Pitt Ad Fired !!

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Recognizes that athletics are important and needs to be managed right. Either that she doesn't get it, and the AD pushed back. I don't know any of the details behind all this.
 


Maybe she has a friend she wants to hire ... or some other place she can eek out a side paycheck ...


Anyway, RUMOR has it the AD wanted to build a facility focused on non revenue sports and would not relent about that being the focus of the department. Granted that's rumors.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Maybe she has a friend she wants to hire ... or some other place she can eek out a side paycheck ...


Anyway, RUMOR has it the AD wanted to build a facility focused on non revenue sports and would not relent about that being the focus of the department. Granted that's rumors.
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If true she did the right thing.
 



A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Maybe she has a friend she wants to hire ... or some other place she can eek out a side paycheck ...


Anyway, RUMOR has it the AD wanted to build a facility focused on non revenue sports and would not relent about that being the focus of the department. Granted that's rumors.
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The timing does seem very odd in terms of why fire the AD now only two weeks into the football season. Makes you wonder if there was a situation where they were in a meeting where she was grossly insubordinate in front of other staff during a discussion. If something like that happens you have little choice no matter the timing.
 
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I wonder how that will impact the basketball and football programs. The coaches in those spots have been there a while. Jeff Capel III had his first season with Pitt basketball in 2018 and Pat Narduzzi's was 2015.

There best seasons have been relatively recent. Capel made it to the second round of the NCAA tourney with a 24-12 record. Narduzzi's was 2021, winning the ACC and going to the Peach Bowl.

However the rest of Narduzzi's tenure has been up and down ranging from 5 to 9 wins, though they dropped down to 3 last year. For Capel, before 2022-2023 he had four consecutive losing seasons. Both programs seem like they've been up and down in general though going back to 2000, both in the ACC and old Big East.
 

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This spells it out pretty well.

In today’s Post-Gazette story about Lyke’s firing, many of the details of her tenure are chronicled. Still, this particular paragraph probably lays out one of the biggest reasons friction developed between chancellor Joan Gabel, who was hired in 2023 and is in her first full year as a chancellor.

“She also oversaw Pitt athletics’ largest development project since Petersen Events Center, Victory Heights — a 240,000-square-foot facility that will include a new home venue for volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling, plus several other training facilities and offices for Pitt sports teams. As of April 2023, Lyke said Pitt had raised around $12 million of the $240 million she said was necessary to complete the entire project.”

That last sentence speaks volumes, as the project was sold as a development project but has not generated nearly enough donations and fundraising funds. It is an expensive endeavor that, given the current financial landscape of college athletics, has been classified as excessive and even not needed by a number of people in Pitt’s administration, according to sources.

The Victory Heights project was especially problematic because it will accommodate sports that don’t generate revenue, and the project will likely have to be supplemented by University money to cover a shortfall in fundraising.

but every Division I university in the country is bracing for the financial fallout and trying to figure out ways to pay the estimated $20-$30 million yearly to athletes.

Sources said Lyke’s fiscal responsibility was questioned by Gabel, and a number of expenditures on projects at the Petersen Events Center seemed excessive. Frustration mounted with Lyke from Pitt’s NIL coalition, 412 Alliance, as the group believed she could do more to help them raise funds to pay athletes.

Lyke was looking for an extension, but a few weeks ago, it was leaked that she was a finalist at Northwestern. Sources told me that also did not sit well with Gabel, and the friction between the two has grown in the past six months.

In a statement about the firing, Gabel said the quiet part out loud after thanking Lyke and reciting her accomplishments.

“....However, as we enter a new era in college athletics, one that seems to change by the day, we need a new vision and a new leader of our athletics department. On behalf of all Panthers, we wish Heather and her family the best with appreciation for their service to Pitt.”

In the end, Lyke’s tenure should be remembered as a net positive for Pitt, but it also seemed like the university needed to change direction.

Some very difficult fiscal and financial decisions will need to be made. A new way of doing business will have to be developed to accommodate the big changes coming to the world of athletics, and Pitt will have to hire someone with the vision to see it through.

That person will need to embrace NIL and fiscal responsibility regarding vanity projects that have traditionally been standard operating procedures for athletic departments. That person will also need to embrace the new world where universities actually pay athletes and what that will mean in terms of budgeting priorities.
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Lyke was looking for an extension, but a few weeks ago, it was leaked that she was a finalist at Northwestern. Sources told me that also did not sit well with Gabel, and the friction between the two has grown in the past six months.

I think this portion is hilarious, she is annoyed Lyke is looking at a new position at Northwestern, but apparently, her seeking a new role at Pitt after being at Minn for a few years is perfectly fine.
 





