at Iowa with the people and the school that no one could pass it up."
During Elliott's tenure, the school's teams won 34 Big Ten championships and 11 NCAA titles, as well as making three Rose Bowl appearances and one trip to the Final Four in basketball. The university also built a basketball arena (Carver-Hawkeye Arena), erected an indoor workout center for football and added more than 10,000 seats to its football stadium. His career at Iowa was marked by a general resurgence in the competitiveness of Iowa athletics. Elliott hired a number of notable coaches, including Lute Olson, Dan Gable, Hayden Fry, and Dr. Tom Davis. During Elliott's 21 years as athletic director, the Iowa Hawkeyes won 41 Big Ten championships in football (1981, 1985, 1990), wrestling (1974–1990), men's basketball (1970, 1979), baseball (1972, 1974, 1990), men's gymnastics (1972, 1974, 1986), men's swimming (1981, 1982). See Iowa Hawkeyes for complete list of championships.
Elliott was known as "a coach's AD." "He hired coaches he trusted, then gave them the resources, latitude and support they needed to operate as they saw fit – providing they played by the rules." Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable said his wife cried on learning that Elliott had retired. In 1999, Gable wrote: "Right after I came to coach at the University of Iowa, I had a meeting with Bump Elliott, who was the Athletic Director. I’ll never forget what Bump said to me: ‘Don’t ask for the moon. Strive to get there, sure, but do it wisely through continuing to build upon what you already have. As you build, come see me, and we’ll see how I can help you out.’ I now call that bit of wisdom the Bump Elliott Rule, and it serves a good reminder to keep things in perspective. Gradual, solid growth is better than any quick fix.""The one thing we emphasized from the start was that our staff had to make sure we were 100 percent loyal to each other and the university," Elliott said at the time of his retirement. "There could be no jealousy between the coaches and various programs. I wanted no one talking behind anyone's backs. I wanted absolute loyalty. If not, then that person could leave any time."
Elliott was also the one who hired Hayden Fry as Iowa's football coach in 1979. Fry later said that Elliott was one of the principal reasons he chose to coach at Iowa. In his autobiography, Fry wrote: "Iowa had one thing in its favor as far as I was concerned: Bump Elliott was its athletic director. Bump had a reputation as being a fair, honest and well-liked administrator." Elliott told Fry that he would be the last football coach Bump ever hired. Fry was puzzled and asked Elliott what he meant. Elliott said, "Simple, I don’t think they’ll give me a chance to hire another coach, so if you don’t make it, neither will I." He is the only person to have been with Rose Bowl teams in five capacities – player, assistant coach, head coach, assistant athletic director, and athletic director.
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