www.post-gazette.com
Agreed, and I’ll say this as a poster who appreciates SMF, but he throws everything at the wall to see what sticks.
The problem is, no matter who fills her role, they are going to be fd as the Pitt fanbase has a very pro sports mentality. Having to go above and beyond to finance new construction, investments, and paying the players outside of buying already cheap tix for a game is not in their dna.
It seems to me that AD' s around the country at some rather quiet level, are kinda jealous of Pitt, Miami, etc.
I agree with this. And I also think that it will be a net negative for Pitt on the field and on the court.
Or that she is going to be cheap. I'm not sure which. I just don't see any way around the university not having to put more money into athletics to stay competitive. I do not think it is realistic to believe there is some magical way to fundraise this and private equity is selling out the future.
We've had two top 25 finishes in football (zero top 10) and one NCAA tournament in men's hoops. Volleyball is just starting to explode with interest. Soccer, despite all of its success, hasn't yet really ballooned in interest, at least nothing like what is currently happening with volleyball.
On top of spending money that she could not come close to raising she was looking for other jobs, who in the world supports such nonsense?
Pitt is 6-0 and we still have posters like you complaining. The biggest hindrance to Pitt’s success is their own alum’s lack of support. Show up to the damn games and support the program.
Or…Pat Gallagher announced in April 2022 that he would be stepping down. Perhaps Lyke was anticipating - a correct anticipation, according to this article - that the new chancellor would not be supporting the athletic department or its projects to the same degree that Gallagher did.
No little bit of effort. They let the Stadium rot. If the school didn't care about it, they were not about to replace it for 6 days a year. They cut a deal with the Rooney empire to get decent training places. At least we got the Pete.
Basketball didn't just suffer "rough" years. It suffered some of the worst seasons in Pitt history, if not the history of power conference hoops. Cratering would be a kind description.
Nonsense!!!! People are lined io to contribute to financing a stadium. People told Luke they weren’t interested in victory Heights but would pony up for a stadium.
Do they have $500m lined up? No. A stadium isn't happening. Get over it. It isn't anywhere near a priority list for the athletic department or the university, nor should it be. It would be a giant waste of resources that would make Victory Heights pale in comparison. At least Victory Heights is replacing a 73 year old antiquated non-climate controlled barn that is beneath even Patriot League level facilities. You could fund raise half of the cost of a football stadium and it would still cost the university much more than 100% of Victory Heights will, and the end result would be much worse than Acrisure as far as attributes and amenities. That's before the infeasability of actually finding land on or adjacent to campus along with the resultant necessary infrastructure upgrades that would be needed, let alone the political capital that would need to be spent (if that much even exists) and all the community interest groups you'd have to pay off handsomely. There are MUCH MUCH bigger issues to tackle with fundraising in the current play-for-pay era.
She has every right to look for another job, but are ethics even a thing among these AD's? Setting up financial crisis and then bailing out seems hard to defend, I am referring to those who question letting her go, not her right to leave.
I think the situation is more that her old boss didn’t believe that it was a financial crisis, and her new boss doesn’t share that same opinion. Not saying one is right or one is wrong, but the truth is that Gallagher was very supportive of Victory Heights and the levels of operational spending that Lyke guided us to, and it sounds like Gabel is not as supportive of either one.
