West Virginia University appears to have made good choice with Shane Lyons as the school’s new athletic director. He has a lot going for him.
Lyons has nearly 30 years experience in college athletics. He’s served as the number two man in the Alabama athletic department for the last three years. Before that, he spent ten years with the ACC, where he concentrated on compliance issues and academic initiatives.
Lyons spent three years at Texas Tech as Associate Director for Compliance. He worked for the NCAA for eight years in membership services and worked briefly for the Big South Conference on compliance issues.
He’s a West Virginia native. Lyons was born and raised in Parkersburg where his parents still live. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from WVU. The state connection is not essential, but it’s a benefit when someone with West Virginia ties and experience outside the state wants to come home.
Lyons takes over at a time when the University’s athletic department is facing, or about to face, several big issues.
The football program improved this year from last, but Mountaineer fans expect more. Coach Dana Holgorsen has three years left on his contract and that’s a time when coaches typically ask for an extension for recruiting purposes. Lyons will be the final word on hiring and firing coaches. Evaluating a coach’s performance and making the tough call will be a new challenge for him.
The big time college sports arms race never ends. WVU faces constant pressure to keep up with other Big 12 schools without breaking the bank. The University has to find ways to keep fans motivated to buy tickets. That’s getting harder to do as the cost of attendance rises and fans can watch every football and basketball game at home on high definition television.
Lyons has to be a money raiser, and that’s not his background. An important part of this new position will be convincing moneyed individuals to make major contributions to athletics, while at the same time maintaining enough autonomy so meddling donors don’t run roughshod over the department.
The Power Five conferences are gaining more autonomy from the NCAA, meaning WVU and other major conference schools will be making more first-time decisions that will change the landscape of college athletics. Lyons will be confronted with new rules that provide more benefits to the athletes, but also cost more money.
The pressure to win and the coddling of athletes has caused some institutions to break the rules. WVU has a proven record of compliance, and it’s a benefit that Lyons has a strong background in that area. He just has to continue to keep the University on the straight and narrow.
There is also ongoing litigation between West Virginia Radio Corporation and the University over third tier media broadcast rights. Lyons is not a party to the suit, but he does come to campus in the middle of the legal dispute.
It was evident during Monday’s conference call with reporters that Lyons has stayed rooted to his home state and his alma mater. “You leave West Virginia, but West Virginia never leaves you,” Lyons said. “It never ceases to amaze me, when you hear “Take Me Home Country Roads,” how the hair on the back of your neck stands up.”
It’s been a circuitous country road for Shane Lyons, but it eventually did lead him back home.