Is Gabel signaling the finalized House settlement revue sharing projections. Knowing nothing except the blurb on contract negotiations and the Victory Heights investments perhaps Gabel found the end of Lyke’s contract a convenient time to hire someone with more of a focus and experience in professional sports, or if Lyke was trying to garner a Queen’s ransom payday an opportunity to save some $ to invest elsewhere.
 

The hot takes on this thread are hilarious.
 



99Gopher said:
Lyke was looking for an extension, but a few weeks ago, it was leaked that she was a finalist at Northwestern. Sources told me that also did not sit well with Gabel, and the friction between the two has grown in the past six months.

I think this portion is hilarious, she is annoyed Lyke is looking at a new position at Northwestern, but apparently, her seeking a new role at Pitt after being at Minn for a few years is perfectly fine.
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If you read the article, that was probably the least of the reasons.
 


Sounds like Lyke deserved to be fired.

But thankfully we don't have to deal with Gable around here anymore. She's the #1 reason the men's basketball program is a disaster.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sounds like Lyke deserved to be fired.

But thankfully we don't have to deal with Gable around here anymore. She's the #1 reason the men's basketball program is a disaster.
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Really? She was in charge for all 50+ years of shooting the program in the foot?

Note: I know you’re referring to the current coach.
 


WAGopher said:
Really? She was in charge for all 50+ years of shooting the program in the foot?

Note: I know you’re referring to the current coach.
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Whomever(s) was in charge in the 80s didn't change anything today ...

That's still within 50 years right? I hope...
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Whomever(s) was in charge in the 80s didn't change anything today ...

That's still within 50 years right? I hope...
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In a way, all the problems throughout the years have affected the program today. The administration not supporting (in different ways) Jim Dutcher, Clem Haskins or Tubby Smith, put the program in holes that were hard to dig out of creating long lasting problems.

And I think Joan Gable made it harder for Mark Coyle to find the best coach available. I also blame Kevin Warren, the B1G commissioner at the time, for pushing Minnesota to make a diversity hire.
 

WAGopher said:
In a way, all the problems throughout the years have affected the program today. The administration not supporting (in different ways) Jim Dutcher, Clem Haskins or Tubby Smith, put the program in holes that were hard to dig out of creating long lasting problems.

And I think Joan Gable made it harder for Mark Coyle to find the best coach available. I also blame Kevin Warren, the B1G commissioner at the time, for pushing Minnesota to make a diversity hire.
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Naw man, that's just too much.

Clem doesn't make any current staff successful, or suck ... that's just them on their own. They, coaches, players, all have their own unique situation they're facing. Clem starting an imaginary dynasty ... would likely mean none of those people would even BE here.
 

PMWinSTP said:
If you read the article, that was probably the least of the reasons.
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Oh, I read the article, but in this case I think the plain and simple fact is that they didn't like each other. However, just on that one point of looking at the Northwestern position and the comment that this didn't sit well with Gabel is funny. I say that because I looked at Gable's profile and Pitt is the 6th University that she has worked for since 1996 (4 yrs here). So, the fact that she would begrudge Lyke looking for another role is a bit of a double standard.
 

99Gopher said:
Oh, I read the article, but in this case I think the plain and simple fact is that they didn't like each other. However, just on that one point of looking at the Northwestern position and the comment that this didn't sit well with Gabel is funny. I say that because I looked at Gable's profile and Pitt is the 6th University that she has worked for since 1996 (4 yrs here). So, the fact that she would begrudge Lyke looking for another role is a bit of a double standard.
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I guess you read it differently than I did.
 

Stuff said:
Will she poach Coyle?
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As said earlier, if we're lucky.

That said, how would hiring someone who seems to have made very little progress in paying off our Athletes Village help her with an even bigger financial challenge?

Just curious.

Particularly given how much harder the NIL and paying players is making it on University Athletic Departments budgets....
 

99Gopher said:
Oh, I read the article, but in this case I think the plain and simple fact is that they didn't like each other. However, just on that one point of looking at the Northwestern position and the comment that this didn't sit well with Gabel is funny. I say that because I looked at Gable's profile and Pitt is the 6th University that she has worked for since 1996 (4 yrs here). So, the fact that she would begrudge Lyke looking for another role is a bit of a double standard.
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If she was in Gable's office telling her she doesn't want to be anywhere other than Pitt but is halfway out the door and the news leaks, I get that she might be miffed.

Gable may have been very upfront with previous employers if contacted by another school.

Or she took a page from Coyle and was going to fire her, and the reason to pull the trigger, which is less likely because financial mismanagement generally gets you shown the door anywhere. We'll, it's a justifiable excuse for firing almost anywhere.
 

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