Pitt signs athletic director Heather Lyke to 6-year contract
Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke celebrated her six-year contract extension Friday by rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty.
Coaches and administrators often use that expression to express to others that it's time to go to work.
In Lyke's case, she actually meant it. She donned an orange vest, grabbed a shovel and joined dozens of Pitt athletic department staff members and coaches in planting nearly 100 redbud trees near Highmark Stadium on Carson Street.
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Lyke, who joins football coach Pat Narduzzi in holding contracts through 2024, said student-athletes are expected to perform various community services. So why should their leaders operate under a different set of expectation?
"For us, it's a chance to model what we have in expectations," she said. "If we're expecting that of our student-athletes and we don't ever do anything, it's sort of lost."
Lyke said Chancellor Patrick Gallagher contacted her about a contract extension in December, shortly after Pitt locked up Narduzzi with his third contract in three years.
Lyke was hired in March, 2017, to replace Scott Barnes, who spent less than two years as Pitt's athletic director before leaving in December, 2016, to take the same job at Oregon State. In 13 months, Lyke has put her brand on the program by hiring six coaches.
Evidenced by two contract extensions for Narduzzi, Gallagher clearly wants more continuity among those in leadership positions than what has occurred in the past.
"He felt things were going in the right direction and the right trajectory," Lyke said.
Gallagher said in a statement that Lyke is "leading an ambitious charge to transform Pitt Athletics."
"Her success here is just beginning. I am thrilled that she will continue to push our athletics programs to new heights — and spur positive change for our student-athletes and our university community — for years to come."
Asked what the extension means to her personally, Lyke said, "It means I get to be in Pittsburgh for the next six years, for sure, and hopefully longer."
"I really appreciate (Gallagher's) leadership, his vision for our university and certainly his support for what we want to accomplish in the athletic department. We could have all the great ideas and all the vision that we ever want, but if you don't have the support from the top and the leadership there, it doesn't go a lot of places."
Over on Carson Street, Lyke and coaches from several sports participated in the tree-planting, including Narduzzi and Lance White, the newly hired women's basketball coach.
The project was coordinated by Pitt public relations assistant Celeste Welsh in cooperation with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The goal over the next seven or eight years is for the trees to produce pink blossoms, similar to the cheery blossoms in Washington D.C.
Lyke said she is grateful for the extension, "but not so grateful that you got me in an orange vest."
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
