Heather Lyke took questions from the media Tuesday on the topics of Jeff Capel, Pitt basketball, contract buyouts and a lot more.

Here's the full rundown of what she said.

Lyke: A lot of exciting things happening in the athletic department, and obviously yesterday was a big day with Pro Day here and all of that sort of thing. But I did want to just have a chance to talk with all of you about our basketball program on the men’s side and just share with you a little thoughts and obviously answer questions from you about Coach Capel and the direction we’re headed and my belief and confidence in him and this program.

We did not have the season we expected or wanted to have, obviously, and that’s not news or anything. So it’s a chance right now for us to really refocus and reevaluate everything that we’r doing from A to Z within this program. But I will assure you that I’ve spent some time with Coach - quite a bit, already, but we’ll obviously spend a lot more time together - but there’s no question Jeff and Coach Capel and his staff want to be here in Pittsburgh. His dream as a kid was to coach an ACC school, so he’s in a dream job for him and he wants to build this program and he knows it hasn’t happened yet. So we’re working on it, he’s working very hard to build it and build a sense of pride back in Pittsburgh. Basketball is really important in this city and we understand that. It’s really important to our athletic department and it’s a huge priority for us.

Jeff has talked a lot about the transfer portal and how it’s changing all of college sports. Has that led to you guys talking about finding a different way to utilize it to benefit the school? Whereas traditionally you could go really hard at high schools and maybe look at transfers - does that change a paradigm shift there?
Lyke: Yeah, it’s a really good question, because there’s no question, it’s got to be a balance. You do have to shift and you do have to prioritize a focus and a time that you have staff evaluating the people, the student-athletes, in the transfer portal. It’s not something we want to bank on, that you’re going to find two or three diamonds in the rough. But the reality is, there’s a lot of talented student-athletes that do go into the portal for a multitude of reasons. So it is a very even balance in recruiting traditionally out of AAU and high school basketball along with student-athletes in the portal.

Four years into his tenure here, how would you diagnose the problems that are plaguing the program right now?
Lyke: I would say that, this season, I think early on - I mean, we lost some games that we certainly should not have lost. I think we were trying to figure out who we were and probably disappointed that we weren’t as prepared as I thought. But there’s a lot of games we lost by - three games by one point, one game by three, a game by four, we won a game by one - I think we were very much what I would call in the hunt for games early in the season. And then probably later in the season, there was just a lack - I don’t know if it was belief or confidence, but we ended up getting down by 20 and that’s tough to always battle back against good ACC teams.

There were sparks of certainly positivity. I was on the road with them at UNC and we beat them and they’re sitting in the Sweet Sixteen right now. So there’s some level of positivity and some bright spots, but I think overall we just - I mean, ultimately, this responsibility rests with Coach Capel, for him to diagnose. We’ll work through those things together. I have a lot of stats and things that I’ve shared with him on my thoughts about it, but it’s a coach’s job to really truly diagnose the problem.

What were some of those things that you shared with him?
Lyke: I think that’s between Jeff and I to really evaluate the details of the program. Ultimately, it’s his - it falls on him. This isn’t about one player, one recruiting group, one transfer, anything like that. This is really ultimately a full-program analysis.

Patience with a program that’s not that successful is something you don’t see a lot, whether it’s pro or college sports. What triggered your patience with the Pitt basketball program?
Lyke: I mean, I don’t think four years is - I mean, in everyone’s day and age, we want to be Iowa State. We want to go from 2-22 to the Sweet Sixteen with two kids out of the transfer portal and make it happen. Obviously, great kudos to them and we wish them all the success. But it does take time to build a program the right way with the right overall people. I’m not just talking about student-athletes: overall, the whole entire staff, everybody involved in the program, it takes time to do the right way. So we all want immediate success and I believe in a little bit - I think the value of continuity is important, and just changing for change sake is not necessarily the right decision at this time.

