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Message: [QUOTE="BillSU, post: 5455803, member: 6809"] REASONS WHY LYLE WAS FIRED AND OTHER INFO: Ms. Lyke, 53, whose base salary was $1.06 million in 2023, was hired by then-Chancellor Patrick Gallagher in March 2017. She signed a contract extension in 2018, tying her to Pitt through 2024. During her tenure, the athletic department had plenty to brag about. Oct 13, 2024 Google Lyke's strategies lacked detail and didn't sufficiently address the financial challenges the university — and Pitt athletics — face. Sources said Ms. Gabel took issue with how Ms. Lyke's proposed budget didn't involve enough new outside funding. Oct 13, 2024 Google Heather Lyke's dismissal from Pitt comes after 'friction' with school chancellor. One of the "biggest reasons" why Pitt fired AD Heather Lyke yesterday was the "friction developed" between her and Chancellor Joan Gabel, Google One of the "biggest reasons" why [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/09/09/pittsburgh-ad-heather-lyke']Pitt fired AD Heather Lyke yesterday[/URL] was the "friction developed" between her and Chancellor Joan Gabel, according to Paul Zeise of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/08/28/pitt-ad-heather-lyke-revives-panthers-athletics']Lyke was a breath of fresh air[/URL] for an athletic department reeling from a 10-year period of instability and uncertainty. Zeise wrote she was the “ [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/03/27/Colleges/university-of-pittsburgh-ad-heather-lyke.aspx']right person for the job[/URL] at the right time.” And she “deserves credit for bringing some stability to an unstable position.” She oversaw [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Newsletter-College/2023/01/31.aspx']development project Victory Heights[/URL]-- a 240,000-square-foot facility that will “include a new home venue for volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling.” As of April 2023, Lyke said that Pitt had raised around $12M of the $240M. Sources said that Lyke’s fiscal responsibility was “questioned by Gabel, and a number of expenditures on projects at the Petersen Events Center seemed excessive.” 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.” Lyke was looking for an extension, but a few weeks ago, it was leaked that she was a [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/08/28/northwestern-ad-search']finalist at Northwestern[/URL]. Sources said that also “did not sit well with Gabel,” and the friction between the two has “grown in the past six months” ([URL='https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/paul-zeise/2024/09/09/heather-lyke-university-of-pitt-fired-reaction-college-sports-acc/stories/202409090062']PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/9[/URL]). [B]FACTURED RELATIONSHIPS[/B]: In Pittsburgh, Tim Benz wrote a key issue was about Lyke’s plan to “fully embrace and effectively stream NIL fundraising and distribution.” According to people who have covered the news of her firing yesterday, she “didn’t have much of a plan to speak of in the first place.” Her relationship with the chancellor was “said to be rough (at best) by the end.” Then it was “relationships with some on the staff where Lyke could come off as demanding and lean extremely hard” on those who were much further down the totem pole of the payroll. Benz added it was her “apparent interest in just about [URL='https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/01/16/bjork-osu']every open job[/URL] under the sun associated with a bigger school or a better conference.” So it “wasn’t what we all saw in terms of wins and losses” ([URL='https://triblive.com/sports/tim-benz-heather-lykes-dismissal-at-pitt-is-a-case-of-what-we-dont-bother-to-see-in-the-nil-era/']TRIBLIVE, 9/9[/URL]). [/QUOTE]

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