Heather Lyke on PITT Wrestling
- Thread starter HOF Coach
- Start date
Good Stuff - If the boosters get behind Gavin, then I think he can turn Pitt into a Top 10 Program.
That's an impressive 8 minutes from AD Lyke. I wonder if Smiley even knew that Pitt had a wrestling program. Lyke comes across as confident, knowledgeable & passionate, 3 things that have been sorely missing at the top of the athletic department the past few decades. Good for her, and good for Pitt!
I think we should change Smiley's nickname to "Heinz" for it is because of him, PITT athletics must now "ketchup" to the elite college programs in the country.
Agreed. And maybe some stretching of the truth. I mean, how many wrestling coaching searches has she done? And she knows the coaches at the top 10 or twenty schools? If that's the case, then why is David Bolyard the coach at Eastern Michigan? Must have been the "perfect fit".
She said what anyone in her position would and should say. Handled the questions about missing out on the top targets probably about as well as one could and said what she should have. That is about the sum of it. She does well enough in interviews.
She did close the deal on a $2 million donation to football today though. How much she was involved in the lead up to that, I have no idea. But she didn't muck it up, so kudos to her on that.
I listened to this and the Gavin interview and what jumped out at me was that there really is no plan to upgrade at the moment. Gavin mentioned some possible decorating to the wrestling room, but anything else was longer term. I also reached out to a contact in the athletic department about the plan and a desire to contribute to wrestling; the response was that they look forward to sharing the plans "as they materialize", though he did say it was a high priority.
The commitment and upgrades seemed to be at the heart of the search, and all this leads me to believe that the top candidates walked because the plan was to hopefully have a plan someday. So I was disappointed by this, but if my assumption is true, then the inability to lock down one of those candidates really isn't Lyke's fault, she couldn't possibly have put a plan in place in her first week.
So I'll donate extra as well, and use my employer match to add to it. I may even send the check directly to Gavin with a hand written note for the AD asking her to be sure that the money goes to the wrestling program.
If you haven't already, please vote in the thread "POLL : Pitt Wrestling" as to the amount you plan to donate for next season.
Yep, I had exactly the same thoughts when I listened to Gavin. And based on what I heard about Santoro stating that Pitt really couldn't really speak to their plans, that fit right in.
There is no real commitment to get the field house renovations done in a certain time frame. Pictures are nice, but as I commented in another thread, they sent pictures of the convocation center to basketball recruits as far back as 1991. Heck, a diving well was in the master plans for Trees Pool back in 2010. And we've seen different renderings of the track for a decade. Such things are meaningless without a concrete timeline.
The Pittsburgh wrestling club is the only true avenue that gavin has control of
The past is behind us but I want to clarify that the prior candidates did not walk away just because of facility upgrades! Truth is that I can speak on one of them, did not even get an offer, and the funny thing is he was the one that was ready and wanted to be here
Just wanted to clarify that
Now just need PWC to grow and back Gavin
I know alumni are ready to get that rolling!
I hear you. So disappointing and hard to swallow. But damn I hope Gavin does well.
Do you think Pat expected the offer at that interview and then walked
away when he didn't get it? Probably felt through the initial search group it was just a formality with the new AD's blessing. My guess is Lyke told Pat she wanted to interview others and that was it. Your right, it's in rear view mirror and we need to rally around Gavin. While Santoro is a proven commodity, I'm pretty encouraged with Gavin's vision and demeanor. Seems to have a solid plan and hopefully brings in quality staff. I'm pretty confident, he's going to recruit well. Def want to put my support behind the training center. That's critical and the best way to help Gavin directly.
I'm sure it was a combination of things. Immediately after his interview he cited a lack of offer, the inability of Pitt to show him actual plans for things like the facilities, and Lehigh boosters rallying behind him. There could have been other things. Which were most important, I don't know yet. It doesn't matter now though, other than the ability for Pitt to learn from its mistakes because you can't go after high profile coaches like that in any sport.
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