You mentioned Iowa State; Wake Forest went from six to 23 wins. Does that give you more optimism than maybe in previous years you wouldn’t have had because of the portal?
Lyke: It does. And I think it speaks to the initial question about, how much time are you spending evaluating the portal? We have two staff members now really focused - if you talk to Coach Capel, certainly he’ll tell you, I think he feels much more prepared now for the information that’s in the portal. You can’t just open it up one day and think, okay, everything’s going to pop out. You’ve got to be intentional about it and look and study and know who’s in and who’s not and where they’re coming from. And then you’ve got to do your homework on those people. So we’ve prioritized that because of the opportunity, because there are good kids who just maybe don’t fit, maybe something didn’t fit wherever they were. So there’s very talented student-athletes that, for whatever reason, are in there. So I think full vetting of that is a priority for our coaching staff right now, because it can help and it can change your program quickly.

How concerned are you about the fanbase and fan support at this point?
Lyke: Absolutely concerned because I think the most important thing is building a sense of pride in what we do. That pride stems from the kids in the Oakland Zoo and the people that you meet that were in the Oakland Zoo when they were students and just the connectivity in this community, it’s really important to us. I know there’s no one more disappointed than our coaching staff about not performing where they want to be right now. I’m hopeful that people still believe and do come back and do have a positive experience. And I think when the games are close, it matters, vs. the further apart the end result is; that’s a tougher situation. You want to be in the hunt. You’re not going to win every single game, but you want the game to be a good one and something you’re proud of.

What does John’s statement that he released yesterday about sticking to the program and his love for Coach Capel and his progress that you saw from him, not just as a player but as a person over the last two years?
Lyke: Yeah, John - he’s an interesting story, I think, an example, really, of the impact Coach Capel and our coaching staff have had. He had a situation, obviously had to leave Pitt, and our coaches were so focused on him staying in school and doing well academically so if things got cleaned up, then he would be able to come back. And if so, he was going to have to work his way and earn it back, but they set up a plan and stayed in touch and stayed connected and built a relationship with him where I know that he feels that they really believe and care deeply about him.

And then, you know, John obviously was a huge factor in this program and a lot was put on his shoulders right away. And he’s grown. And he’s only going to continue to grow and get better, and I think it’s a real testament to the genuine relationship that Coach Capel and his staff have with John and caring about him well beyond as a player.

You were talking about the transfer portal and there’s players in there for different reasons. There have been a lot of players leave Pitt that way and fans can see those guys having success with other teams, and in years past, that would have been an indictment on a coach. Have you changed as an administrator the way you look at those situations, where maybe before you’d say, all these kids are transferring from the program, that’s a big problem - is it maybe now something that you just have to accept as part of the deal?
Lyke: It’s a really good question, because you don’t want to just say, it’s okay to lose student-athletes all the time. I think every time a student-athlete leaves a program, it’s a really important opportunity for a coach to reflect on, you know, ‘Why are you leaving? But more importantly,, what could I have done differently as a head coach to make you feel that you wanted to stay?’ So I think it gives you that opportunity.

The transfer portal is now a tool that’s - sometimes it’s a positive thing and I’m not sure it always teaches the best things. When things get tough, I jump into the portal. If I’m not playing every single minute, I jump into the portal. And that’s not - again, I’m speaking in total generalities. I’m not speaking about any individual student-athlete. But then there are reasons why student-athletes go and it does make sense and it’s always disappointing to lose a student-athlete, but I think it does give you a chance to reflect on, what could you do better as a department, as a program, as a head coach and learn and grow.

But how do you think programs and college administrations combat that part of the transfer portal, where you see younger people make those decisions where it’s like, this wasn’t an impossible situation, this wasn’t a coaching change where you never get a chance - this was just a situation where you didn’t want to fight it out. How do you combat that culture of the transfer portal?
Lyke: The only way I know to combat it - I mean, it’s part of what’s happening now - is placing a high, high value on the relationship with your student-athletes. I think, if you study anything about organizational leadership and retention, brand loyalty is less valued today than ever. So it’s not about playing for whatever school; it’s about the relationship between the people. So I think placing a stronger emphasis on that and evaluating that piece of it is probably the most - the best way to combat the transfer portal.

