So how is the new AD Lyke doing in her first big athletic hire? Epic failure?
- Thread starter CrazyPaco
- Start date
Unless there is a big surprise around the corner, complete cluster f* would be the better description. Out of her depth?
Everything I thought sounded encouraging about her background...flush that. At this point, I can't imagine this person in charge of a hoops or, god forbid, football hire. Gallagher heading for 0-2.
Please, Ms. Lyke, prove my extreme concerns unfounded.
Not to be rude, but nobody cares about wrestling. While I agree, its not a great sign for an AD who claimed she wanted overall excellence, I wouldn't read much into it. I'd settle for last place finishes in every olympic sport if it meant football and men's basketball were successful.....not that you have to make that trade-off.
So, if I have this correct, we either A) didn't give Flynn or Santoro enough financial commitment for a staff and faculties to leave Edinboro or Lehigh (!!) or B) didn't offer them all together and tried to go after an even bigger name (Rosselli??, I know some people apart of the OU program, that wasn't happening)
So far it's looking like a massive let down. Had a chance to hit a grand slam and we have whiffed. I was reading the threads over there and people were ready to pony up big time.
So far it's looking like a massive let down. Had a chance to hit a grand slam and we have whiffed. I was reading the threads over there and people were ready to pony up big time.
The Knucklheads in the Cathedral are going to tank this place with this hire
The jury's still out, but so far it's not looking too good. What stings the most is that this wasn't like the Sean Miller to Pitt nonsense that was a pipe dream and nothing more. Two very good coaches (including one of the best in the country) were willing to come to Pitt, heck they were ready to make the jump. We fell flat and lost out to Lehigh and Edinboro. It doesn't matter how much Lehigh stepped up, we should never be losing out to schools like that.
These are both individuals that were very interested in the Pitt job. Lehigh has had a better wrestling program than Pitt for years (better coaching, results, facilities, backing, and boosters) but has a ceiling on its program based on admissions and cost of attendance. It would be a lateral move at best, but Santoro, who is a Pitt alumnus, would have been a home run hire and was looking for Pitt to give him a reason to take the job.
Flynn is widely regarded as a great coach at a school that is teetering on financial ruin and is in no position to invest in athletics. He also was interested enough to interview, but yet Pitt couldn't close on a coach at Edinboro.
Both were rumored to be set to accept, at least apparently until the new AD got involved.
Now we are interviewing a candidate that failed at Army and has been out of coaching for two years, but has connections at Lyke through Ohio State.
It makes the Stallings hire look like we scored John Calipari. Pitt wrestling isn't like basketball where there is a dearth of backyard talent. The Pitt wrestling opening attracted national attention in the wrestling community where Pitt is regarded as a sleeping giant awaiting the right commitment.
So an AD is trying to help a buddy out with a coaching job? Why does that sound familiar...
Can you expand on what you mean when you say "until Lyke got involved"? I'm assuming they reached out to them after Peters was fired and before Lyke was hired. I can't even begin to imagine how she could mess up something that looked like was already in the bag, especially if one or both parties were in agreement. Colossal failure.
So an AD is trying to help a buddy out with a coaching job? Why does that sound familiar...
Can you expand on what you mean when you say "until Lyke got involved"? I'm assuming they reached out to them after Peters was fired and before Lyke was hired. I can't even begin to imagine how she could mess up something that looked like was already in the bag, especially if one or both parties were in agreement. Colossal failure.
Instead of aggressively going after our primary targets, she apparently slowboated the process trying to make a name for herself. Let's put it this way, Santoro was the #1 target, a target we were trying to pull from a superior program, and left the interview without an offer on the table.
Santoro was a mulligan, losing Flynn is deeply disconcerting. Who we are rumored to be interviewing next smacks of absolute incompetence.
Don't care about wrestling? Not exactly a good precedent for any hire going forward.
There are more details on the Olympic board. Instead of rehashing them all here, look over the threads and more details can be pieced together.
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No offense, because I'd like to see Pitt do well in wrestling (and every other sport) and wrestling is one sport that Pitt SHOULD be a perennial top ten team, but the wrestling coach most certainly is not Lyke's "first big athletic hire". Not 2% of Pitt fans could tell you who the coach was who got fired, and not 1% of Pitt fans could tell you who the interim coaches have been. At this time next year there still won't be 2% of Pitt fans who know who Pitt's wrestling coach is, and almost none of them will care.
The fact is, for the overwhelming majority of Pitt fans who Pitt hires as wrestling coach is no more important that who Pitt hires as the women's tennis coach or the cross country coach. Which is to say not at all.
The fact is, for the overwhelming majority of Pitt fans who Pitt hires as wrestling coach is no more important that who Pitt hires as the women's tennis coach or the cross country coach. Which is to say not at all.
I take high offense. Every single head coach hire is a big one. It is the most important thing an AD does.
This isn't like hiring a director of compliance. This is arguable the 4 or 5th most important hire that she can make.
Hopefully, it isn't indicative of what could come.
Paco, it is the same damn Pitt people you are so proud of that keeps on hiring these same, boring, incompetent, not really caring to win, we are going to make a social statement. Pitt athletics is pretty much on par with the Pirates. They don't really care if they win or not. Just stay within budget.
You can take all the offense you want, but I would call myself a casual Pitt wrestling fan (as I am of many other Pitt "minor" sports) and that makes me more of a wrestling fan than 98% of all Pitt fans. At least 98%.
The fact is that very, very few people care about Pitt wrestling, and the proof is in the pudding. The fact is that Pitt SHOULD BE a perennial top ten team in wrestling, and they haven't been in decades. Because no one (outside a very small and certainly passionate group) gives a damn. If Pitt finishes 10th in the country next year or Pitt finishes 32nd again or Pitt doesn't score any points at the NCAAs most Pitt fans won't know and won't care.
The ADs first big hire will almost certainly be either a men's or women's basketball coach or a football coach. No other coaches that she hires move the needle at all. That doesn't mean that it's OK to screw up those hires and that doesn't mean that she shouldn't be held accountable for those hires, because it is a part of her job to make those hires. But the fact is that other than a very small group, no one cares about those hires.
The Goal has to be Rebuilding Football the next 10 years, basketball can follow soon as Stallings shows he can handle the job in 2 to 3 years or goes to Oregon State with Barnes buying him out, or going to the NCAA, all other Sports wait and not important until Football is a Top 25 Program, anything less and are weak efforts from a looking glass of failures a Pitt Trademark since 1983.
A Strong Football Program is the Foundation of all other Sports! Pitt has the Right FB Coach right now, whether they have Right Chancellor, Athletic Director and Men's Basketball Coach has to be judged back on them.
A Strong Football Program is the Foundation of all other Sports! Pitt has the Right FB Coach right now, whether they have Right Chancellor, Athletic Director and Men's Basketball Coach has to be judged back on them.
You can take all the offense with me that you'd like, but you ire would better be directed to the passionate wrestling fans who have allowed Pitt wrestling to mostly wallow in the mire for the last several decades.
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The point that the wrestling program may not be a major sport is really secondary in the whole scheme of things. The major point is that once again we have an AD who is clueless in running a coaching search. Regardless of the sport we should always be seeking the best possible candidate.
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I agree, and I said that she should certainly be judged on the hire. But it isn't a "big hire", because it's a hire that (almost) no one cares about.
Don't like that she is interviewing a "chrony" for the position now......that flat out STINKS!!!
You offered, I took.
It is a big hire. It is her first hire which makes it even bigger because of what it signals and the confidence it does or does not espouse out of the gate. Beside that, Pitt sits in a region that is rich in wrestling talent and heritage. Pitt wrestling is arguably the sport at Pitt with the 2nd richest tradition (or 3rd at worst) at the university with 76 All-Americans and 42 top 30 national finishes in the past 65 years, including the highest ever NCAA championship finish by a Pitt team. It is arguably the sport with the best potential for the most improvement and quickest possible national impact. It is also one of Pitt's most well-attended sports after football and basketball. In fact, it is likely the 4th best attended sport at Pitt, at least when it is doing well. It is not the biggest hire; I'd say it is the biggest hire after the football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and baseball. And it's only behind baseball because of the importance and exposure of baseball in the ACC. It's the first chance to make in impactful wrestling hire since the 1970s. A flop of a hire may cost Pitt some meaningful donation dollars. It is a big hire.
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I just keep waiting for the time that we can look at how this athletic department is run and have a little pride in what they do across the board.
How many other sports have recently ranked in the top 10 of all universities in attendance? You don't know what you're talking about.
Whatever is causing good candidates to turn the program down needs to be corrected. Frankly, it's ridiculous that Pitt doesn't put more money into the program. It should be a plum job that coaches want.
If the ad goes out and sh÷tcans stallings.....brings in a great young coach that elevates the hoops program....
