I think much of this is about Pitt being behind the 8 ball in the new face of college athletics. We are way behind in NIL compared to other similar schools. The new AD needs to be business savvy first. The new reality, like it or not, is here.
Is we bout to be looking for a new AD?
- Thread starter TheWerewolfFromTwilight
- Start date
Aside from Dixon vibes I’m also getting cheap Burgh vibes which fits with what you said… always thinking small insularity fear fear scared can’t do this or that… more fun to bitch and moan stuff.
Hence the NIL dilemma
Or was she flirting with Fat 10 jobs because she knew she was out?
I guess the same reason football coaches get fired before the end of a season once it's been determined they aren't coming back. Lame ducks lingering around don't benefit the school or the individual. Just rip the band aid off and focus on the next chapter.
Does anyone actually know how Pitt fares in NIL vs its peers? I see anecdotes on here about places like Ohio State, but that's not a realistic comparison. What about the schools outside of those top outliers?
I also don't think Gabel has her finger on the pulse of NIL enough to fire a mostly successful AD over it. Nothing in her past has shown any over emphasis on athletic success.
I also don't think Gabel has her finger on the pulse of NIL enough to fire a mostly successful AD over it. Nothing in her past has shown any over emphasis on athletic success.
Likely. This happened in the middle of contract negotiations. Put 2 and 2 together and there was disagreement and Gabel said ciao, thanks for your service.
Because she’d be a lame duck? If it’s over better to just end it now and both parties move on.
Gabel was not a fan.
They disagreed about nil and fund raising yes.
Lyke, also was rumored, to have no budgetary control and spent and spent and spent.
Then the flirting with other jobs even after the chancellor was supportive of her going for OSU.
They disagreed about nil and fund raising yes.
Lyke, also was rumored, to have no budgetary control and spent and spent and spent.
Then the flirting with other jobs even after the chancellor was supportive of her going for OSU.
Could be. That's often nonsensical with football coaches as well, but often times the environment around certain programs have turned toxic and public outcry demands their piece of meat. It doesn't really make as much sense to me to move on from an administrator when there is no obvious triggering event.
Well, you'd be wrong about that. Did it twice in 2021. However, do it once or twice/year for five years, and you can expect to eventually leverage your way out of town.
Question,
Doesnt all of this have to run through the BOT? Dont they make recommendations to the Chancellor?
Doesnt all of this have to run through the BOT? Dont they make recommendations to the Chancellor?
Peak has said that she was:
1) A late-mover on embracing NIL, possibly due to a background in compliance, and
2) Had the athletic dept in poor overall health due to spending... which, presumably, the Olympic sports had a lot to do with considering he mentioned the "bad timing" of the Victory Heights project
Also, there were rumors a while ago that her and Capel did not get along at all and he may have even worked his first year here without having a contract. She also supposedly wanted to part ways with him a few years ago but was told it wasn't in the budget, so she kind of got lucky he turned it around.
All in all, I don't think this is a "dangerous time" or necessarily a bad thing for Pitt. I think we probably would have taken her back under certain contract terms, but both sides likely soured on each other over the past few years and didn't want to budge.
Last edited:
Had an arborist explain to me years ago that it's usually not one thing that kills a tree. Usually something weakens it (insects/disease/etc.), and then some other factor kills it. I've found this to be true for a lot of things beyond trees.
My wild guess here is that it was a combo of the contract situation and NIL/fundraising/etc. That overall they thought her job performance was solid, but dissatisfaction/disagreement on the NIL front weakened Lyke's position. So they were still talking about a new contract, but if Lyke played hardball you can see why they might just want to move on.
Does the news of Hammond being out for the year possibly have anything to do with it? Or the handling of the basketball Dior Johnson situation? Both of those situations have been much discussed but remain big mysteries to me.
#1 is over and done. It is about what is being done now and going forward.
#2 suggests cheapness on the side of leadership. Pitt is decades behind in so many areas; it has to spend a lot to catch up to peers. And I don't mean Ohio State and Alabama, I mean Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, etc.
#3 every AD in American would have fired Capel after 2022 if not for his contract length
Pitt's history suggest moves for contract negotiation reasons are usually disasters.