Jeff had gotten a two-year contract extension two years into his second season. That was the second year of a seven-year deal; what, for you as an athletic director, went into that decision? What was the thinking or reasoning behind it?
Lyke: Yeah, there were a lot of things. I would say that, I don’t know if people remember and can reflect back when Jeff first came, but there was a lot of positivity and infusion of energy and excitement and belief in what he’s building. That has not waned from me. It may have waned publicly and in fanbase, but it has not waned from internally. So when you see that sort of energy, positivity, work ethic, confidence in what he’s doing, and you want to retain people and not have Pitt be a place that is not a destination place, that’s what we want - we want Pitt to be a destination place, so we wanted to keep Coach Capel and we still do. So that was really the thought process at that point in time.

Have you seen that positivity wane with Jeff, specifically, just on a personal level, outside of the games, for him to go through a season like the program went through?
Lyke: Well, no one takes it harder, right? Understandably. Everybody - we all can sit back and evaluate and criticize and all of the things and reflect, but no one is standing on the sideline dealing with the losses at times. So yeah, there is a frustration, I would say, or a disappointment in his own self. Like, it’s not about anything else, but I would say, in his own self, he is frustrated that it hasn’t quite - you know, we haven’t quite gotten there yet, or he hasn’t gotten this group to win yet. But it’s not a deterrent. So I would say he’s undeterred, but maybe at times frustrated because it hasn’t resulted in the results that he wanted.

What do you think is the role of someone in your position when it comes to the management of a program, specifically when it comes to a coaching staff. I guess to put it a short way, do you think an AD should tell a coach to change his staff, fire assistants, make changes in that regard?
Lyke: No. Not unless there is serious integrity issues going on. That is not my job.

There have been reports out that Jeff’s buyout after this year would have ranged from 15-17 million; are those accurate?
Lyke: I’m not going to comment about anyone’s individual personnel matter, as far as buyouts and contract issues. But if your question is, did the buyout deter me from making a change, the answer is no. I mean, you don’t make personnel decisions based on buyouts at the end of the day. You do it based on the ability and the leadership qualities of that person, and your confidence in them and their belief in what they’re doing. That’s why we kept Jeff.

There were a lot of people who criticized Pitt football for not having more success before this year, but then Pat won the ACC championship and 11 wins and all of that. Is that another example of the importance of sticking with someone who builds a culture and builds those relationships with the team, rather than switching things up just because something isn’t working at the moment?
Lyke: Every program is - I mean, it’s complex, right? Every program is evaluated on a lot of different factors and a lot of different ways you try to help your coaches improve as a head coach. When I got here, this was Coach Narduzzi’s first head coaching position, right? So things like, we didn’t have full nutrition; I was like, how don’t we have a nutritionist at football? Things that were just not in place to help his program have success. And then things that I observed about any number of things. Pat and I have a very direct and honest, open relationship, so if I see something that I think he could be better at - we all need people to give us feedback on what we can improve upon. So, over time, I would say something and he would fix things and I would say something and he would fix things, and I would say Coach Capel and I have the same type of relationship, where I’m working on what I can perceive from my seat - I’m not at practice every single day and I’m not in every single locker room every single game - but from my perspective, that’s part of my job, to help them see things that they might not see. When you’re at the top as a head coach, it’s hard to give feedback to them from other roles in the department.

So that’s my job. With Coach Narduzzi, it did take a little time, but you saw great qualities in him. The real genuine relationships with student-athletes is extraordinary, and the relationships he has with a lot of different constituents is extraordinary. His attention to details, his caring, his passion, his ability to get his team to play hard all the time and believe in themselves. So it was about getting the right kids at the right time. There were maybe things that needed tweaked and fixed - a few less penalties here and there - and things came together very well.

