Connect Bridgeport
Ad
FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTubeRSS
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Community
    • Community News
    • Anniversaries
    • Announcements
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Calendar
    • Churches
    • Clubs & Organizations
    • Directory
    • Farmer's Market
    • File Complaint
    • Greeting Cards
    • Library
    • Lost And Found
    • Obituaries
    • Parks & Recreation
    • Sponsorships
  • Trading Post
    • For Sale
    • Local Deals
    • Services
    • Yard Sales
  • Visitors
  • Relocation
  • Education
  • Jobs
  • Alumni

Former WVU AD Hammers Gordon Gee on Departure: Says Brown's Football Contract Decision by Several

By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on November 29, 2022

MetroNews reports that in his first public interview since being dismissed as West Virginia University’s Director of Athletics two weeks ago to the day, Shane Lyons went into detail how that decision came about, while admitting it caught him off guard that President E. Gordon Gee was looking to go in another direction.
 
“It was a complete surprise,” Lyons said on MetroNews Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval. “Two weeks earlier, I have a text message [from Gee] saying, ‘I know there’s a lot of pressure on us and I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with anybody else rather than you.’”
 
The pressure stemmed from the football program’s lack of success. The Mountaineers wrapped up a 5-7 season Saturday with a win at Oklahoma State, bringing head coach Neal Brown’s career record at West Virginia to 22-25 in four seasons. The 2022 campaign marked the Mountaineers’ third losing season under Brown and the second time in which they failed to qualify for a bowl game.
 
“It boils down to the football situation,” Lyons said. “A lot of heat was surrounding our football program at that time. I look at it that I’m the scapegoat.”
 
Lyons came under fire for extending Brown’s contract through 2026 following a 6-4 season in 2020 that finished with a win over Army in the Liberty Bowl. It was progress from a 5-7 finish in Brown’s first season, though it came in a COVID-impacted year when Eastern Kentucky was the only non-conference opponent and the Mountaineers did not face eventual Big 12 champion Oklahoma.
 
“The culture was right and recruiting was heading in the right direction,” Lyons said. “His name had come up for a couple jobs in Auburn and South Carolina. As an Athletic Director, you start juggling this to say, ‘what if he wins the next year?’ Well, if he wins the next year, his buyout was 1.5-2 million dollars, which is not much in our business. So my thinking was we need to increase his buyout if he ends up leaving to be close to 5 million dollars, which we ended up doing.”
 
Much of that extension fell on Lyons, but the former West Virginia Athletic Director said it was a collaborative decision that also took into consideration the thoughts of Gee, current Interim Director of Athletics Rob Alsop and the chair of WVU’s Board of Governors David Alvarez (of Bridgeport).
 
Click HERE for the rest of the story. 
 
Editor's Note: Photo courtesy of WVU Sports Communications.

Share


Sign up/stay connected

Create your profile to start adding photos, posting comments, and more.

SIGN UP

Ad
Ad
Ad

Related Articles

  • Photos: WVU Rolls to Big 12 Win against Oklahoma
  • Mike Carey, Jeff Hostetler to be Inducted into State's Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame

Blogs [ view all ]

  • Photo

    From the Bench: Tribe Finalizes '23 Foot...

    For those who follow Bridgeport High School football, here is a little bit of news you might be interested in. The 2023 fo...

    Posted by Jeff Toquinto

  • Photo

    Time Travel: Construction of Bridgeport ...

    Does this look familiar? If so, it is because it is still standing in Bridgeport. This photo, from 1921, shows the fi...

    Posted by Dick Duez

  • Photo

    Off the Shelf: The Debut of New Programs...

    The library is debuting some new and exciting programs for the month of February! We will be offering something new fo...

    Posted by Savanna Draper

  • Photo

    The Grapevine: Talk on Anise Seed and th...

    If you happen to be associating with local ladies who like to bake, especially those who want to make Easter Bread, th...

    Posted by Rosalyn Queen

  • Photo

    It's Happening: Glamming it Up for a 192...

    The UHC “Roaring 20s” Holly Ball is just a few days away. For attendees wanting to glam it up to reflect t...

    Posted by Julie Perine

  • Photo

    ToquiNotes: Best Long-Time Italian Resta...

    A lot of times I like to get a good debate going on here. The easiest way to do that is to talk about the best types of fo...

    Posted by Jeff Toquinto

  • Photo

    Why Bridgeport? The Importance of the NC...

    How important is the North Central West Virginia (NCWV) Airport to Bridgeport and our region?   A 2019 economic im...

    Posted by Jon Griffith

Sports Calendar [ view all ]

No scheduled sports events

 

 



Bridgeport, WV
Editorial Board Advertise Privacy Policy Contact Us
FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTubeRSS

©2014 Connect Bridgeport.