One of the most important position coaches in the Iowa football program is along the offensive line.

It appears that the group now has a new leader.

According to a report from Pete Thamel of YahooSports.com, Iowa will be hiring Tulane offensive line coach George Barnett. He had just taken the job with the Green Wave in December, couldn't turn down the opportunity to get back to his home area in the Midwest.

HawkeyeReport.com had reported that Barnett, along with Temple offensive line coach Joe Tripodi were the two top candidates that Kirk Ferentz was looking at this week.

Barnett comes from the offensive line tree of Harry Hiestand, who is a well respect in the coaching community and by Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. Barnett served as a graduate assistant in 2004 at Illinois under Hiestand.

Barnett is an Illinois native, having played and graduated from Millikan University. He has spent his last seven years at Miami (OH) as their offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator.

After hiring the replacement for Tim Polasek, who left after four years with the Hawkeyes to become the offensive coordinator at Wyoming, Ferentz is also searching for a running backs coach following Derrick Foster's departure for the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers.