Leistikow: Iowa football GM Tyler Barnes’ vision for revenue sharing, roster cap of 105

College football’s evolution into a modified version of the NFL is undeniably coming soon.

Schools sharing revenue with players, salary caps, roster cuts and general managers … yes, all of that officially arrives in the fall of 2025.

And for the Iowa football program, that impending reality of a model will fall under the umbrella of 39-year-old Tyler Barnes.

Barnes was among the newsiest topics of Iowa’s recent media day, when longtime Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz announced a change in his son-in-law’s title. Barnes has been promoted from director of recruiting, a post he had held since 2016, to Iowa football’s chief of staff/general manager.

“More than anything, I wanted to restructure our personnel department a little bit,” Barnes said in an interview this week with the Des Moines Register, which aired on our weekly Hawk Central radio show on KXnO (106.3 FM). “And that title change gave me the opportunity to do that.”

The recent House vs. NCAA settlement, the terms of which were released publicly in late July, outline a new college-sports model. The big headlines to know for the purposes of our conversation with Barnes and how it impacts Iowa football:

• Up to about $21.5 million annually can be allocated to “revenue sharing,” meaning direct payments from the university to athletes.
• Football scholarship maximums for FBS schools were raised from 85 to 105, with partial scholarships now permitted.
• And a football roster cap was set at 105 players. That includes walk-ons. Barnes said Iowa’s latest roster has 131 players.

But before diving into the weeds … why Barnes?

The cries about nepotism have followed him for more than a decade, since Barnes became engaged to one of Ferentz’s daughters, Joanne, while he was on Iowa’s staff in 2013. (The couple now has three young children.) After three years with Vanderbilt’s football staff (including one under current Penn State coach James Franklin), Barnes returned to Iowa in 2016 and has since reshaped the Hawkeyes’ recruiting approach.

A double major in sports studies and finance at Iowa, Barnes’ intelligence and ability to help build rosters with NFL talent have gained him attention among those who make major hires in college football.

MORE: Join Chad Leistikow’s Hawkeyes text group

Though understandably not wanting to acknowledge suitors specifically, Barnes has turned down offers at his same position from playoff-caliber programs in recent years to stay at Iowa.

Brad Heinrichs, the CEO of the Iowa Swarm Collective who works closely with Barnes on the Hawkeyes’ roster, noted that Iowa’s “reranked” recruiting classes typically rank much higher than the pundits suggested. For example, Iowa’s 2020 recruiting class was ranked 35th at the time by Rivals; The Athletic put it No. 6 nationally in its “rerank” published earlier this year.

“Tyler … has a gift for finding lightly recruited players who turn into NFL Draft picks,” Heinrichs said. “Given that many blueblood schools have tried to lure him away from Iowa, that tells me that he is well-regarded by his peers.”

Barnes spoke on the nepotism topic and his job offers with the Register.

“Everybody on our staff – coaches and support staff included – we all get calls from schools. Every year. And really enticing ones,” Barnes said. “But we all choose to stay here for a certain reason, too. I get to work for an unbelievable head coach – and obviously I’m biased on that front – but everybody in our building, they’re going to say the same thing.

“I’d like to think that I didn’t get a title change because of (nepotism). I’d like to think it’s because of the loyalty I’ve had to this place and what we’ve been able to do, going back to 2016. I know everybody wants top-25 recruiting classes … but I think we’ve done a really good job of finding some high-caliber players that are obviously playing on Sundays now and have had a chance to win a lot of football games.”

Barnes’ staff restructuring, he said, will help Iowa retain quality people in the $100 million business of Hawkeye football. Matt Spaulding, who has been a recruiting analyst and specialist for Iowa since 2017, will assume Barnes’ old title of director of recruiting. Longtime sidekick Scott Southmayd will remain director of personnel. Rhett Smeins is a newly acquired assistant director of recruiting from Northwestern. Ireland Hostetler is in her third year as director of internal operations. And there are two creative-media staffers in Justin Elsner and Drew Kocken.

That seven-person full-time staff is “plenty big,” Barnes said, even though some programs around the country have recruiting staffs of 20-plus. It’s possible one more full-time spot could be added as the NIL world continues to grow.

“We’re in a sweet spot,” Barnes said. “We’ve got a really good staff.”

So, what about this number 105?

This is a topic that will consume Barnes for the next 12 months. The roster limit of 105 goes into effect starting with the 2025-26 academic year. First and foremost, the idea of making roster cuts will be painful. Iowa has 40-plus walk-ons on the team currently. The Hawkeye program has long been fueled, in part, by walk-on stories – most famously Dallas Clark, the 2002 Mackey Award winner. Kicker Keith Duncan, a 2019 consensus all-American, was an Iowa walk-on for three years.

Last year’s sacks leader, Joe Evans, was a former walk-on. Two current Hawkeye starters – linebacker Kyler Fisher and safety Quinn Schulte – are former walk-ons.

“We’ve got to find a way to cut 26 of them,” Barnes said. “That’s a really big number when you sit down and you look at your roster.

“It’s a lot of guys we recruited, and you told their families we were bringing them here for a reason. And now going into the 2025 season, things have changed pretty drastically. It’s going to reshape who we are a little bit.”

Paired with roster cuts is an increase in full-ride scholarships. Barnes doesn’t think Iowa will go all the way to 105 – though that will largely be up to how athletics director Beth Goetz decides to balance a potential increase in football scholarships (as well as basketball, wrestling and baseball) with an increase in women’s scholarships to make sure Iowa is Title IX compliant. Barnes does not envision providing partial scholarships as part of his plan.

“That’s a gigantic headache, when you get into it,” he said.

Barnes also is of the opinion that going all the way to 105 would limit roster flexibility. Once a player signs a national letter of intent, for lack of better phrasing, Iowa is “stuck” with that player until he graduates, quits or transfers. But if, say, the working number was 95 scholarships, that would allow Iowa to bring in 10 preferred walk-ons – often those guys that have high FCS offers from programs like Northern Iowa, North Dakota State or South Dakota State.

Some walk-ons in the new model will work out, and some won’t – just like now. But in the 2025 model, those who don’t work out would be in danger of getting cut. Those who do work out, just like now, could get promoted to scholarship status. Barnes didn’t say that explicitly, but that’s how a savvy general manager would create space to fill needs and accommodate potential transfers.

“To have that flexibility, even if it’s just 10 spots, is huge,” Barnes said. “In this day and age in college football … it’s all very fluid.”

Another important thing under Barnes’ direction will be paying players under the new revenue-sharing model. All 105, scholarship or not, are eligible for those payouts. Obviously, Ferentz as the program CEO has the final say on all things, including how those dollars are allocated. But it would be safe to assume that Iowa will construct a model consistent with Ferentz’s principles of getting what you earn.

The Hawkeyes under Ferentz will not be the type of program that pays top dollar for three or four megastars. They’ll likely embrace a tiered system in which the best players – starters, for example – will be paid the most. Ferentz also puts a lot of weight into seniority, so it would not be a surprise to see freshmen on the bottom of the pay scale.

It’s a complete unknown now how much of that potential $21.5 million pie that Goetz will earmark for football. Some SEC programs have talked about $15 million going toward football. Title IX is a major factor here – whether dollars will go equally to men’s and women’s athletes, or if Title IX applies only to the opportunity to play Division I athletics and not the dollars. The courts will have the final say on that.

For now, Barnes must wait on directives. But while all the coaches are thinking about the upcoming 2024 season, his thoughts are laser-focused on 2025 and beyond.

“It’s going to be a different world,” Barnes said. “I’ve done a few different exercises, and I think we’ve got an idea of where we’re going.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.