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WVU Director of Athletics Shane Lyons
DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS/ASSOCIATE VP
SHANE LYONS
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There’s a reason Shane Lyons was named NACDA Athletics Director of the Year in 2021, it’s because he spends endless hours daily for the betterment of more than 500 student-athletes and their day-to-day needs in order to help them succeed in the classroom and in competition.
His open lines of communications have made him a popular role model for WVU student-athletes and coaches. His honest, fair and caring approach has led to success on and off the field. Whether it’s regularly scheduled meetings with the studentathletes or his open-door office policy, Lyons has his finger on the pulse of his department.
In moving his department forward, his Climbing Higher facilities master plan keeps West Virginia a strong Power 5 institution and positions his department for growth and continued success. The Time2Climb fundraising membership drive he initiated in 2021 is getting new donors involved in Mountaineer athletics and helping the Mountaineer Athletic Club grow and plan for the future.
In 2019, 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 proudly saw the formal opening of a new $45 million aquatic and track facility that not only benefits WVU, but also local schools and the entire community. Already, the facility has brought thousands of guests to Morgantown as it has hosted such events as the Big 12 swimming and diving championships as well as the NCAA zone diving competitions.
When he stresses academics, he means it as a department-high 361 student-athletes made the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and WVU’s overall department GPA was 3.22 last year. WVU featured 493 athletes with a 3.00 GPA and 168 with a 4.0 for the 2022 spring semester.
Also, a Clinical and Sport Psychology unit that he formed for better student-athlete mental health, creating the department’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and first-class nutrition program for all 18 varsity teams further confirms his belief and commitment to helping the total student-athlete well-being and advancement.
Ask him and he’ll tell you it’s not his department, but West Virginia’s department, and part of his job is to develop our country’s future leaders. He cares, and the proof is in what he has accomplished for Mountaineer athletics in his seven years on the job.
Long considered one of the nation’s top collegiate leaders, his success and work ethic has also brought national exposure to West Virginia University as Lyons is helping shape the future of college athletics with his presence on several national and prestigious committees. For 2022-23, he will continue to be a member of the NCAA Transformation Committee that is rewriting NCAA policies and procedures and forming the organization’s guidelines for decades to come. He has also been a member of the NCAA Division I Council for several years and will again chair that distinguished committee in 2023.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he chaired the all-important Football Oversight Committee and played a key role in the sport overcoming, adjusting and managing the difficulties to complete the 2020 season. There’s no doubt that Lyons’ even-keeled demeanor, ability to think outside the box and solve problems played a major role in having a football season in 2020.
Additionally, Lyons serves on the NCAA Working Group on Transfers, the Football Competition Committee and the NCAA Wrestling Academics Enhancement Working Group. Making a difference and enhancing the student-athlete experience on these committees is his No. 1 objective.
His work with WVU President E. Gordon Gee’s senior leadership team and the Big 12 Conference has brought additional respect and positive exposure to his department and the University. He’s been a member of the Big 12 Administration Committee, Finance and Budget Committee and the Game Management and Officiating Subcommittee, while chairing the Big 12 athletic directors committee in 2018.
Lyons came to West Virginia after spending more than three years as the deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer at Alabama. He worked closely on day-to-day strategic leadership, the direction of the overall Crimson Tide Athletic program and was the direct second in charge.
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 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 monitoring 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 graduate student-athlete and member of the football team at UNC Charlotte and Brooke is a sophomore at WVU.
