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DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS/ASSOCIATE VP
SHANE LYONS
In his seventh year as the director of athletics at West Virginia University, Shane Lyons’ vison for the athletic program is crystal clear and working. It’s a vision that focuses on the betterment of more than 500 student-athletes and the dayto-day needs that will help them succeed in the classroom and in competition. His open lines of communications have made him a popular role model for WVU athletes and coaches. His honest, fair and caring approach has energized an entire department, which has led to great success on and off the field. Whether it’s regularly scheduled meetings with the student-athletes or his open-door office policy, Lyons has his finger on the pulse of his student-athletes, coaches and staff. He devotes endless energy to his Climbing Higher facilities master plan that will keep West Virginia a strong Power 5 institution and position his department for growth and continued success. Lyons’ Climbing Higher facilities master plan isn’t about keeping up with the Joneses, it’s about taking what his department has, improving it and making it complete for the student-athlete. It’s an aggressive $100 million fundraising campaign centered on one of his core values, which is enhancing the student-athlete experience. From training, nutrition, medical and competitiveness, Lyons’ vision is for future success, building winning programs and growing WVU’s strong reputation across the country. He is about results, and he has already left a great deal of accomplishments in his rear-view mirror. In 2019, West Virginia recorded its highest APR score ever at 985 and again finished higher than the national average. The overall athletics department GPA was its highest at 3.26 with 13 teams over a 3.0 GPA for the year. Lyons commissioned and announced an Economic Impact study that showed Mountaineer Athletics produced more than $300 million to the state’s economy and more than $78 million to the local economy. And with the local economy in mind, Lyons’s department will assist with the formal opening of a new $45 million aquatic and track facility that will not only benefit WVU’s swimming and diving program, but also local high schools and the entire community. Among the Mountaineer highlights in the 2019 campaign were 43 All-Americans, 81 All-Conference performers, three conference championships, 159 Academic All-Conference selections, seven teams to the NCAA postseason, a fourthplace finish for the Heisman Trophy and 22 professional draft picks among all sports. In addition, Lyons’ department hosted for the first time in history both the NCAA Rifle Championships and the Big 12 golf championship as well as the NCAA baseball regionals for the first time since 1955. In total, WVU athletics hosted more than 160 events during the 2018-19 season. From 2015-18, he spearheaded and finished more than $100 million in fan enhancements to Milan Puskar Stadium and the WVU Coliseum, completed a second phase Coliseum renovations, bringing the arena up to current ADA seating code, and for the first-time ever, introduced a second video board to Milan Puskar Stadium to provide information and improve fan entertainment. Overseeing 18 varsity sports, a self-sustaining department budget of more than $93 million and 250 employees, under Lyons’ leadership, WVU athletics has implemented a Clinical and Sport Psychology unit with a full-time director and professional interns, added specialized learning assistants to the Student-Athlete Development unit and entered into a
partnership with WVU Medicine’s Neuroscience Department to assist in the training and recovery of student-athletes, all emphasizing his overall commitment to the well-being and performance of Mountaineer student-athletes. Ask him and he’ll tell you it’s not his department, but West Virginia’s department, and he can tell you his vision to improve it not only for the coming year, but for three, five, seven and 10 years down the road. He cares, and the proof lies in what he has already accomplished in four years. The director hates to be last, and he rolls up his sleeves every day to make sure WVU is not last in anything. Additionally, his work with WVU President E. Gordon Gee’s senior leadership team, as well as the Big 12 Conference and other national committees, has brought additional respect and positive exposure to his department and the University. He currently serves on the Big 12 Administration Committee, Finance and Budget Committee and the Game Management and Officiating Subcommittee. In 2018, he chaired the overall athletic directors committee for the Big 12, was named again to the NCAA Division I Council and will serve as chair of the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee. He is also a member of the college football competition committee and locally serves on the board of directors for Mylan Park in Morgantown. Lyons came to West Virginia after spending three years as the deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer at Alabama where he worked closely on day-to-day strategic leadership and direction of the Crimson Tide Athletic program. During his time at Alabama, his responsibilities included oversight of a $120 million budget, management of the day-to-day operations of the department and oversight of the Crimson Tide’s 21 sports teams. In addition, he played a pivotal role in a historic renegotiation of Alabama’s multimedia rights agreement that started in 2014 and was involved in several significant capital projects totaling more than $85 million. The Crimson Tide won seven national titles in five different sports during his time there – two in football, two in men’s golf, one in women’s golf, one in gymnastics and one in softball. He also played a critical role in the hiring of four Alabama head coaches. Prior to joining the Alabama staff in November 2011, Lyons spent 10 years as an associate commissioner at the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the ACC, Lyons focused on conference-wide compliance and academic initiatives, providing direct assistance to the conference’s presidents, chancellors and athletics directors in matters dealing with NCAA regulatory matters. In addition, he served as the ACC’s human resource manager and was responsible for the administration, negotiation and mediation of the employee benefits program and managing the conference’s organizational policies and procedures. He was part of the senior administrative team for ACC events, including the football championship game, the men’s basketball tournament and men’s and women’s NCAA basketball events. Prior to working at the ACC, Lyons served as associate athletics director for compliance at Big 12 member Texas Tech from 1998 to 2001. During that time, Lyons assumed responsibility for the leadership, administration and implementation of a comprehensive NCAA compliance program with emphasis toward rules education and extensive moni-
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The Lyons Family – Brooke, Shane, Emily, Cameron and the family dog Zoey. toring systems. He also served as oversight administrator for several of the Red Raiders’ athletic teams and had financial and operational supervision of the strength and conditioning, nutritional and sports medicine units. Before joining Texas Tech, Lyons worked at the NCAA for almost 10 years as a senior membership services representative, where he was responsible for the oversight and coordination of rules and interpretations for the 25 membership service representatives and was the staff liaison to various NCAA standing committees. Lyons began his career in college athletics in July 1988 as assistant commissioner of the Big South Conference. With the Big South, he was in charge of conference-wide compliance and championships. A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and a graduate of Parkersburg High, Lyons was a standout basketball player for the Big Reds. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sport management from WVU in 1987 and 1988, respectively. Lyons, the University’s 12th athletic director, and his wife, Emily, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have two children: Cameron and Brooke. Cameron is a member of the football team at Akron and Brooke attends Morgantown High School.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
2000-01 Division I Satisfactory Progress Waivers Committee 2004-06 Division I Academics/Eligibility Compliance Cabinet 2004-06 Recruiting Subcommittee (Chair 1 year) 2004-08 Division I Interpretations Committee (Chair 2 years) 2005-07 Legislative Review Committee (Chair 2 years) 2006-08 Division I Management Council 2008-11 Division I Legislative Council (Chair 1 year) 2010-11 Division I Communications and Coordination Committee 2015-present Big 12 Administration Committee 2015-present Big 12 Finance and Budget Committee 2015-present Big 12 Game Management and Officiating Subcommittee 2017-present Big 12 Athletic Directors Council (Chair) 2018-present Division I Council 2018-present Division I Football Oversight Committee (Chair) 2018-present Division I Football Competition Committee
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