BREAKING: Pitt Extends Director of Athletics Heather Lyke

Heather Lyke is staying at Pitt after all.

Lyke, who has served as the Director of Athletics at Pitt since 2017, is signing a multi-year deal to remain with the Panthers, a source close to the situation told Pittsburgh Sports Now. The extension comes following heavy links to Northwestern over the last week.

Lyke was one of the finalists for the Northwestern job, along with Villanova AD Mark Jackson and the Washington Commanders’ Jason Wright, but she will remain with the Panthers after ironing out a contract extension.

Lyke’s contract was nearing its end, but Chancellor Joan Gabel and Lyke agreed upon a deal that will allow Lyke to guide the Pitt athletic department for the next couple of seasons.

It’s a major move for Pitt, providing stability to the department, but there is still work to be done going forward.

Lyke has done a lot of great things for Pitt; she’s a great athletic director. But there’s a reason the extension was held up. For all the good she’s done (the Victory Heights project, coaching stability in the revenue-generating sports and a revitalization of the Olympic sports), Pitt is woefully behind in the NIL game. That will have to change going forward.

The NACDA awarded her the 2023 Cushman & Wakefield AD of the Year, and she was a finalist for the Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year award. In 2022-23 alone, Pitt hit its highest points total in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup and football, men’s basketball, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer and wrestling all experienced high levels of success.

In addition, Lyke has fundraised a record $67 million in the last two fiscal years, including the largest single donation in Pitt athletics history. She has also been influential in Pitt’s Victory Heights project, a new state-of-the-art, $240 million athletic complex that will house 14 of Pitt’s 17 varsity sports — and provide a new arena for volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics.

Heather Lyke is staying at Pitt, but Lyke will have to continue to show that she’s the right woman to lead the athletic department into the future of college athletics.