Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel wanted a new voice to lead the athletic department, and it led to the premature dismissal of Heather Lyke.
Lyke, who was hired as the Panthers’ Director of Athletics in 2017 and extended in 2019, was fired Monday morning, the University announced. Her contract was up later this year, but Gabel wanted to athletic department to move in a new direction immediately.
Lyke reflected upon the decision, and her time in Pittsburgh, via a social media post on Monday night.
“Today, I reflected on the wise words from a mentor: ‘If you leave a place better than you found it, you can be proud of your work.’ Those words ring true for me,” Lyke said in a statement on social media. “I am immensely proud of the accomplishments of the student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni, donors and community members that I have had the privilege to serve alongside at the University of Pittsburgh. This great university’s reputation and standing in intercollegiate athletics has never been stronger — a testament to the work of so many during my tenure.”
Lyke did a lot of great things for Pitt; she’s a good athletic director. She raised the floor for Pitt athletics, bringing relevancy to the department that suffered in the years before she arrived. But there’s a reason for the dismissal. 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. And the athletic department is in the red through some of her decision-making.
Regardless, Lyke leaves Pitt after a largely successful tenure.
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.
Heather Lyke thanked the Pitt community for the love she felt during her seven years in Pittsburgh.
“Thank you to the greater Pittsburgh community for all we have done together and for warmly embracing my family and me … I wish you all the best and look forward to what the future holds.”
Wow, this is a shocker since Lyke greatly raised the bar on numerous sports programs. There seems to be more to the story than “not raising enough money under NIL”. Lyke earned more time to adjust to the radical shift to NIL. I guess the public will never know the behind-the-door details. Sounds like a personality conflict between Lyke and the Pitt Chancellor. I hope the Chancellor knows what the hell she is doing. Her predecessor was very pro college sports. I’m not so sure about she is though.
true. i’m not sure what Gabel’s impacts were on the Minnesota athletic program as president of that university.
in any case, I don’t see them as very close to “championship” level. outside of hockey and a few olympic sports, they don’t seem to consistently challenge for titles.
I suppose it comes down to what she wants the university to be and how sports fit into that vision.
We are on the bottom of “power” teams in NIL. Ohio State is paying over 10X more than Pitt. It’s a business and she lost sight of the most important goal which was to stay competitive in the big two sports. The future looks very bleak if you are paying attention to NIL. The power of propaganda is amazing on you guys. If Heather was named Dave the media would have been giving “Dave” hell for at least a year as it has been obvious “Dave” dropped the ball big time. Also that insanely stupid project. Come on. You can… Read more »
Less than 10 schools compete financially with Ohio State. Pitt will never be one of them. All successful Power Schools have Olympic sports facilities comparable to victory heights! Football and men’s basketball is and will bankrupt college D1 sports. Less than 20 schools break even. The future are Olympic sports….attendance and TV ratings are up….unlike attendance at football and TV money and ratings are at at a bubble…when will the bubble burst?