Pitt’s Heather Lyke named finalist for SBJ’s Athletic Director of the Year
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DAYTON, Ohio — Pitt’s across-the-board success in athletics has gained Heather Lyke national recognition.
Lyke, who has been Pitt’s athletic director since 2017, was named a finalist for the Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year award.
Pitt finished the fall portion of the academic year ranked sixth in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup standings, a national measurement for overall athletic department success.
The highlights include the following achievements:
• Pitt’s men’s cross country team was represented at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1994 with Luke Henseler and Jack Miller earning all-region honors.
• Women’s soccer earned its first NCAA Tournament berth, advancing to the Sweet 16.
• Men’s soccer advanced to the College Cup for the second time in three seasons.
• Volleyball reached its second consecutive Final Four.
• Football earned a second consecutive Top 25 finish in the Associated Press and AFCA Coaches polls for the first time in nearly 40 years.
• In the winter season, men’s basketball earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016, Ilse Steigenga was named first-team All-America in the women’s long jump, wrestling sent six qualifiers to this week’s NCAA Wrestling Championships and men’s swimming and diving qualified 12 competitors for NCAAs, the program’s most in more than two decades.
Off the field, Pitt Athletics ranked ninth in NCAA Division I — first among Power Five institutions — in community service during the 2021-22 academic year. Five programs were in the top five of their respective sport, including football, rated No. 1 in the nation.
Also, construction has begun on a 3,000-seat arena for gymnastics, volleyball and wrestling, and a sports performance center that will serve 16 teams and the spirit squads. It is part of the Victory Heights project, a series of state-of-the-art athletics facilities that will provide 16 of Pitt’s 19 teams with competition, training, sports performance and sports medicine facilities.
Lyke is joined by five other finalists: Josh Brooks (Georgia), Troy Dannen (Tulane), Jamie Pollard (Iowa State), Danny White (Tennessee) and J.D. Wicker (San Diego State). The winner will be announced May 24, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City.