By MARTY LEVINE
In her fifth year as athletic director, Heather Lyke sat down for a Staff Council Coffee and Conversation on Aug. 17, saying that, in her job, even with “all the work we are pouring in every day, there isn’t really a finish line. You can never say, OK, we did this.”
“I get that question a lot,” Lyke told moderator Samantha Young when she asked, “How do you thrive in a male-dominated field?”
“I don’t think of myself as a female leader,” Lyke said, adding that hers is a relationship-building job more than anything else. “It all comes down to fundamental, genuine relationships, and being a problem solver. Those are the things (colleagues) appreciate whether you are male or female.”
But, she said, setting an example in her field has been a worthy undertaking: “This is what we strive for, to be a role model for others,” she said.
Lyke’s journey to her current post included stints as a student athlete and in law school, where, after graduation, she discovered, “I don’t know if this is really for me. What is my passion?”
The answer? Even after working in the offices of the NCAA, she found “what I really wanted to do was be on a college campus. People who work in college athletics, they enjoy what they do for a living.”
Yes, she is gratified to see the new Pitt athletic facilities under construction, and to recall her previous work in athletics at Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati. But catching up with former athletes and former coworkers and hearing about their successes through life is most rewarding, she said. She did allow that creating expectations of athletic success and fostering competitive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference are two of the things she is most proud of.
The campus’s best-kept secret, she joked, was the new Panera Bread in the School of Medicine addition, near enough to all the athletic offices to enjoy too often.
But Pitt’s top secret just might be the joy of “running through Schenley Park — just to step off campus and run through the park is breathtaking,” she said. “The Cathedral of Learning: you can’t walk into it without being blown away. It’s not a secret but I didn’t know about it until I came here.”
Pittsburgh “is a giant small town,” she added. “You can have the benefits of city life but it is not massive traffic and massive expense and Pitt is a special spot in the city.”
The current construction site for Victory Heights — where a multi-sport training facilities and 3,000-seat arena for gymnastics, volleyball and wrestling, is taking shape next to the Pete — is more visible from the heights of upper campus than the usual fenced-off building area, she said.
“It stresses me out a little bit, seeing the mess,” she said, half-joking, “but I think the first concrete was poured yesterday.” Looking forward to its completion, she added: “When you put extraordinary people in extraordinary facilities, that’s how you can build success,” not only for the 16 sports that will use the place but for the cheer team and the band.
“This is going to be a destination place for students, if they want to work out, if they want to socialize,” she said. “There won’t be an upper campus and lower campus. It will connect us all.
“Our goal, hopefully, is that student athletes have one of the most extraordinary experiences of their lives.”
Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.
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