Forest Evashevski - Athletic Director at Iowa

Athletic Director At Iowa

Evashevski succeeded Brechler as Iowa's athletic director in 1960. He hired his assistant coach, Jerry Burns, to replace him as head football coach. Iowa began the 1961 season ranked first in the initial AP Poll but staggered to a disappointing 5–4 record. A defeat of Notre Dame on the final game of the season gave Iowa a winning record for the year; it would be Iowa's last winning season for the next 20 years. Three sub-par seasons put Burns on the hot seat entering 1965, but the 1965 team was predicted to do well. Instead, Iowa finished the year 1–9, and Burns was fired by his former mentor Evashevski. Burns went on to a long and successful coaching career in professional football, serving as an assistant to Vince Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers, which won the first two Super Bowls, and then as offensive coordinator for 18 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings under Bud Grant, when Minnesota went to four Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976. Burns was head coach of the Vikings from 1986–1991, posting a 53–42 mark and three playoff appearances.

There are those who insist that Evashevski wanted to be called back as football coach and that rather than helping Burns to succeed, he hampered him with rules and regulations that were not in force when Evashevski was the coach. When Evashevski was in his final year as coach in 1960, Look magazine wrote, "Close friends are not at all sure (Evy) will quit. They feel he is not sure himself."

One of Burns' assistant coaches said, "From the moment he became athletic director, Evy cut down the cost of maintaining the football program to the bare bones. He cut down on traveling expenses for recruiting, phone calls, entertainment of prospective recruits, you name it. When Evy was coach, we took visiting recruits and their parents to fine restaurants to eat. After Evy became the athletic director, the staff was told that visiting recruits and their parents would eat at the Quadrangle cafeteria. We were told if we recruited in Chicago one week, we were not to go back the next. The football players knew Jerry couldn't make it because of Evy's attitude towards him. It was a very antagonistic situation right from the start that got worse through the years."

Evashevski, for his part, denied the charges and continued to maintain that he never intended to grow old in coaching. However, despite his public statements, rumors swirled that Evashevski would appoint himself to succeed Burns. Evashevski hired Ray Nagel from the University of Utah, although Nagel's record at Utah was not stellar. Some speculated at the time that finding a new coach had been difficult due to the problems Burns reportedly experienced with Evashevski. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported, "At least four coaches either turned down the Hawkeye job or expressed no desire to talk about it."

Nagel's hiring was questioned even more after he had a 3–16–1 record in 1966 and 1967 at Iowa. However, the Hawkeyes set several school and conference offensive records in 1968 and finished with a 5–5 record. A boycott by several black players at Iowa in 1969 hurt the Hawkeye football squad and was a factor in their 5–5 record that season.

Friction between Nagel and Evashevski began to take public effect in January 1970 when Nagel dismissed offensive line coach Gary Grouwinkel for "disloyalty", which Grouwinkel later revealed was his allegiance to Evashevski instead of Nagel. Less than one month later, star quarterback Larry Lawrence and fullback Tom Smith quit the team and transferred to Miami, loudly proclaiming that they would never stay and play for Nagel. About two weeks later, Lawrence's roommate, a non-athlete, submitted to the Iowa Board of Athletics a written statement charging Evashevski with participating in a rebellion aimed at getting Nagel fired and that would allow Evashevski to succeed him as head football coach. Lawrence's roommate stated that Lawrence was recruited to gather player support for Nagel's removal, but that Lawrence's efforts were unproductive. Evashevski vehemently denied the charges, and Iowa's athletic board took no action.

In May 1970, the State Auditor of Iowa announced that the athletic department was under investigation for "padded expense accounts". Nagel not only denied wrongdoing, but claimed that they were shown how to fill out their expense accounts by Evashevski himself. Charges and counter-charges followed, and after a long investigation the Iowa Board of Athletics relieved both Forest Evashevski and Ray Nagel of their respective duties on May 19. Nagel was rehired a few days later, but Evashevski was replaced as athletic director at Iowa by Bump Elliott. The news headlines reported Evashevski as resigning and Nagel as being fired.

The Iowa Attorney General submitted a report to the Iowa Board of Athletics that stated, in part, "Mr. Evashevski's attitudes and other things he has done all tend to support the view of Coach Nagel and four of his five assistants that this is part of a vendetta against him... did the university and people of Iowa, many of whom have almost worshiped him, a great disservice." It might be noted that the Attorney General was a Republican who disliked Evashevski for his activities in Iowa Democratic politics. Also, the Attorney General never interviewed Evashevski while investigating the issue.