IOWA CITY, Iowa — For the second time since 2019, the University of Iowa has fired its volleyball coach.

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta announced the firing of Vicki Brown Thursday afternoon.

Brown had a 17-56 record in less than three seasons at the helm, including a 9-43 record in Big Ten play.

Brown took over as head coach in 2019 after Iowa fired Bond Shymansky for intentionally providing an impermissible benefit to a prospective student-athlete. Brown was previously the associate head coach on Shymansky’s staff.

Brown faced a number of obstacles and distractions during her brief time as head coach. She inherited a team that had all of its wins in 2017 and 2018 vacated because of Shymansky’s NCAA violation. The global pandemic then disrupted her second season leading the Hawkeyes.

Iowa finished 10-21 in Brown’s first season, 4-16 in the COVID-19 2020-21 season and is 3-19 so far in 2021.

“We appreciate Coach Brown’s five years of service with our volleyball program, especially during a difficult transition prior to the 2019 season and the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Barta said in a news release.

Iowa still has eight more matches left in 2021. Iowa assistants Dave Brown and William Tatge will lead the program on an interim basis, according to the news release.