Pitt’s Heather Lyke: Organizational Planning as a New AD

[ScarletRugby]

Interesting discussion by Heather Lyke on her philosophies concerning building the Panthers' athletics program.

Pitt’s Lyke & Delaware’s Rawak: Organizational Planning as a New AD

 

[Saboteur]

Thank you for posting. Hard to ignore the odd appearance of the guy asking questions.
Much to take from this....one item that caught my attention was her body language as she expressed that some people in the department are "comfortable". She meant "lazy" and like a good politician, she quickly qualified her statement. But she wants accountability.
She should demand it.

 

[Panther_in_Kentucky]

Thank you for posting. Hard to ignore the odd appearance of the guy asking questions.
Much to take from this....one item that caught my attention was her body language as she expressed that some people in the department are "comfortable". She meant "lazy" and like a good politician, she quickly qualified her statement. But she wants accountability.
She should demand it.

A blind man can see what is missing and has been missing from Pitt's athletic department: Commitment and leadership from the top. Until the BOT's demand change and commit themselves to success in athletics nothing is going to change.

Vision -> Commitment -> Leadership -> Accountability -> Success

Change is a derivative of Accountability and required to achieve success.
Pitt lacks the first two. Until proven otherwise Lyke is just a manager ( yet to be determined if she is good ) with bureaucrats , without vision or commitment, as her superiors.

This pretty much sums up Pitt Athletics for the past 35 years.

 

[Saboteur]

A blind man can see what is missing and has been missing from Pitt's athletic department: Commitment and leadership from the top. Until the BOT's demand change and commit themselves to success in athletics nothing is going to change.

Vision -> Commitment -> Leadership -> Accountability -> Success

Change is a derivative of Accountability and required to achieve success.
Pitt lacks the first two. Until proven otherwise Lyke is just a manager ( yet to be determined if she is good ) with bureaucrats , without vision or commitment, as her superiors.

This pretty much sums up Pitt Athletics for the past 35 years.

I'm not blind and I'm certainly not deaf.
I made an observation on her comments in the interview. It really was nothing more than that.

 

[Las Panteras]

I'm not blind and I'm certainly not deaf.
I made an observation on her comments in the interview. It really was nothing more than that.

PIK's words were not directed at you imo....

His views have been consistent on this issue for years.

The guys gets ripped.....many don't care for his perceived negativity.....

But his posts are never personal and should not be taken as such

To me anyway.......

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Thank you for posting. Hard to ignore the odd appearance of the guy asking questions.
Much to take from this....one item that caught my attention was her body language as she expressed that some people in the department are "comfortable". She meant "lazy" and like a good politician, she quickly qualified her statement. But she wants accountability.
She should demand it.

At most U's the admin personnel are "comfortable"/"lazy.
Admin jobs including top jobs are 8-4, 9-5er's with an occasional 9 hr day.
Most U's haven't deployed any Operational Excellence /Lean / Waste Reduction/Job Combinations/ Outsourcing programs like the private sector has.
That's one of the reasons for the high cost of tuition at most state U's. My cousin a U of Penn, Wharton, Oxford grad just retired for a major state U with around 40k students at 72. He's been there since graduation with his PHD from Oxford. He told us he barely worked during his last 7 years and no one at the U ever questioned him about retirement?? As he once said U people are very smart, excellent educators but they're terrible business managers!

U's should hire business oriented personnel to manage the admin activities, retire people, and hire and fire personnel which includes the activities of the AD's office!

 

[HailtoPitt]

At most U's the admin personnel are "comfortable"/"lazy.
Admin jobs including top jobs are 8-4, 9-5er's with an occasional 9 hr day.
Most U's haven't deployed any Operational Excellence /Lean / Waste Reduction/Job Combinations/ Outsourcing programs like the private sector has.
That's one of the reasons for the high cost of tuition at most state U's. My cousin a U of Penn, Wharton, Oxford grad just retired for a major state U with around 40k students at 72. He's been there since graduation with his PHD from Oxford. He told us he barely worked during his last 7 years and no one at the U ever questioned him about retirement?? As he once said U people are very smart, excellent educators but they're terrible business managers!

U's should hire business oriented personnel to manage the admin activities, retire people, and hire and fire personnel which includes the activities of the AD's office!

Plenty of that kind of bs happens at businesses too.

 

[Jpripper88]

Thank you for posting. Hard to ignore the odd appearance of the guy asking questions.
Much to take from this....one item that caught my attention was her body language as she expressed that some people in the department are "comfortable". She meant "lazy" and like a good politician, she quickly qualified her statement. But she wants accountability.
She should demand it.

Also, him saying "building rap-a-port"

 

[TD_istheman]

A blind man can see what is missing and has been missing from Pitt's athletic department: Commitment and leadership from the top. Until the BOT's demand change and commit themselves to success in athletics nothing is going to change.

Vision -> Commitment -> Leadership -> Accountability -> Success

Change is a derivative of Accountability and required to achieve success.
Pitt lacks the first two. Until proven otherwise Lyke is just a manager ( yet to be determined if she is good ) with bureaucrats , without vision or commitment, as her superiors.

This pretty much sums up Pitt Athletics for the past 35 years.