It is always a very dangerous time when you change leadership at a place like Pitt. And given Pitt's history, it should always be concerning. That doesn't mean it may not work out. But Pitt's historical examples suggest cause for concern.
1) Many would argue she is still not doing as much as she should be doing to promote NIL. And if she was a late-mover on that, who is to say she won't be a late mover on the inevitable next seismic change in college football?
2) There are many, many tiers between catching up a bit with the olympic sports and building a state of the art $250M arena when you don't even have a damn football stadium and the basketball arena is two decades old.
3) He's one of her few "hits" as a hire, and she lucked into him still being here. But I was referring more to them getting along. Sounds like they've endured some turbulence.
Football matters so much more than anything else right now. Our talent level sucks; our NIL supposedly sucks; we're in a lame duck conference; etc. Maybe we can do worse, but I'll take my chances.
Not that it matters, but I thought the official statement was a bit on the adversarial side. Am I misreading it?
I think Lyke reinstating Dior and then Gabel having to correct that decision was a Strike 1 so to speak.
This seems quite likely.
And this from the ESPN article:
"Lyke and Gabel, formally inaugurated as Pitt's chancellor in April, did not see eye to eye on a variety of issues, including NIL, sources told ESPN."
On top of the athletic department hemorrhaging money. One of the worst situations in FBS, according to Peak.
Well sure, an AD who's tried to get every AD job that's come up (and didn't get any BTW) was involved in a contract negotiation where they weren't in agreement. They told her to walk and not to let the door hit her in the behind. This much is certain. I mean they basically came out publicly and said she was fired.
Whether it works out for the better, or for the worse, we'll find out I guess.
Oh she's pro NIL. You can count on that. She has a deficit in the Athletics department. She knows she needs Football & Basketball to do well in order to raise more money to pay down the debt. This is strictly business.
Now is she in love with NIL? I agree with you that we need to wait and see. But right now she's all in...
How can you say it is not performance based when her biggest accomplishment is still 90% unfunded? It is hard to get commitments for long term funding when you are a finalist for every AD position that opens up.
Hail to Pitt!
Dave
It fits their anti-Narduzzi and anti-Lyke agenda. They have nothing to back up their claims.
yes she was. someone on here, who has great sources, said as much. this was a big issue between lyke and gobel..
She’s not as much anti FB as FB ignorant. She subordinated success to stability. She gave a lifetime contract to 5 loss per year HC….spare me the lecture on 2021 and 2022. Query whether any solid coach could EVER have delivered the kind of season we witnessed last year. Also, the first extension was after a losing season. Hopefully the next AD demands more.
The next AD can demand whatever they want. They will constantly be churning Head Coaches because those implied demands cannot be reasonably achieved at Pitt.
No one has ever heard from Pitt directly on that. The only direct source we had is from Dior himself who said it was Gabel. Maybe he isnt the most trustworthy person but the fact he was reinstated to school, the team, and went to Spain, surely jives with the new admin overruling Lyke's decision.
Brian Kelly had a 4-8 season in his 7th season at ND and then made the playoffs two year later. I don't like him but I consider him a solid coach.
Kelly reached heights before and after that season which Narduzzi can only dream of achieving. Add to that…the circumstances producing that debacle last year speak volumes about a HC not having the backbone or self perceived expertise I offensive FB to make a personnel change that could have salvaged a season.
There is nothing that could have salvaged last season.
Newsflash: If Dez Reid goes down, you're going to see another offensive trainwreck, only with better schemes and a faster tempo.
I don’t know man. Holstein can actually throw a forward pass - something that 2/3rds of the starting qbs couldn’t do last year.
I was being kind in my assessment…winning 6 games is crap but winning 3 games is beyond pathetic . And your newsflash ain’t no revelation to me.
Your question was what solid coach could have delivered a season like last year. You didn't say anything about their past or future accomplishment.
It didn't matter what anyone posted, you'd take issue with it and dismiss it. Query Mark Dantonio and Gary Patterson.
You get what you pay for. There is a reason the Top 10 is dominated by the SEC & Big 10.
The days are gone when Pitt can roll out a roster with more talent than half the other teams on its fairly weak schedule.
That isn't going to change until Pitt ups it's NIL game.
Similar threads
