You haven't been reading all the other reasons people have been giving?
Sounds like you are defending her only because she doesn't have a penis.
Sounds very very sexist to me.
New AD
- Thread starter King Of All Message Boards
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Sounds like you are defending her only because she doesn't have a penis.
Sounds very very sexist to me.
totally false. You weren't around for the Ed Bozik era, followed immediately by Oval Jaynes? That was totally worthless. Pederson was average, more so in his 2nd stint. Did some good, like getting PSU back on the schedule, hiring Howland, building the Peterson, and the move to the ACC. The football coach fiasco was a bad look, but not entirely his doing.
I was using SP as a baseline AD performance which wasn't good.
Guess what he was fired how good could he have been!!!!!!!!
true, but to say he was the worse is exaggeration. We are still feeling the affects of the Bozik era to this day. The failure to upgrade Pitt Stadium, not having the foresight to see football was king, going with the Big East rather than an all-eastern conference. Historically bad reign.
And what's the drawing point for someone like that? I'm the hotshot new young college sports executive and you're the hiring committee. What are YOU selling me about Pitt to make it attractive?
Our awesome fanbase that's passionate and loyal? We turned on the basketball coach because just making the NCAA tournament - something this school NEVER did with any consistency prior - wasn't good enough.
Ooh! Ooh! How about all of that money our baller boosters donate? Oh that's right, only Washington State is worse than us when it comes to donations.
Whoever took this gig had their work cut out for them. Our donor base is small, aging, bitchy and there are no signs of any young blood entering the pool. That needs addressed.
Our fans need coddled constantly despite the fact that they don't bring a whole helluva lot to the table. Any AD has to work around that. Any and all attempts to coax a couple more bucks out of the fans is constantly met with disdain or - in one case - lawsuits.
Do you realize TCU rebuilt Amon G Carter Stadium with $165 million raised from boosters? They're a smaller school than Pitt and rarely sell out a 45,000 seat stadium, but they raised $165 million to build that unfilled stadium.
These are our peers, and until we wake the hell up and realize quality comes at a price - a price our fanbase constantly gripes about - you'll keep getting average candidates and average results.
Wow, was this hire phenomenal? No, but some people act like this was Stalings #2, which IMO it is far from. However, I do see the potential she brings and also the limitations that Pitt brings. I don't think people realize how lucky Pitt was to land Narduzzi. For whatever reason he seems to think he can awaken this alleged "sleeping giant" and seems committed to stay here if treated properly.
However, I had hoped for a bigger, splashier hire and to be honest I was underwhelmed, but the more I see what she has done at EMU, it is pretty impressive. Talk about a dumpster fire. 2014 EMU made 1996 Pitt athletics look like OSU and 1996 Pitt athletics was on the verge of collapsing.
Do people think it would be easy to fundraise at EMU? How about finding quality coaches who want to coach at EMU? However, she apparently found coaches that at a minimum raised the level of competitiveness at EMU across the board. Now I am not jumping for joy over her bio using such words of fluff, puff and bloviating, however, she has done some good things at that dumpster fire. I am going to be objective and look at it objectively.
She seemed to increase all aspects of money, with the largest donation ever given to the school with a $6 million donation. Granted she only raised $9 million total for the athletic facilities of a needed $35 million, but she did get a donor to DONATE $6 MILLION TO EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS. And that $35 million dollar goal has just recently been implemented, and it's not like she had an administration that was looking to work cooperatively to raise the profile of the football program. Half the damn school wants to drop it, and she still got new facilities approved and got a donor to DONATE $6 MILLION TO EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS which half of the faculty wants to drop the biggest sport.
Come on, people, I wanted Tressel but honestly, the more I look at this objectively, I prefer her over the other named candidates because of what she inherited and what she has done at the dumpster fire of EMU athletics. She not only kept it afloat, but actually raised the athletic department despite great resistance from a good portion of people associated with the school.
However, I had hoped for a bigger, splashier hire and to be honest I was underwhelmed, but the more I see what she has done at EMU, it is pretty impressive. Talk about a dumpster fire. 2014 EMU made 1996 Pitt athletics look like OSU and 1996 Pitt athletics was on the verge of collapsing.
Do people think it would be easy to fundraise at EMU? How about finding quality coaches who want to coach at EMU? However, she apparently found coaches that at a minimum raised the level of competitiveness at EMU across the board. Now I am not jumping for joy over her bio using such words of fluff, puff and bloviating, however, she has done some good things at that dumpster fire. I am going to be objective and look at it objectively.