Nailed it. Like moving around balls in the Shell game

 

[Swervin27]

Also, him saying "building rap-a-port"

 

[HailtoPitt]

Also, him saying "building rap-a-port"

Maybe they are going to build a clone of that actor Michael Rapaport?

 

[TD_istheman]

Maybe they are going to build a clone of that actor Michael Rapaport?

I remember he was the next big thing 20 years ago , oh the media

 

[Chescat]

At most U's the admin personnel are "comfortable"/"lazy.
Admin jobs including top jobs are 8-4, 9-5er's with an occasional 9 hr day.
Most U's haven't deployed any Operational Excellence /Lean / Waste Reduction/Job Combinations/ Outsourcing programs like the private sector has.
That's one of the reasons for the high cost of tuition at most state U's. My cousin a U of Penn, Wharton, Oxford grad just retired for a major state U with around 40k students at 72. He's been there since graduation with his PHD from Oxford. He told us he barely worked during his last 7 years and no one at the U ever questioned him about retirement?? As he once said U people are very smart, excellent educators but they're terrible business managers!

U's should hire business oriented personnel to manage the admin activities, retire people, and hire and fire personnel which includes the activities of the AD's office!

I can relate to your cousin's experience. After retiring from my real career I became a full time college professor. The experience was an eye opener to say the least. I literally thought I was in semi retirement. Four classes (met three times a week, M W F), plus three hours of office work...this amounted to barely 15 hours. Didn't even have to
come into work on Tues and Thurs. Evaluation??...LOL...it was "peer evaluation."
The only real feedback was from the students who had to rate their profs.
I can go on and on, but I won't bore the readers with the inefficiency, lack of
accountability, etc. etc. that exists at our universities.

As far as a typical administrator's work load.... it basically mirrors the private sector.
I said "typical" because I'm certain that an A.D. level position is not working a "typical" 40 hour week, and in fact is doing much more. Given her responsibilities, night work, PR, etc. etc. she's easily doing 60+ hours a week (but that's reflected in her salary, which is not a
"typical" administrator's workload).

 

[Swervin27]

I remember he was the next big thing 20 years ago , oh the media

he calls into the Stern show all the time, he is truly a lunatic. I say that in a positive way. I liked him as an actor but some of his recent sitcoms have been bad..

 

[Panther_in_Kentucky]

PIK's words were not directed at you imo....

His views have been consistent on this issue for years.

The guys gets ripped.....many don't care for his perceived negativity.....

But his posts are never personal and should not be taken as such

To me anyway.......

Correct. My post was not directed at the individual but just shining light on Pitt's real problem related to athletics.

Thanks for offering the clarification.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Plenty of that kind of bs happens at businesses too.

Not at the high performance successful businesses.

Lots of inefficiencies in poorly run businesses.

Our neighbors are two Lehigh U professors! Both are professors and administrators in their major. Both go to work around 8 and both are home not later than 5. They must make good money because they live across the street in a 4,000 sq ft home with a built in pool, both drive a Lexus and the husband has a BMW sports car that he just drives on weekends.

They've mentioned the same thing that my cousin pointed out. They both said they're great at the academic part of their jobs but terrible as administrators and managers.

U's are like cost + businesses. As costs go up so does pricing ( tuition) which is passed on to studens who end up with higher costs and higher student loans!

This is a good sign and anything the new AD does to streamline and focus PITT athletics on delivering a superior and improved product is great.

We'll see wont we and it wont take long!

 

[HailtoPitt]

Not at the high performance successful businesses.

Lots of inefficiencies in poorly run businesses.

Our neighbors are two Lehigh U professors! Both are professors and administrators in their major. Both go to work around 8 and both are home not later than 5. They must make good money because they live across the street in a 4,000 sq ft home with a built in pool, both drive a Lexus and the husband has a BMW sports car that he just drives on weekends.

They've mentioned the same thing that my cousin pointed out. They both said they're great at the academic part of their jobs but terrible as administrators and managers.

U's are like cost + businesses. As costs go up so does pricing ( tuition) which is passed on to studens who end up with higher costs and higher student loans!

This is a good sign and anything the new AD does to streamline and focus PITT athletics on delivering a superior and improved product is great.

We'll see wont we and it wont take long!

I'd argue that the things which make businesses high performers over time aren't business concepts at all.

 

[Cathedral Lawn Frisbee]

These types if jobs can be summed up with one word:

tenure

 

[Chescat]

These types if jobs can be summed up with one word:

tenure

A bit simplistic, but basically you're correct.

 

[bwh05]

Thank you for posting. Hard to ignore the odd appearance of the guy asking questions.
Much to take from this....one item that caught my attention was her body language as she expressed that some people in the department are "comfortable". She meant "lazy" and like a good politician, she quickly qualified her statement. But she wants accountability.
She should demand it.

She also has to be held accountable as well.

 

[joeydavid]

This interview feels like 2 people just read a leadership 101 book then placed a bet on who could use corporate-speak and without actually saying anything for 20 minutes.

Interesting discussion by Heather Lyke on her philosophies concerning building the Panthers' athletics program.

Pitt’s Lyke & Delaware’s Rawak: Organizational Planning as a New AD

 

[Saboteur]

She also has to be held accountable as well.

Don't we all?
Just hired a guy away from UC.