By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In the span of about two hours on Wednesday, I sat through three press conferences at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and saw both the good and bad side of Iowa athletics.

The good side was provided by Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and her three seniors who will make their final appearance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday against Northwestern in the regular-season finale.

It was like a breath of fresh air to listen to Bluder and the players talk about the special bonds they have formed over the years.

Bluder was nearly brought to tears as she talked about seniors Megan Gustafson, Tania Davis and Hannah Stewart. Bluder had to stop and compose herself several times because her three seniors mean that much to her.

“This is going to be tough,” Bluder said, her voice cracking with emotion. “They’re just a really good group. They’ve been through so much together.”

Bluder’s press conference was followed by two more press conferences that weren’t scheduled until Wednesday morning.

It was Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta’s attempt to do damage control during a week in which major damage was inflicted on his athletic department from a public relationship standpoint.

Barta sat alongside Iowa radio announcer Gary Dolphin during the second press conference, and together, they addressed Dolphin’s controversial suspension that came after he compared Maryland forward Bruno Fernando to King Kong.

It was announced on Wednesday morning that Dolphin would be reinstated for the start of the Iowa football team’s spring practice.

Dolphin wanted to return sooner, but he understands why he was suspended and hopes to learn and grow from the experience.

“It’s been a difficult week for me personally and I know it’s been difficult for the university, and unfortunately, it’s been a week of distractions for the young men that wear that Hawkeye basketball jersey,” Dolphin said. “That’s what I feel worst about.”

Dolphin told reporters that he now recognizes that his analogy was unacceptable and inappropriate and he apologized for offending anyone anywhere.

“I drifted outside the boundary line,” Dolphin said.

The third press conference on Wednesday also dealt with somebody who had drifted outside the boundary line.

Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery sat next to Barta and addressed his two-game suspension for berating an official in the moments after Iowa’s 90-70 loss at Ohio State on Tuesday.

The Toledo Blade's Kyle Rowland observed and heard McCaffery cursing at an official. McCaffery was heard shouting expletives and calling the official a “cheating (expletive)” and a “expletive” disgrace.”

The story soon went viral on the Internet and Iowa was forced to do damage control.

“I said what I said back in the tunnel directly,” McCaffery said. “I didn’t want it to be public. I didn’t say it out on the floor in front of thousands of people. I said it directly to him, and somebody ended up hearing it. OK, that’s unfortunate. But that’s the reality of the situation.”

Barta suspended McCaffery for Iowa’s next two games — the home finale Saturday against Rutgers and at Wisconsin on March 7. The Big Ten Conference also levied a $10,000 fine on Iowa’s athletics department for violating its sportsmanship policy.

Barta said McCaffery has agreed to pay the fine.

“I shouldn’t have said it, but I didn’t feel really good at that moment about what took place at all,” McCaffery said. “I think the official in question has been a guy of integrity in the past. So for that reason, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

McCaffery seemed less apologetic than Dolphin, but that could just be McCaffery’s personality.

However, McCaffery’s comment about not wanting his remarks to go public makes you wonder if he was more upset about getting caught than anything else.

McCaffery said it was unfortunate that somebody heard what was supposed to be a private conversation.

But to call an official a cheater and a disgrace in private also would’ve have been wrong and unacceptable and deserving of a suspension.

“I just want to begin by saying I’m a very passionate person, I think everybody in this room knows and understands that,” McCaffery said. “I love my family and I love my players and we live in a very competitive environment.

“Last night was one of those nights where my emotions got the better of me. And I apologize for that and I regret that.”

McCaffery’s temper has caused him problems before.

He was suspended for one game in 2014 by the Big Ten after an ejection on the road against Wisconsin in which he received consecutive technical fouls and bumped an official. Iowa was fined $10,000 by the Big Ten Conference in that case as well.

Barta was asked how many suspensions it would take for McCaffery’s job to be in jeopardy.

“One of the reasons I was excited to hire him is exactly because of that passion,” Barta said. “And we’ve talked about I don’t ever want you to lose that. I don’t ever want you to change that. There are certain things, and I won’t go into detail, where I want you to get better and he wants to get better.

“So I don’t have a number. What I would tell you is I love Fran’s coaching, I love his style. I love what he does. If and when he has an issue that I’m uncomfortable with, we talk about it. This one happened to be very public and we’ve dealt with it and he’s accepted it. And we’re moving forward.”

McCaffery seemed to dismiss the thought that he might need some help with anger management, and there are no plans for him to get treatment.

Dolphin, on the other hand, said Wednesday that he has learned about what he calls unconscious bias and insensitivity during the past week and is determined to learn more about both topics to avoid saying the wrong thing again.

Dolphin doesn't want to change his style in the radio booth, nor should he have to, because he has spent nearly 40 years building his identity. And he had never been suspended until this basketball season.   

“My hope is that what happened Tuesday night in the post-game will open up additional conversations, not only here on campus, but across the state and across the country,” Dolphin said. “So I will serve out the suspension.

“I’m delighted that I’m allowed to come back for spring football, and most importantly for football and basketball in 2019.”

Dolphin and Barta both talked about the importance of moving on from what has been an embarrassing and costly week from an image standpoint.

Barta has dealt with controversy before at Iowa, including losing a discrimination lawsuit that ultimately cost the Iowa Athletic Department nearly $6 million in a settlement with former athletic administrator Jane Meyer and former field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum.

“We’ve had ups, we’ve had downs,” Barta said. “The reputation and the foundation upon which Iowa athletics is built is strong.  And so this week has been challenging. It’s been challenging for the athletic director. It’s been challenging going through this with Fran; Gary Dolphin, that’s been a challenge.

“But I’m confident that the foundation is strong and that we’ll get back on track. We have a great reputation, and we’ll focus on that going forward.”

That is exactly what you would expect the leader of Iowa’s athletic department to say publicly under the current circumstances.

Barta has to believe that because what other choice does he have?

But do the fans still believe it?

Or has it reached the point where Barta’s words mean very little?

If that’s the case, it’ll take a lot more than a press conference or two to fix the problem.