She seemed to increase all aspects of money, with the largest donation ever given to the school with a $6 million donation. Granted she only raised $9 million total for the athletic facilities of a needed $35 million, but she did get a donor to DONATE $6 MILLION TO EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS. And that $35 million dollar goal has just recently been implemented, and it's not like she had an administration that was looking to work cooperatively to raise the profile of the football program. Half the damn school wants to drop it, and she still got new facilities approved and got a donor to DONATE $6 MILLION TO EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS which half of the faculty wants to drop the biggest sport.
Come on, people, I wanted Tressel but honestly, the more I look at this objectively, I prefer her over the other named candidates because of what she inherited and what she has done at the dumpster fire of EMU athletics. She not only kept it afloat, but actually raised the athletic department despite great resistance from a good portion of people associated with the school.
But how does any of this indicate that we made a good hire. You're bemoaning the problem and offering no solution, just like those you criticize.
We need someone who can grow the fanbase and increase donations. Period. To me, this hire is not someone who has shown any strength in those important areas.
Your post reads as though you're saying, hey, the Pitt AD job sucks--so don't bitch about the fact that we got a terrible candidate.
Pitt is still an ACC level job. There's around 65 Power Five jobs in the country. That's it. There's thousands of administrators working in college athletics but only 65 get to run a Power 5 Athletic Department.
Do you really think this is the best candidate we could find? Georgia Tech is a school a lot like us. They just hired a new athletic director--Todd Stansbury. He's a Ga Tech alum but he was the AD at Oregon State and before that UCF.
That's the kind of hire you make at a Power 5 AD job. Not someone who presided over one of the worst football programs in the country and made one bowl game.
It's simple!
If you're a young hot shot go getter assistant AD at some real sports U ( not Eastern Michigan), where the AD job tied up for a while and want to make a name for yourself turn a down U athletic program like PITT around and you're on the hot hire list!
It's a great opportunity for the right person from the right U ( one with a sports tradition/not Eastern Michigan).
We'll take a great AD who turns the sinking PITT athletic ship around and leaves in 3 years atleast we have a base to work from!
One of the reasons the fans are like they are is the incompent PITT admin's management of the sports program going back prior to SP. Its been on fu-k up after another including this new mistake from Eastern Michigan?? Oh yea Eastern Michigan is the school the Nitters beat up on each year.
What's Georgia Tech have that we don't? Serious question, I'm not being an ass.
We did this. His name was Jeff Long. He came from Oklahoma. Everyone bitched about his basketball ticketing policy and he left in less than three years. Then everyone bitched that he did nothing.
We did this prior to him. His name was Steve Pederson. He came from Tennessee on a recommendation from Johnny Majors. We don't really need to get into that whole story.
Face it, no one makes you people happy. Half of you live in the past and the other half live in an alternate reality.
What current Pitt alum also is a P5 AD that wants to come back to Pitt. That is essentially what happened at GT.
Actually her time at OSU likely overlapped with Tressel. Wonder if there had been some contact with him and either one side or the other (or both) said "sorry not possible" ... but then he might have forwarded her name?
True, that is very possible, that he may have given a reference or some input on her credentials, leadership qualities, etc. She was there for a good portion of his tenure, and I believe I saw she was the compliance officer at some point during his tenure. I read she was in compliance but unsure of the time frame.
The one constant at Pitt... bitching non donating fans....
Neither did Steve, and they hated him too. I think it's a conspiracy.
The AD has nothing to do with the football program other than providing what the coaches want. If he/she does that, meaning fundraising and staying out of their way, he/she is a success. The AD's no longer hire coaches anyhow. There is a normally a committee for the important hires. AD is a glorified fundraiser.
Question:
Can anyone tell me Lynn Swann's qualifications to be athletic director at USC other than being Lynn Swann?
Can anyone tell me Lynn Swann's qualifications to be athletic director at USC other than being Lynn Swann?
A 40% increase of a previous bad fund raising effort ( relatively small number ) isn't that spectacular.
If the search was open ( not a targeted diversity search) to more candidates PITT would have done better! It's basic math a larger candidate pool provides a better chance to land a top quality person!
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None...
Now can anyone tell me what qualifications Barry Alvarez had to be athletic director at Wisconsin other than being a football coach??
I also get confused with the "if Pitt was serious they'd hire from another P5 school" using a current P5 AD as a successful hire.
Then they say Barnes sucked and was a horrible AD, yet both Oregon St and Washington wanted him. Based on the above criteria, wouldn't that make him a successful hire?
