Report: Northwestern Changes Course From Pitt AD

Northwestern are reportedly targeting someone else than Pitt Panthers Athletic Director Heather Lyke.

Sep 9, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; University of Pittsburgh Athletics Director Heather Lyke (left) and ACC Commissioner James J. Phillips (right) talk on the field during the first quarter as the Panthers host the Cincinnati Bearcats at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- Northwestern reportedly were after Pitt Panthers athletic director Heather Lyke for their own vacant athletic director position, but a new report suggests that they are looking elsewhere.

Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that Northwestern is targeting Villanova athletic director Mark Jackson over Lyke and that a new deal will come about in the next 24 hours.

Northwestern moved previous athletic director Mike Gragg to vice president for athletic strategy, following his poor handling of former football head coach Pat Fitzgerald's hazing scandal.

Sources: Northwestern is targeting Villanova AD Mark Jackson as the school’s new athletic director. A deal is expected to come together in next 24 hours. Villanova won two national titles in basketball during Jackson’s 9 years as AD. pic.twitter.com/zaXCESsYdu

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 28, 2024

Jackson oversaw a Villanova men's basketball program that won two National Titles in 2016 and 2018.

He also has experience working at USC as the school's assistant athletic director and director of football operations from 2001-05 and was the Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Syracuse in 2006.

Jackson also coached under Pete Carroll with the New England Patriots as a special teams coaching assistant in 1998 and continued under Bill Belichick through 2000. He reunited with Carroll at USC and won back-to-back National Titles in 2003 and 2004.

Mike Vukovcan of Pittsburgh Sports Now previously reported that Northwestern was looking at Heather Lyke. He also reported that a source said “people inside the university are worried that the threat of losing Heather is not being addressed by the chancellor," and that the situation will likely conclude in the coming days if she chooses to stay or go.

Lyke signed a six-year extension in May 2018, which means that there are only a few months until her contract runs out at Pitt. New chancellor Joan Gabel will want to make re-singing Lyke a top priority in the near future. 

Lyke came to Pitt in March 2017, after previous athletic director Scott Barnes departed for the same position at Oregon State. She previously served as vice president and director of athletics at Eastern Michigan from 2013-17 and worked in various positions at Ohio State from 1998-2013. 

She has made a number of coaching changes, including firing men's basketball head coach Kevin Stallings and replacing him with Jeff Capel, as well as hiring Randy Waldrum as the women's soccer head coach. 

Lyke has also gotten extensions for football head coach Pat Narduzzi, volleyball head coach Dan Fisher, men's soccer head coach Jay Vidovich and Capel, as they've excelled during her tenure.

Football won two ACC Coastal Division Titles in 2018 and 2021 and their first ever ACC Championship in 2022. Basketball made it back to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, ending a seven-year drought, and almost made it again last season.

Volleyball is now one of the best programs in the country under Fisher, making eight straight NCAA Tournaments, four straight Elite Eights and three straight Final Fours, the only team in Division I to do the latter. 

Men's soccer made their first NCAA Tournament in 2019, ending a 54-year drought, and also made three straight Elite Eights from 2020-22 and two College Cups during that time.

Women's soccer made their first ever NCAA Tournament in 2022, going to the Sweet 16, and then made it to the Elite Eight in 2023, as Waldrum continues to improve the squad each season.

Wrestling under head coach Keith Gavin also won a share of the ACC team title in 2023 and saw Nino Bonaccorsi finish undefeated and win the National Title at 197 pounds. 

Pitt will want to keep Lyke around, as she's built the athletics department into one that is successful in more than just football and men's basketball.

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