Pitt Athletic Director Heather Lyke Hopes To Open Doors For Other Women In College Sports
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Over the past few athletic seasons, the University of Pittsburgh has seen several firsts.
The football team brought home its first ACC Championship in the fall of 2021, the women's volleyball team went to the Final Four in the fall of 2021 and the men's soccer team went to the NCAA College Cup in the fall of 2020.
Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke is one of the architects behind the success of the teams for the Oakland neighborhood school.
"Building programs that have those expectations and meet those expectations is really rewarding," Lyke said.
Now five years on the job, she's one of five female athletic directors across the 65 schools in the Power Five conferences: the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big Twelve and PAC 12.
"You definitely notice it because we have national conferences and there's only a handful of us," Lyke said in a sit-down interview with KDKA.
Lyke got her love of sports from her family. Many of her family members were college athletes, as was she. She played softball at the University of Michigan.
"It was part of the DNA in my family," Lyke said.
After graduating from law school, Lyke wanted to help young adults through sports. She worked with the NCAA, University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University before landing her first athletic director job at Eastern Michigan University.
There, she helped guide the football team to its first bowl game in 29 years. Then after coming to Pitt, she saw former conference foes hire female athletic directors.
"I do feel like that was an example for some of the chancellors and presidents in the MAC, which is where Eastern Michigan is, to see that it could happen," Lyke said.
Lyke sees herself not as a female athletic director, rather just an athletic director. But she knows just by having the position, she serves as a role model. She holds a position that can inspire young women and girls who are looking to break into the male-dominated field.
"There's no question that I've had student-athletes ask me about it and connect with them. I think that's a responsibility and an opportunity as a female leader," Lyke said.
KDKA's Chris Hoffman: What do you say to young women, girls who look at that as I want to do that, but they see the challenges?
Lyke: Never let other people put limits on yourself.
Lyke said more college leaders need to believe in diversity and inclusion. Then once women are hired, they should not be pigeonholed into just women's sports. Lyke believes in breaking the mold and putting women in sports like football.
She realized to keep the door open for other women in athletics in the future, she needs to produce results.
"When you get the opportunity to lead, you need to do an exceptional job number one," she said. "You need to help others in the industry."
To that end, just this spring she's expanding Pitt athletics to include women's lacrosse, a marquee sport in the ACC. There are plans to create new athletic complexes to give student-athletes better training, sports performance and medical facilities.
KDKA's Chris Hoffman: Do you think your success at Pitt opens the door for other schools to look and break that mold of just always hiring a man for this job?
Lyke: I hope so. I think the challenge is just hoping that there is a chancellor or president out there who gives you an opportunity.