nothing like firing up the old live stream machine on a Monday morning thought we would just uh roll through I was actually working on like some stats and some numbers some interesting numbers about pit football after the win at Cincinnati and um I was just about finish I was going to do 10 numbers and I think I was all the way up to number one two 3 4 5 six seven 8 nine you know it it was like I was one day away from retirement you know I was almost finished with that but it said the news comes out and shout out to Chris Carter our friend at the Post Gazette for breaking the news pit has fired Heather like as director of Athletics and this news comes in the aftermath of a number of events over the past month or so past few weeks I guess I forget when exactly the uh near Miss Armageddon was uh a couple weeks ago with the Northwestern job obviously that created an interesting situation as Heather like was interviewing for the Northwestern job a lot of things I think came to light during that week in you know in light of her interviewing for that Northwestern job and maybe about the position she's in at pit and how she had done at pit and kind of where she stood with the Pit's new Chancellor one-year Chancellor Joan Gable and I think we got a a lot of insight into that situation and that relationship and and as I say Heather likes position at pit it was clear that it was a bit more tenuous than probably a lot of people thought uh probably a bit more tenuous and than than was perceived from the outside um and now this today and you know in the aftermath of hether like not getting the Northwestern job there was sort of an expectation she would be signing a new contract sometime soon uh even if it was just for one day one year one day uh her contract was set to expire this year 2024 there was an expectation she would you know from what we understood pit was offering her a short-term deal a one-year deal or a two-year deal something short term something less than what she wanted and that might have been at least part of the motivation in seeking out the Northwestern job to try to get a longer contract offer out of pit that contract offer did not come and certainly after the Northwestern job went to someone else well any leverage that might have existed went out the door so had they like back to the negotiating table I would think with pit um you know looking at potentially the one-year deal or the two-year deal that was being offered only to have this be the outcome now I don't know what happened over the past two weeks I have to imagine it was at least somewhat acrimonious uh and probably uh you know some some difficulty in the negotiating process again when you lose all leverage as Heather Lake probably did in the aftermath of Northwestern hiring someone else I suspect that uh the tone changed and uh you know was it irreparable I I don't know I I'm not going to speculate too much on what happened in the last week or two since the Northwestern kurlu but the end result is here the pit has decided to move on and find a new athletic director and it's interesting because Heather like was at Cincinnati for the pck game uh you know as our guy Jim Hammet who was at the game said she seemed to be conducting business as usual and here we are Monday morning and Heather like is no longer the director of Athletics at pitton so we decided you know what look there's other things to do on a Monday morning other work things want to get a head start on stuff for the week but we got to go live we got to do a live stream here to talk about this and given you guys uh are already rolling in with the comments and the questions um it's uh clear that you want to talk about it as well so we'll probably do this until about 11: o'clock we're not going to go like an hour and a half or something like that because Pat nzi has a press conference today at noon all of a sudden there's a new topic to ask him about uh but we will uh talk here for the next 45 minutes or so get your thoughts on pit firing Heather like I'll share my thoughts on pit firing Heather like and of course the things we always ask you to do like this video And subscribe to youtube.com/ Panther lacom and then the website panther.com we didn't break this story I I'm not going to sit here and say that we uh break every story and certainly Chris Carter the Post Gazette has had this one and and shout out to him uh did a great job on reporting this one but I do think what we offer you at pan.com we we offer you a lot of news and information and I think you know in the midst of the Northwestern situation I think we offered a lot of interesting context that maybe hadn't seen the light of day uh about Heather L's tenure at pit um that hadn't really uh come out and I think it shifted some of the opinions and probably rightfully so uh because for all the that have been accomplished at p in pits athletic department under the last seven years that Heather lake has been in charge and I think there are accomplishments I mean I think there are there are results based accomplishments you know I mean between volleyball success the Ascension of both uh soccer programs obviously the ACC championship for football happened in that time men's basketball having a Resurgence in the last two years uh the wrestling program I think coming along and and having success I mean there have been success on the field there's obviously a giant project going on next to the Peterson Event Center so a major capital investment uh to build the Victory Heights project you know much long long overdue and much needed updates to the Olympic sports facilities all those go on her credit and and she's gotten a lot of national accolades uh you were tely see her on lists of the top athletic directors in the country she's found herself you know on a variety of boards and advisory committees and things like that so I mean there's there's certainly positives that you look at but there's also there are also certain