How new Pitt AD Heather Lyke will eventually be viewed always starts with the football program

The university of Pittsburgh filled their Athletic Director position on Monday by naming Heather Lyke their new AD. With the hiring, Pitt chancellor Patrick Gallagher cited Lyke “exemplary record of 22 years” in high-level roles in collegiate athletics administration. Lyke comes highly respected from Ohio State and Eastern Michigan. Lyke had served as Vice President and Director of Athletics at Eastern Michigan since 2013. Prior to her EMU tenure, she was a ranking athletic administrator at Ohio State for 15 years. A native of Canton, Ohio, Lyke additionally held posts at the University of Cincinnati and with the NCAA. “Heather Lyke’s track record exemplifies her dedication to student-athletes. She has a passion for success in the classroom, on the playing field

TIOPS Inside Buzz: Stallings Hire might be a tough sell but there’s still some intrigue about the hire

TIOPS INSIDE BUZZ *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. A young up and coming coach with Pittsburgh ties who coaches at Dayton had no interest in the job, showed immediately during the Panthers coach search of how the program is viewed. Pitt was never going to get a named coach like Sean Miller from Arizona that brought great excitement to the fan base but some had to at least hope Pitt would get the attention of his brother or a coach like him. They didn’t and some of this also isn’t Pitt’s fault as a program. Many coaches, notably some of the top young coaches, weren’t interested in the job because of who they have to compete with in the ACC, the

Pitt officially tabs Kevin Stallings as new head coach

Kevin Stallings has been officially named the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh men’s basketball program. It was announced by Pitt Athletic Director Scott Barnes Sunday afternoon. “Coach Stallings and I share the same vision for Pitt — playing in the Final Four,” said Barnes in a released statement. “Kevin has a successful track record recruiting the ACC footprint and beyond, and is one of the best coaches in the country at building an offense around his talent. He plays a fun up-tempo style that players love and fans will enjoy. Kevin runs his program with impeccable character and has a high care factor and connection with his student-athletes. He is a Power Five conference coach whose experience and

Panthers down to two candidates in coaching search, negotiations heating up

The Pitt Panthers coaching search is reaching the final stages and increasing talk among Pitt boosters and university officials is that the school is confident of making an hire in the next 24-48 hours. Two candidates have now emerged as finalists with the process accelerating and negotiations intensifying.[hide] One is Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings who looks to be emerging as Pitt’s preferred candidate and is expected to be offered the job based on the university engaging into discussions with Vanderbilt about a buyout. Stallings, 55, has been at Vanderbilt for the last 17 years, reaching the NCAA Tournament just seven times during that span. Stallings has a record of 6-9 in the NCAA Tournament with no final four trips. A hiring

Jamie Dixon leaving Pitt was a mutual parting between the two sides

Jamie Dixon is off to TCU. Dixon and Pitt officials both came to an agreement over the weekend that things have reached the point where it was time to move on. Dixon with knowledge that TCU was targeting him as their next head coach, officially received permission Saturday to pursue the opportunity and Pitt made it clear to Dixon and his representatives that they would not stand in the way. Pitt agreeing to a reduced buyout [hide] played a big role in it being a smooth process in Dixon coming to an agreement this afternoon to become TCU’s next head coach. This was clearly a mutual parting between the two sides. Despite the public perception Pitt AD Scott Barnes put

Pitt’s Weak Non-Conference Schedule has helped them look like an NCAA Tournament team on Paper

A winning recipe for Jamie Dixon’s basketball team this season has been scoring 70 points. When Pitt scores 70 points they were 20-0 coming into today’s game. The Panthers put up 71 points against No. 7 North Carolina but had no answers defensively in an 88-71 loss to the Tar Heels. “I certainly thought we would have finished off better than we did,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said after the loss. “The defense struggled the entire game. Eventually it caught up to us as they pulled away in the second half.” Pitt played with North Carolina in the first half in trading chances but the Tar Heels would pull away in the second half. With the game tied at 45