Relieved of her duties as Pitt’s athletic director only 16 days ago, Heather Lyke is back in the game.
On Wednesday, Lyke was named acting president and chief executive officer of the FBS Athletics Directors Association, which represents athletics directors of the FBS’ 134 member schools.
The advocacy group was named LEAD1 Association before its name change. Lyke was formerly its board of directors chair. She will replace Tom McMillen, who served as LEAD1’s President and CEO since 2015 and previously announced he will step down Monday.
Along with the name and leadership change, the association will operate in affiliation with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), with changes made to its structure, meetings and membership dues, according to a news release.
“After gathering feedback for more than a year from our members, it was clear that we needed a new direction for LEAD1 in many ways, and our name change, affiliation with NACDA and the appointment of Heather demonstrates our strong desire to serve our members more effectively,” Warde Manuel, Chair of the FBS Athletics Directors Association and athletic director at the University of Michigan, said in a statement “I am grateful that Heather has accepted the role of Acting President and CEO, as she brings immediate credibility, broad experiences and demonstrated success as an athletics director to our organization.”