realities about pits athletic department the state of pits athletic department and where it is right now in 2024 one of the most tumultuous eras of college sports and you look at where pits athletic department is it's not exactly in a position of strength and I'm not talking about the the the product that's being put out there you know like we're not talking about the fact that they came back from being down 21 on Saturday at Cincinnati we're talking about the overall health of the athletic department and how it is positioned to move into this new era and and quite frankly the fact that we talk about it as moving into this new era this this sort of present tense future tense moving into this new era you need to already be in this new era and the schools that are going to succeed in this new era have been adapting to it for the past two years three years whether it's nil or the Advent of Revenue sharing which I think most you know Leaders with vision and foresight probably anticipated and prepared for and there are major questions about how prepared pit is for Revenue sharing when it comes how are you going to pay 20 to $22 million in Revenue sharing when your budget was barely working out to be balanced to begin with you know are you going to you know how how much will you fund to some of these Sports how will you come up with the money for scholarships when when now there are no scholarship limits there Rock to add more scholarship players in all of these Sports how are you going to fund those Sports what are you going to fund those Sports what's the plan for funding those sports are you going to go to the limit for baseball are you going to go to the limit for softball are you going to go to the limit for football or men's basketball what's the plan and I think and they're Pro and I don't want to sit here and speak for Joan Gable if she would like to join us on a special edition of the morning pit we could certainly do that and have a conversation I would very much enjoy that uh I'm not going to speak for her but I think at least part of the problem and part of what probably led to Heather like's dismissal maybe what led to Pit's hesitation about signing a long-term contract with Heather like is that there's no clear semblance of a plan and this doesn't come from public comments this doesn't come from the last time we sat down with Heather like and said so Heather what's the plan for Revenue sharing because we haven't sat down with Heather like and this is a whole other issue that I think exists and I don't just say this as like a naval gazing media weirdo but Heather Lake if you look at her public comments with the local media last November she issued like a one-word sentence email to the Post Gazette in you know in response to questions about Pat n's future in August of last year again last year 2023 not 2024 in August of 2023 I think Noah Hiles did like a ride along with her you know a day in the life type of thing and it was great I mean great job by NOA but it wasn't exactly uh you know a chance for Heather like to expound on some of the major issues facing college sports and then the previous April April again April 2023 not 24 but 23 Heather like spoke to the local media unveiling new renderings of the Victory Heights project which I think she went into in event she went into expecting just to be an unveiling of the new renderings of the Victory Heights project and was she she was asked at certain points questions about like her contract situation as far back as April 23 she was almost sort of taken aack that such a question would be raised you know it seemed unprepared or ill-prepared for that question to come up failing to realize I would think that this is one of your rare public appearances this is one of the rare times you're actually speaking to the local media so yes we are going to ask you about everything under the sun because who knows the next time we'll get the chance to talk to you as it turns out there was no next time and I think and again this is not just media wonery but at this point in college athletics where we are right now in college athletics you have to have a strong leader and I think your leader has to be out front now maybe that's the case or maybe that's not the case for Ohio State and Alabama and Texas maybe their brand is strong enough to always remain prominent and relevant in the sport in in in the industry of College athletics but if you were pit I think you need to have a leader who is always out there who's commenting on things who's talking about things who is always available for questions about how are you going to handle Revenue sharing how have you embraced nil what is what's happening with this what's happening with that how is this going to work how does pit move forward in the new era of college sports and heatherlake was never available to answer those questions now is that a reason to her because she doesn't do media availability no but when you take that sort of I I don't want to say hiding in the office because it sounds like I'm just sort of kicking dirt on somebody and that's not what I'm here but when you are just sort of staying out of the public light and there's plenty of talk from sources throughout the athletic department and around the university and around Athletics that pit is not prepared for what's coming the pit has not been preparing for what's coming the pit was unimaginably slow to embrace nil and is not prepared for what's coming in Revenue sharing on top of the fact that the athletic department is seemingly in a pretty considerable amount of debt you look at you start asking questions about management and whether the athletic department has been managed to its best capabilities you know how close is pits athletic department to its ceiling and have the last seven years gotten it closer to that ceiling and we could spend a lot of time sitting around talking about um the Victory Heights project whether that was a good