Kind of a ridiculous question since he's been very successful in that position so I think they hired the right person into the AD job!! The AD was his boss for years so smart people learn their bosses job. You've never been promoted into your bosses job???? I have about 6 times. You've never been moved into a job with a larger scope than your present job?? That's what Barry did!
Plus:
He was a winner, had a huge fanbase/booster following,great reputation at Wisconsin, was involved for many years and understood what it takes to run a winning major University D1 sports program.
How does any of what Alvarez accomplished compare to the lightweight that PITT just hired????
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So Barry the Winner Alvarez (how many national titles for Barruhh?) can learn to do his boss's job but this woman, who spent over a decade at a school that won two football titles, can't learn what her boss did at Ohio State?
If you're defending Barry that means you're defending the hiring of Paul Chryst. Barry's last two coaching hires have been as bad as ours under Pederson. What saves Barry is he has the money to hide blemishes. Also helps he's in an incredibly weak division.
Are you going to answer the question? Who would you rather have as your AD? Barry Alvarez or Heather Lyke?
High profile former USC footballer, same as the two guys who preceded him (Pat Haden and Mike Garrett). I suppose since Mr. Simpson wasn't available, . . .
To be fair, both Haden and Garrett have law degrees (not that that's essential), and Haden was a Rhodes Scholar.
Better question: can anyone tell me Lynn Swann's qualifications to be governor of Pennsylvania other than being Lynn Swann. (Hey , wait a minute . . .now that he's back in California . . . )
A bit better than ours. He did go the BIG10 final and a better bowl than PITT!
If we went to the ACC final I missed the game? Plus didn't we lose to a crummy Northwestern I think I remember that one?
She spends all that time at OSU and moves to Eastern Michigan. Its like Stalling spending all that time at Vandy and they couldn't wait to move him to anywhere. Oh yea PITT took him!
I guess OSU couldn't find a spot or a promotion for her? So moving her to the less than significant Eastern Michigan was a way out! Why didn't OSU groom her for a better position? Oh no don't answer that one!
That is EXACTLY what she did at EMU. If you're going to spout off - back it up w/ facts. Otherwise... STFU.
Have you read this thread? I've noted plenty of facts in here.
She raised 800K in donations at EMU last year. That's her 4th year at the school. You think that's something to be impressed about?
Her athletic program is 80% subsidized by school funds.
Each EMU student adds about 900 dollars a year in debt to pay for EMU athletics.
Something to be proud of?
How do you know we didn't? You old guys need to figure it out, Pitts best chance is at young up and comers. Being perpetually angry when we perpetually hire the same types of people (up and comers, BB coach notwithstanding), is what we do. Kick back and enjoy the ride.
Not that it matters to you but she didn't work for the Top Person Sr VP of Athletics at OSU like Barry did.
She worked for a down the chain of command Director who had a lot of compliance, athlete programs, & admin responsibilities. She did that stuff in addition to being responsible for some athletic progams not related to basketball or football.
Good points but IMO what PITT needs to do is focus hiring efforts on the best talent possible. Levance says no one wants to come to PITT well that doesn't mean shot low and actually end up lower.
Aim high work hard in the search efforts, sell PITT, and get the best possible.
This person might work out at some level but I believe we could have done better.
My issue is the way the search was conducted. It was a targeted diversity search which excludes lots talent!
Other than that lets see how it goes!
"Last September, Eastern Michigan received the Excellence in Management Cup presented by Texas A&M's Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics. The "EM Cup" annually recognizes the athletic department that best maximizes fiscal resources through championship victories. EMU ranked No. 1 out of 128 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools for 2015-16."
That alone is a huge reason for Pitt to hire her. That is EXACTLY the type of management that Pitt needs.
http://lsia.tamu.edu/projects/the-excellence-in-management-cup
That alone is a huge reason for Pitt to hire her. That is EXACTLY the type of management that Pitt needs.
http://lsia.tamu.edu/projects/the-excellence-in-management-cup
To a degree the problems both of these ADs experienced resulted from the incompetent chancellor to whom they both reported and who did his best to strangle Pitt sports. It takes more than an a competent AD. It Aldo takes an administration that supports athletics
I have no idea. I've had that poster on ignore for a long time. I'm probably not seeing 1/2 the posts in this thread, which is the only way this board is at all tolerable and not a completely depressing reflection of the fan base.
The more I've learned about Lyke, the more I like this hire. I have no idea if it will work out. It is a very tough P5 job. Ultimately, she'll be judged by success of the teams meaning the success of her hires. You need a lot of luck with hires, particularly your prominent ones. Hires working out are never guaranteed even if they are great on paper. The biggest thing she needs to do is to put Pitt is a position of retaining the ones that do work out.
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