Pitt has hired a new athletic director: Heather Lyke, who had served in the same role at Eastern Michigan since 2013.

Lyke is a graduate of the University of Michigan as well as the University of Akron Law School.

Lyke’s held some impressive positions before landing at Pitt. She has been the associate and assistant athletic director for the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State, respectively. She took a quick break to be the Big Ten Network’s softball color analyst. That lasted until 2013, when she landed the Eastern Michigan job.

She will be Pitt’s first female full-time athletic director in the university’s history.

This is encouraging news for Pitt, as the athletic director’s position has been in some limbo since 2015, when Steve Pederson was fired. Scott Barnes, originally Utah State’s athletic director, was hired to replace Pederson, but left shortly after for Oregon State. He was at Pitt until last December.

The job has been vacant for four months and hopefully Lyke can bring some stability to the position and begin building for the future of Pitt’s athletics.

The football team and basketball team went in opposite directions this year. Football looks to be trending up after an 8-5 season and defeating Clemson in a thriller.

Coach Pat Narduzzi’s team enjoyed winning games, but the crowds have been an issue. Playing at prestigious Heinz Field is a privilege for the players but they don’t pack in a huge crowd. Lyke will have to find a way to improve upon the attendance even though they did see a bigger increase this season.

Pitt basketball struggled this season, largely in part due to a rough transition from longtime coach Jamie Dixon to Kevin Stallings, who just finished his first season at Pitt.

Encouragingly enough, Stallings is bringing in a multitude of recruits, something Dixon struggled to do while here. If Stallings’ own players buy into his regime, Pitt could be in good hands. It will be Lyke’s job to ensure that.

Pitt athletics have been in a pretty good spot recently despite the constant shifting with the athletic director job. With Lyke committed to stabilizing the program, Pitt’s football and basketball teams could join the nation’s elites within the next year or two.