investment whether that's a I shouldn't say was a good in It's A continuing project it's a present tense situation whether that's a good investment or a bad investment uh it doesn't matter the money spent you know at this point it doesn't matter were there other you know we we could have a long conversation down the road about uh you know where we could go off on a Sidetrack about well could they have found other options to upgrade the Olympic sports facilities because they've found other ways to accommodate volleyball and wrestling and these successful programs that need better facilities that need upgrades and I don't know I'm not smart enough to answer that question but I do know that's a $300 million hole in the ground next to the Peterson Event Center it's not just a hole in the ground anymore it's things are being built there and it's going to be fantastic when it's built how many of those Sports will they still be sponsoring when it's built because this is the other real question about that that pit was facing and that pit continues to face is in this era of Revenue sharing there are going to have to be cuts and those might be Cuts in staff those might be Cuts in administrative Personnel these might be Cuts in sports and chances are it'll be all of that what's the plan where's the plan and I don't know I think if Joan Gable asked that question of the athletic department I'm not sure there was a concrete answer to come and there are a lot of reasons for all this there's a lot that goes into this as far as the the nil question the revenue sharing question the overall Financial you know health of the athletic department I mean when you have people talking about this is an athletic department that might be in the red you know to the tune of some of the worst uh you know in FBS among FBS schools you you ask questions about management and mismanagement and financial decisions and how the whole operation has been run and again like I I don't want to spend you know this 45 minute podcast just sort of um you know kicking dirt because that that's not my intention that's not what I'm trying to do but there are there are real questions about how things have been run for the past seven years and I think they're probably like the deeper you dig I think the closer you look and the more you see the more you hear the more you find out about this athletic department it was not in good shape it's not in good shape and it's going to take some real repair work done and with the coaching hires and and who's worked and who hasn't and we you know I think we did this like a couple weeks ago with in the midst of the Northwestern stuff I think we talked about a lot of these things about 12 coaching hires uh in the last seven years which is I don't know if that's average or above average below average it doesn't matter it was what Heather Lake felt needed to be done but we can talk about how successful those hires have been you've already hired two women's basketball coaches you've hired two gymnastics coaches uh you were you know pretty damn close to hiring a new men's basketball coach if that buyout wasn't as big as it was for Jeff cable two years ago uh you like we could drill down on all of those Sports and and we could find the successful ones and the unsuccessful ones and we could look at you know when we talk about volleyball or uh men's soccer or football I mean these are programs that have had success in the last seven years but were not hires made by Heather like now she extended the contracts and had to obviously support those coaches and support those Sports to help them achieve at the level they were achieving uh you know and at the same time I think you could say that Heather like probably had more support from University ad Administration than most of her predecessors I would say now it was easier to say yes on some of those things with the ACC money rolling in but Patrick Gallagher I think supported Heather like uh more than you know the support that you know Steve Peterson got or Jeff Long uh or Steve Peterson the first time and I mean there was a lot of support from Mark nordenberg for those uh athletic directors but I think Heather like's level of support what she received was Far Beyond you know anything her predecessors had seen Scott Barnes probably would have gotten that support from Patrick gagher if he hadn't left um but then again there's a part of me that thinks hey maybe because Scott Barnes left when he did and how he did maybe Patrick gager felt an increased sense of urgency to really get it right and make sure it worked with his next athletic director maybe he was even willing to say yes to more for Heather ly order to increase the likelihood of it working out that's speculation on my part uh and again that's all water under the bridge I mean because where they are right now is pit needs a new athletic director I think I'm going to get into the comments and questions in a second of course uh you guys have a lot to say and and I appreciate everybody uh jumping in this morning uh kind of on a moment's notice so it's pretty fun um what was I just going to say I think at this point in time in college athletics it's not ideal to be leaderless and I shouldn't say leaderless because they've named Jen Jen Tuscano who is a longtime pit person one of these there there's a handful of people in that athletic department who are dyed blue and yellow like like their their blood is blue and yellow like they believe in pit and I genuinely I genuinely believe they make decisions based on what they think is best for pit like as they rank their priorities in making any given decision professionally the number one priority is pit number two and three four whatever else is on their resume or personal preference or whatever the number one thing is pit and the number of people who feel that way who operate that way has been dwindling over the years okay it's been slowly going down and Steve Peterson ran some off