CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- As the sports world celebrates the strides made in women's athletics, including from last year's 50th anniversary of Title IX being signed into law, Heather Lyke can be celebrated and revered as a beacon of success for the Pitt athletic department and beyond.
Pitt's Athletic Director truly, in every sense of the phrase, is changing the game for how the University of Pittsburgh navigates within its own realm.
Pitt has seen tremendous success in recent years with not just the football program and its ACC Championship in 2021; the successes are trickling down to other Olympic sports -- read,"non-revenue" sports -- and has fed into a machine that keeps spinning winners in many of the school's men's and women's programs.
Much of that can be attributed to Lyke and her administration.
Wednesday marked National Girls and Women in Sports Day, a celebration and a reminder of the strides women have taken -- and are still to take -- within the sports world as athletes, administrators, and each role in between. In a courtside halftime conversation at Pitt basketball's 65-64 win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Wednesday, Lyke acknowledged the growing support garnered around women's athletics across the country.
"I think it's made tremendous stride, and it's really a tribute to the women that, certainly, came before me that fought for equity and equality and then to the men who supported it and understand the impact," she said. "We just saw the national championship women's lacrosse team from North Carolina be honored in the first half, and you see the recognition, right? So, I think people respect it. Where we go from here is continued growth and support. I think that television exposure for women's athletics -- you saw the volleyball Final Four -- the attendance, coaching staff, more and more female coaches out there, so obviously I'm hopeful and optimistic about the future for women's sports."
Director of Athletics, @Pitt_LykeAD on National Girls and Women in Sports Day 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ZNBdWoP26h
— Pitt Panthers (@Pitt_ATHLETICS) February 1, 2023
Lyke also spoke in length about the successes of the men's basketball program, the growth of volleyball and women's lacrosse, and she detailed how the Pitt-Syracuse football game at Yankee Stadium came into play.
Lyke named many influences which paved way for her own career. When I asked her to name a few, she didn't hesitate.
"Peg Bradley-Doppes, the AD from Denver, she was my senior associate at Michigan when I was a student-athlete (playing softball)," Lyke said. "Debbie Yow from NC State, Sandy Barbour at Penn State, Judy Rose from UNC-Charlotte. These women fought the fight well before me and certainly paved a much-better path for myself."
The student is now the master. Lyke is paving her own pathway through her actions which have resulted in the meteoric rise of many sports, but in particular, women's sports at Pitt.
After all, the Pitt volleyball team is on a piping-hot run and just went to the Final Four. The runoff of success to the other programs springs from volleyball, which under Dan Fisher is now a national powerhouse and has plenty of potential for more in the coming years.
"Everybody knows Pittsburgh's the city of champions, and they follow winners," Lyke said. "You can't get a ticket now to see women's volleyball in Pittsburgh. Sellout crowds. Great, quality kids. Brilliant, smart girls competing for us. They're great representatives of Pitt."
Then, there is the Pitt women's lacrosse program, which is about to begin Year 2 under Emily Boissoneault. She led the Panthers to a 9-10 record and a win in the ACC tournament over Louisville in its inaugural season.
Lacrosse is currently the fastest-growing sport in the country, and Lyke is more than on board with what Boissoneault is building from the ground-up, since it was announced as an added sport at Pitt in 2018.
"Emily Boissoneault and her staff are winners, and they are going to build this thing the right way," Lyke said. "Last year, to have the success we had just in a few ACC games, winning an ACC tournament game, getting into the tournament, it's a big deal. I expect even better success. It's the fastest-growing sport, so the city of Pittsburgh supports lacrosse. It's a fun place to watch them play at Highmark Stadium. We have great expectations for that program."
And, it is rubbing off on other programs. The women's soccer program made its deepest run in its history by reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, the men's soccer program made a run to the College Cup, and, now, the Pitt men's basketball program is on a rapid ascent back to national prominence under Jeff Capel.
As Lyke notes, that recent success is rubbing off in a good way.
"Success is contagious, and it started with volleyball here," she said. "Once one sport gets going, coaches believe it can happen at Pitt, and that's really what you're seeing happen. A focus on comprehensive excellence and success is contagious, and now it's coming off to our basketball team."
Capel has been candid about having to re-establish the culture which Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon once laid during the Panthers' glory years in the early-2000s and 2010s. Now, after the Panthers' win over the Tar Heels on Wednesday, the program is back on a firm track to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
"There's nothing that turns around instantly," Lyke said. "This program has been turning since (Capel) got here. There's so many foundational things that had to happen. Infrastructure, getting the right people in the program, getting the right student-athletes in the program, Him laying his 'foundation,' which he has done. I can't be prouder of Jeff and the quality of student-athletes in this program, his coaching staff. He's going to build it the right way. It takes time, and no one has that patience, but I certainly did, and I have a lot of confidence in him."
Capel had to competely re-work this season's roster, and the recipe has blended into a prime spot for contention in the ACC, with the proof coming definitively on Wednesday that Pitt can go into anybody's house and come out on top.
"I think every year he's going to look at what his greatest needs are and figure out where to get that," Lyke added. "It's not, obviously, always going to be a transfer portal solution, but at times it will be. And, again, he's going to look for the right kids that fit his program and fit his culture that he's trying to build. It is one way to do it, and certainly this year you can see the team playing hard for one another, and that's what I love."
Pitt's football program, while it had a perceived off-year at 9-4 and ended with an Associated Press Top 25 ranking after its victory in the Sun Bowl, is getting some more national spotlight into 2023. Pitt is scheduled to oppose longtime rival Syracuse at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 11, after Lyke and Syracuse AD John Wildhack spun conversation with the league and the New York Yankees and found common ground to make the national stage together.
"John Wildhack, obviously, a first-class AD at Syracuse and a visionary, and we touched base about the opportunity and have a great relationship with the Yankees and Mark Holtzman (the Yankees' Vice President of Non-Baseball Sports Events) and everybody in that organization," Lyke said. "They wanted to do something that's special, and we were very game, obviously supportive to be in New York. Our fans love New York. Fortunately for the ACC we were able to maneuver some schedules to make it work, and really grateful for this opportunity for our student-athletes to play in such a historic game. It will be a very special day."