The less than 1% of pitt fans....alums.....donors....will lose 30 seconds of sleep over the hiring of a wrestling coach.
We are not iowa...we are not ok state. We are not penn state....
Nobody cares about pitt wrestling
The less than 1% of pitt fans....alums.....donors....will lose 30 seconds of sleep over the hiring of a wrestling coach.
We are not iowa...we are not ok state. We are not penn state....
Nobody cares about pitt wrestling
It appears that there's several posters on this thread who can't comprehend that if the new AD is this incompetent in hiring a wrestling coach who was handed to her on a silver platter, it might be a red flag for the hiring of a hoops coach, or dealing with suitors for Narduzzi, or running the day to day operations of the athletic department.
No, you don't. Some people care about Pitt. Some people care about what the hell this mess means going forward.
If the wrestling team goes out and wins the national championship, i will not up my donation one nickel.
if they suck so bad that Pitt decides to kill wrestling for good, i wont decrease my donation one nickel....
And since a heavy majority of Pitt fans....save for a few maniacs on internet boards....see this issue the way i do....then perhaps the new Ad's first hire was actually brilliant????
Either way....this is classic 24 hour news cycle pablum. By Wednesday morning,......Panther Nation will get back to the business of ripping Stallings.......searching for a stadium location and worrying about the uniforms......
You didn't address the point of my post. Because you can't.
Yeah, I have little in common with people like you. I appreciate athletics, the all the athletes that put in the blood and sweat to represent Pitt.
What part of "rebuilding football" prevents this athletic department from also rebuilding wrestling (or any and all other sports) at the same time?
Why should programs wait in line to get improved one by one? And who becomes the moral authority to determine where programs stand in that line?
Pitt interviewed two good wrestling coaches and couldn't close the deal on either. That's poor performance. And we shouldn't excuse poor performance in that area because the football team is getting better or some message board poster "doesn't care" about wrestling.
Its an important hire as its one of the few olympic sports Pitt is competitive in, but I think its mostly overreacting at this point.
I don't know enough about wrestling to know what is going on. Just want them to be good.
That said in willing to wait for them to hire someone and see how they perform. I remember people flipping out when Dixon was hired. Who knows.
That said in willing to wait for them to hire someone and see how they perform. I remember people flipping out when Dixon was hired. Who knows.
Dude, we get it...you (and most Pitt sports fans) don't care much about wrestling. Try this...
You have a favorite grocery store. You buy apples and oranges there on a weekly basis. Suddenly, your store gets a new produce manager. In her first important decision, she has to choose a new kiwi fruit supplier. She bypasses several quality suppliers, and goes with an unreliable supplier she used to know. The first load of tainted kiwi fruit comes in and several people get sick. Would you then still have a lot of confidence in her to purchase your apples and oranges?
We're not talking about wrestling here, necessarily. We're talking about the director of athletics, arguably the most important person in the athletic department, aside from the head football and basketball coaches. I would argue that we are going to have to replace both coaches within the next five years or so, and I'd like to have someone competent in charge of finding their replacements.
Your example is flawed in that I don't care enough about wrestling to buy it (shopping for apples and oranges)
Thus......it makes no difference if the store changes suppliers......
And......To equate this perceived failure of a hire with bad news for future football / basketball hires to me is a major reach.
But I do agree that both coaches will be replaced in less than five years.
Time will tell if it's over reaction, but the quality and pedigree of interviewees has plummeted dramatically after getting an interview from, and whiffing on, our top two candidates both of whom enjoyed national stature in the sport and at least one of which should have been sold on a much greater institutional environment in which to operate.
I will say this, it should raise a lot of eyebrows and people now have a real reason to keep a very close eye on the direction of the athletic department. The final hire will say a lot. The definitive say will be where the program is finishing at NCAAs 5 years down the road. But before that benchmark she's likely going to make at least 2 even more high profile hires.
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Wow, I'm really not sure what to say to that.
Try to read slowly...football is apples, basketball is oranges. Wrestling is kiwi fruit (a much less popular fruit than apples and oranges).
The same person is responsible for purchasing all three fruits (running all three sports). If you can't see a parallel there, then I don't know what to tell you. How do you think she'll do better on the more important hires, by trying harder???
If she hires this nobody from WVU because of their connection at Ohio State, that will especially make me mad. It's like the Pitt fans that try to guess who Narduzzi will hire based on their roots in Youngstown, OH as if that's a pre-requisite to work under Narduzzi.
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