MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s decision to part ways with Director of Athletics Shane Lyons brings an end to a tenure that spanned nearly eight years, during which there was significant change to Mountaineer athletics.
As was noted in WVU’s release that announced a national search was underway with hopes of hiring a new athletic director within “three to four weeks”, during Lyons’ tenure, West Virginia:
· opened a new $10 million Athletic Performance Center for Olympic Sports
· completed extensive renovations to the Milan Puskar Center, Milan Puskar Stadium and the Coliseum
· finalized the $45 million Mylan Park Track and Aquatic Center
· oversaw the completion of Monongalia County Ballpark
· turned in the highest department GPA and APR scores in school history, including department high 361 student-athletes on the Big 12 Honor Roll last year.
West Virginia hired four new head coaches under Lyons, who began his tenure in January 2015.
They were, in chronological order:
· Tim Flynn, wrestling (April 2018)
· Neal Brown, football (January 2019)
· Dan Stratford, men’s soccer (January 2020)
· Dawn Plitzuweit, women’s basketball (March 2022)
Brown is 21-24 in less than four full seasons at West Virginia. He was given a contract extension following his second season, at which time he was 11-11 overall and fresh off a 6-4 campaign that ended with a win over Army in the Liberty Bowl.
The football program’s lack of success under Brown, as well as the aforementioned extension, are in direct correlation to Lyons being forced out.
Should West Virginia opt to move on from Brown after what’s been a largely disappointing 2022 season, he is due more than $16 million for the final four seasons of his contract.
Lyons, a Parkersburg native who earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from West Virginia University, has a strong national reputation. He worked for the NCAA, ACC and Big South as well as Texas Tech and Alabama, where he served as Deputy Director of Athletics from 2011 until replacing Oliver Luck as WVU’s athletic director.
Lyons serveed on the Big 12 Administration Committee, Finance and Budget Committee and the Game Management and Officiating Subcommittee.
In 2018, Lyons chaired the overall athletic directors committee for the Big 12. He was named again to the NCAA Division I Council and served as chair of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee.
“I deeply appreciate Shane’s leadership over the past eight years and I wish him well,” WVU President Gordon Gee said. “But with the ever-changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics, I believe this is an opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to our program.”
Rob Alsop has been appointed interim Director of Athletics, while West Virginia retained the search firm Turnkey ZRG to aid the process of hiring a new athletic director.