Lyke is trying to build Pitt athletics into the mold of the osu program she had been around for many years. She knows you can't be cheap, and doesn't just talk about winning championships, she actually makes an effort to put the pieces in place to.
She's doing really well with the Olympic sports so far, not a big concern to most of us but if you want Pitt to be a national brand, a true athletics destination school, that includes those sports. And what others failed to realize for years, that in no way negatively effects your great academic reputation.
She quickly identified the major problem with the biggest money maker, football. We desperately need coaching stability, even after a down year 2 wins over top 2 ranked teams in 3 years including one on the road, 2 8 win seasons in his first 2 years ever as a head coach, a victory in a big time game at Heinz field - the biggest crowd ever in Pittsburgh - over rival psu who went on to win the big ten.... all enough to show narduzzi should be given the chance to build this program himself, she locks him up.
In basketball she clearly is showing she will not settle for awful results and a completely dead pete. The goal is to win at a high level and she just simply couldn't afford the hit of empty seats for another whole season. I think she goes with Matta because of her familiarity with him, a former osu guy would be the logical choice if she really is trying to build this university into the same mold as them. A respected guy, clean program, proven recruiter and winner.
Heather Lyke was more than qualified for this job. She's off to a very good start, this hire though either sets her back to just another AD or keeps her on the track of a very good tenure here. Some people here just have a problem with a woman, and have grown to fear anyone from a mid major school, especially a lower tier MAC program. She has continuously worked day in and day out to build Pitt into a better athletics program, I don't know how anyone could have anything negative to say about her tenure so far but this is without question the biggest moment that will define it all.