Can you share any of those things you talked over with Pat?
Lyke: Yeah, he would tell you I talked to him about penalties. Obviously you’re going to have penalties, but things that are within your control, right? Discipline penalties. There’s kind of penalties that are just lack of discipline vs. penalties that are controversial. Pass interference - trust me, we’re going to get pass interference with the way we play defense, right? But offsides, illegal motion, too many men - those sorts of things, that’s discipline.

What about global things with the program as a whole?
Lyke: I don’t know that I can - I mean, we go over a lot of things, so we evaluate everything about the program, kind of A to Z, from recruiting to visits to facilities to travel, how we travel, how we eat, every aspect of it. Uniforms and how we keep the locker room, things that I see that others might not see. So, I mean, it’s just a full evaluation. HIs staff - I meet with every assistant coach, I’ll meet with every assistant coach on the men’s staff. It’s about relationships, getting to know what - getting to know them and finding out what can help the program as a whole.

When you and Jeff met last week, what sort of vision did he lay out to you? What was his solution to escaping some of the program’s current struggles?
Lyke: Yeah, I don’t know - we talked a little bit about that, but this was more of reflection and a deep dive into kind of how he’s feeling, how he’s approaching it, his desire to continue to be at Pitt and build this program, his confidence in that. And then a little bit of my reflection on, you know, what I’ve seen as a program from my lens, things that we need to evaluate and do better. And then he was obviously in the process of meeting with the team and student-athletes and then we’ll circle back - I’ll meet with all of his coaches and staff and then we’ll circle back and talk about the changes. I’m going to listen to his plan and his changes; I think this was sort of an initial conversation as opposed to necessarily building out the plan for the next year. He’s obviously heavily focused on recruiting. We talked about the needs, what he’s looking at, who’s on the radar, which obviously I can’t comment about, but that was a little bit more of the focus on the program moving forward.

For an AD going into those conversations with the assistant coaches, what do you hope to get out of them, what things do you hope to learn?
Lyke: It’s very in-depth. So I have sort of a whole plan. I have a plan that I go through with them. I talk to them about what motivates them, how they evaluate themselves, what are the three best things that they’ve done, what are the three best things that our team’s done, what are the things that we need to improve upon the most, how do they see things changing, how have you grown as a coach, what are things that we can do better as a department to support - it’s a pretty thorough evaluation of everything from their role and their perspective to the whole staff and the unit and the program, and then the department and how we’re supporting them. And then really how they feel they make an impact and how they feel they can make things better. I’ll talk to them a little about relationships with the student-athletes, too, and obviously they are heavily involved in recruiting and kind of break up the team in big guys and little guys.

So it’s a great opportunity for us to sit down with them one-on-one and understand a little bit better about how they’re thinking and what they’re seeing and things that they might see that Coach Capel doesn’t.

After your conversations with Jeff, do you anticipate the staff remaining intact?
Lyke: Well, that’s for Jeff to make that decision. I know that he’s focused on the team right now and recruiting, and then he will talk with his staff.

Sandy Barbour just announced that she’s going to be retiring at Penn State. That will leave, I believe, four female athletic directors among the Power Five schools. It’s been 50 years since we’ve had Title IX; what needs to change for there to be more opportunities for women in those positions?
Lyke: Well, a huge congratulations to my dear friend Sandy. She has led the way at many institutions and done it for a very long time at a really high level in a really first-class manner. So I think you need more Sandy Barbour’s out there who are the examples.

It really comes down to chancellors and presidents having a belief and confidence that they don’t see as a female; they just see me as a leader, they see other women as leaders, not necessarily gender-based, and I think this is a role more about management and leadership than it is about gender.

You talked about Pat earlier; I think it was about a month and a half or so since you said his contract was close. How close is it now and what is hanging an announcement of that at this point?
Lyke: It’s imminent. EJ is hanging me up. No, I always blame EJ. It’s very imminent, and we thought the appropriate time made sense. So there’s no question we’re in a good place with that agreement.

Appropriate time would be maybe the spring game?
Lyke: Perhaps. Maybe before the spring game. It will be very soon and we’re excited about that announcement.