West Virginia yesterday hired Alabama Deputy AD Shane Lyons to lead its athletic department, replacing Oliver Luck, who "resigned last month to take a high-level position with the NCAA," according to Dave Hickman of the CHARLESTON GAZETTE. Lyons, a Parkersburg, W.Va., native, had been in charge of Alabama's day-to-day operations "for the past three years." He also "has experience working for the NCAA" and the ACC. Lyons "won’t officially begin his new job until next month." He was "given a five-year contract worth $550,000 a year plus incentives." It is "essentially the same contract under which Luck was working." WVU President Gordon Gee said that he "knew a month ahead of time that Luck might well leave for the NCAA and so even before the move became official he had a chance to 'look at all the potential candidates in the country.'" Sources said that Lyons "was the only candidate who received a face-to-face interview." While Gee said that hailing from outside West Virginia "wouldn’t have been a deal-breaking point had another candidate presented the same or better credentials, it certainly didn’t hurt Lyons’ candidacy" (CHARLESTON GAZETTE, 1/6). In West Virginia, Mike Casazza notes the "first month or two or maybe even three will be spent getting to know coaches, players and administrators, becoming familiar with the fans, facilities and financial figures and learning all he can about the place he has had on his mind and in his heart through the years." Lyons is "scheduled to be introduced with his wife and their two children at a press conference Saturday at the home basketball game against Iowa State" (CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, 1/6). Meanwhile, Casazza cites sources as saying that Lyons and WVU "have an understanding that Lyons will not be" the next AD at Alabama when Bill Battle retires (CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, 1/6).
ON THE TO-DO LIST: In West Virginia, Hickman notes one issue Lyons is "likely to address in some form is the school's football program." Hickman: "Good, bad, or indifferent, that's a requirement. Football is by far the biggest revenue generator" (CHARLESTON GAZETTE, 1/6). Also in West Virginia, Chuck McGill writes Lyons and WVU make an "ideal combination, an athletics official with state ties who understands the industry and its challenges, the culture here and the built-in hurdles that exist." McGill: "Maybe that’s why Gee called the search process 'a fairly simple one.'" Oregon AD and West Virginia native Rob Mullens "was another serious candidate at the outset" (CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, 1/6). The CHARLESTON GAZETTE's Mitch Vingle writes WVU needed an AD "well versed on college athletics’ changing landscape." The school needed someone "who can work well with numbers" and "understands legal aspects of the job." But the school also needed someone "down to earth who can relate to West Virginia’s blue-collar fans" (CHARLESTON GAZETTE, 1/6).
