West Virginia AD out after 7 years

Shane Lyons is out as athletic director at West Virginia.

The school announced Monday that the man who has helmed Mountaineers athletics since 2015 has been let go following what the Metro News reported was a “tense” meeting with school president E. Gordon Gee.

Lyons had been a prominent member of numerous boards and committees within college sports, but the Metro News reported that some within the school preferred for him to focus more on his responsibilities in Morgantown, rather than delegating them to subordinates. Those responsibilities include overseeing the Mountaineer Athletic Fund, a key fundraising arm.

Gee had reportedly offered to allow Lyons, a West Virginia alum, to remain on board as a vice president while giving up his athletic director duties, an offer Lyons had declined.

“I deeply appreciate Shane’s leadership over the past eight years and I wish him well,” Gee said in a statement released Monday afternoon. “But with the ever-changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics, I believe this is an opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to our program.”

Performance within West Virginia’s core revenue sports has flagged under his watch, as well. Despite an important win against Big 12 power Oklahoma on Saturday, coach Neal Brown is just 21-24 across four seasons.

The basketball team under longtime coach Bob Huggins, meanwhile, has slipped from perennial NCAA tournament qualifier into mediocrity.

All this within a college sports landscape in which athletes can now benefit from compensation for their name, image and likeness and move freely between schools via the transfer portal — rules that don’t benefit West Virginia the same way they do schools with deeper pockets.

Vice president for strategic initiatives Rob Alsop was named interim athletic director while the school conducts a search for Lyons’ replacement.

As for Brown’s future, Gee indicated that it’s secure with West Virginia for at least another season, despite the fact the Mountaineers are likely to miss out on a bowl bid for the second time in four seasons.

“We are supporting coach Neal Brown and our team as we complete our season over the next few weeks,” Gee said in his statement. “We are aware there are some deficiencies, but we have not given up on the coach and the team, and they have not given up on each other. The evaluation of the football program will be the first task of our new athletic director and no changes will be made until that review has been completed.”