Heather Lyke's challenge

[joeydavid]

It's not that easy to quantify how far an athletic department had fallen but here's a look at what Heather inherited.

She is literally in charge of building this thing from scratch. Based on the track records of the coaches she hired, I would expect Pitt a solid middle of pack school within 3 years and trending up.

It's interesting to see how many schools have dipped in the first handful of years when they change conferences. Apparently, WVU is just as big of a mess as Pitt.

https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-65-power-five-schools-slideshow-wp-191443165.html

 

[BuffetParrothead]

It's not that easy to quantify how far an athletic department had fallen but here's a look at what Heather inherited.

She is literally in charge of building this thing from scratch. Based on the track records of the coaches she hired, I would expect Pitt a solid middle of pack school within 3 years and trending up.

It's interesting to see how many schools have dipped in the first handful of years when they change conferences. Apparently, WVU is just as big of a mess as Pitt.

https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-65-power-five-schools-slideshow-wp-191443165.html

I speak from experience it's kinda easy to take a disaster and make it into something as opposed to taking a well oiled machine and maintaning or improving.
Lyke is and will be successful moving PITT to a level that is acceptable or if it was a performance review from Below Expectations to Meeting Expectations.
Lyke's challenge will be moving PITT athletics to the next level which is Exceeds Expectations.
I believe Lyke will be able to get this done and PITT will recieve a athletic department performance rating of Exceeds Expectations in approx three years.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!

 

[RaleighPittFan]

It's not that easy to quantify how far an athletic department had fallen but here's a look at what Heather inherited.

She is literally in charge of building this thing from scratch. Based on the track records of the coaches she hired, I would expect Pitt a solid middle of pack school within 3 years and trending up.

It's interesting to see how many schools have dipped in the first handful of years when they change conferences. Apparently, WVU is just as big of a mess as Pitt.

https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-65-power-five-schools-slideshow-wp-191443165.html

At first glance, it looks as if that model gives equal weight to all sports. And, I guess that's a fair enough place to start; and Pitt surely does need to improve in a lot of (read all) sports.

However, that's not the way I view the athletic department. Right or wrong, I can't help associating the success of the athletic department with the success of Football and Men's Basketball.

I'm a big Track & Field fan. Along with Baseball and Women's Gymnastics and Volleyball. If Football and Men's Basketball were both consistently top 20, I could forgive contending for championships in the other sports.

 

[CrazyPaco]

At first glance, it looks as if that model gives equal weight to all sports. And, I guess that's a fair enough place to start; and Pitt surely does need to improve in a lot of (read all) sports.

However, that's not the way I view the athletic department. Right or wrong, I can't help associating the success of the athletic department with the success of Football and Men's Basketball.

I'm a big Track & Field fan. Along with Baseball and Women's Gymnastics and Volleyball. If Football and Men's Basketball were both consistently top 20, I could forgive contending for championships in the other sports.

You have to pay for all the other sports (which you are required to field per NCAA and Title IX) with football first and basketball second. That's just the reality. If the two revenue sports aren't generating healthy returns, you'll be hard pressed have successful programs elsewhere.

But yes, Lyke is building an athletic department essentially from scratch. She's essentially replaced half of the department's head coaches in one year.

Sport ......coach ...tenure at Pitt (completed seasons)
Track & Field ...Webb ...16
Softball ...Aprile ...10
Cross Country, Women's ...Bray ...6
Volleyball ...Fisher ...5
Tennis ...Santos ...5
Football ...Narduzzi ...3
Cross Country, Men's ...Jackson ...3
Soccer, Men's ...Vidovich ...2
Swimming & Diving ...Hargis ...2
Wrestling ...Gavin ...1
Gymnastics ...Snider ...1
Diving ...Hazelton ...1
Soccer, Women's ...Waldrum ...0
Basketball, Men's ...Capel ...0
Basketball, Women's ...White ...0
Baseball ...TBA ...0

 

[pittmeister]

If you look in the comment section, you'll see posts that are over a year old... How can that be when the article is dated today???? All he did was rehash the article and made a few changes from last year.... Talk about lazy journalism....

 

[4Mark_Marty]

If you look in the comment section, you'll see posts that are over a year old... How can that be when the article is dated today???? All he did was rehash the article and made a few changes from last year.... Talk about lazy journalism....

Lazy and journalism is being redundant

 

[pittdan77]

Specious.......are they suggesting we're Pitting the ACC?

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

At first glance, it looks as if that model gives equal weight to all sports. And, I guess that's a fair enough place to start; and Pitt surely does need to improve in a lot of (read all) sports.

However, that's not the way I view the athletic department. Right or wrong, I can't help associating the success of the athletic department with the success of Football and Men's Basketball.

I'm a big Track & Field fan. Along with Baseball and Women's Gymnastics and Volleyball. If Football and Men's Basketball were both consistently top 20, I could forgive contending for championships in the other sports.

I agree. It does weight things equally.

 

[ratking17]

There was a post Gazette interview a month or so ago where she was cozying on up to some heavy corporate players in Pittsburgh . She understands pitt needs some serious cash flow

 

[pittdan77]

There was a post Gazette interview a month or so ago where she was cozying on up to some heavy corporate players in Pittsburgh . She understands pitt needs some serious cash flow

Beyond that, Pitt needs to improve how its athletics are viewed by the city. Part of that is having a face to associate with the name. Selling sponsorships and naming rights is easier when people can put a name and face on the product. As much as she has to fix the athletic programs, fixing Pitt's reputation is a gigantic mountain to climb.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Pitt's issues will take decades and multiple administrations to fix.