Fred Mims, Iowa's Associate Director of Athletics for Athlete Student Service and Compliance, speaks with the media following a press conference by head football coach Kirk Ferentz and Athletic Director Gary Barta at the Hayden Fry Football Complex in Iowa City in December 2010. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

The reassignment of a senior official in the University of Iowa Athletics Department and the reorganization of two athletic units was partly under discussion for several months, but the timing of the changes also reflects the recent investigation of sexual harassment allegations by a former staffer, Athletic Director Gary Barta said.

Longtime department official Fred Mims has been reassigned, Barta announced Friday, and the department’s compliance and student services units will become separate units under the leadership of two interim directors, effective immediately.

Many details of the changes remain to be worked out, Barta said, including Mims’ new salary in his reassigned role. Mims, who has been with the department more than 30 years and most recently was associate athletics director for student services and compliance, will remain an associate athletics director on the senior staff who will continue to work day-to-day with student-athletes, Barta said, but Mims’ salary “will be adjusted to reflect his new responsibilities.”

Mims was the supervisor of Peter Gray, the former associate director of athletic student services who resigned Nov. 5 after the university investigated sexual harassment complaints against him. Gray worked for the department from 1993 to 1995 and was rehired in 2002.

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