Pitt Dismisses AD Heather Lyke the Week of the Backyard Brawl

An interesting move made at an interesting time.

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

West Virginia's biggest rival, Pitt, is now in search of a new director of athletics. According to Christopher Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the university relieved Heather Lyke of her duties on Monday morning.

Pitt hired Lyke away from Eastern Michigan back in 2017 and made her first big hire in 2018 hiring Jeff Capel as the men's head basketball coach. The Panthers posted four consecutive losing seasons under Capel before turning things around and making the NCAA Tournament in 2022-23. In March of 2022, Lyke awarded head football coach Pat Narduzzi a contract extension running through 2030. Since that extension, Pitt is 15-14 which includes a 3-9 season in 2023.

In recent weeks, Lyke was tied to the AD opening at Northwestern which could have irked Pitt's administration. She had a strong relationship with previous WVU AD Shane Lyons and formed one with his replacement, Wren Baker. During her tenure, she made it a priority to keep the Backyard Brawl going in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, and other sports.

Of all the weeks to lose your job as the Pitt athletic director, this is certainly a week to have it happen with the Backyard Brawl being just days away.

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