and some left under Scott Barnes and a bunch have left under a variety of circumstances under Heather Lake but there still a handful of people in that department who truly are committed to the cause who who truly have no priority Beyond pit and Jen Tuscano who I I think I read in the press release uh from uh or the the statement that was given to uh the Post Gazette from Joan Gable I think Jen Tuscano was named the interim ad she's one of those and she has been here a long time it means something it's important to her and she's a good person to have in charge but in terms of having a a permanent athletic director it's not an ideal time to be without that I don't want to say leaderless or rudderless or anything like that but you you need leadership at this point in college athletics but maybe this gives an opportunity for Joan Gable for the pit Board of Trustees and the pit athletic department overall to find someone who like you go into this athletic director search with a very specific intention and a very specific set of qualifications of what you're looking for you need someone some who's going to walk in and tell you how they're going to manage Revenue sharing how they're going to get this athletic department out of the red or at least not quite as far in the red as they are right now and how they're going to further Embrace Foster develop and enhance the nil efforts that those are the the the three biggest things you know the Victory Heights project it it's too far like you can't walk back from that right now it it's it's too far along um I don't know if you can downside it or or you know adjust it to to make it a little bit more financially viable but the university took on a lot of debt for that thing so you know maybe it's not all in the athletic Department's uh you know balance sheet but like what's done is done there and and you obviously have all the sort of traditional duties of an athletic director of you know supporting the coaches and facilities and hires and contract extensions and making those kind of decisions but the number one priority and what every question needs to be about when you're sitting down in these interviews with new athletic director with with athletic director candidates you have to find out how would you approach Revenue sharing H how are you going to make this work so that pits biggest Revenue producing sports can be competitive in this next era of College athletics how are you going to address Revenue sharing how are you going to embrace develop Foster and enhance the nil efforts and that means working with Alliance 412 that means doing everything legal and working like crazy to find how far you can stretch that uh you know definition of legality to get the money where it needs to go what are you going to do there and then finally how you going to get us closer to uh to the black might not get fully out of the red maybe most athletic departments across the country don't operate really in the red but you could be a lot closer than Pit is right now those are the biggest priorities those are the things the new athletic director has to address and those are the things that the new athletic directing athletic director hire should be based on those have to be the priorities for Joan Gable have to be and if you find someone who doesn't answer those questions you can't hire them there has to be a plan all right let's get into some comments and questions there's a lot of you guys on here this is a big big uh Troutman I don't think you're the real Chevy Troutman but it'd be funny if you were says someone find Randy juel yeah man where's Randy juel at these days uh hopefully he's reti and just enjoying it and sitting back Eric Bruno says this is a bit unexpected curious says the why like was let go that's a few you know I think a few of the things that I I I just talked about a lot of these comments came in right at the beginning so some of these things we we we addressed but I mean Eric I think I think it's a lot of the things we talked about Tyler s says Lewis rck come on down I don't know um he gets he got brought up so when it looked like Heather like might go to Northwestern he got brought up but and like yeah he's he's a visible face it's it's great but like we're past the point and this has nothing to do with Lewis rck like he might be a great candidate for this job but there was a point if you remember 10 years ago 15 years ago ah just make Dave wanstead the athletic director Dave he can shake hands and get the boosters all excited and raise some money no there's there's there's no glad handing anymore this is this is not you know this is not for that this is not a a kissing baby's job anymore this is a business job and you need a business sense you need business Acumen to take this job to be an athletic director because whatever it used to be and I mean there was always a business element to it but whatever the job of an athletic director used to be it's only business now it's all business and making the dollars wor work because you have to make the dollars work not just to like try to you know come out ahead you know in your your your profit margins you know all these like you have to make the dollars work to field competitive teams and have success in in the sports and I mean just be completely honest and candid you need to find a way to make the dollars work to be successful in football and men's basketball and and I like I hate that we have to like have Tunnel Vision on that but it's the reality and like I have incredible respect for every student athlete at pit and every coach at pit because they work they work really hard they dedicate their lives to these things but you know what college sports is right now and it has been for a while and maybe it always has been but you know what it is right now it's a business and it's about making money and step byep step and I I've talked about this before step by step little by little every decision that gets made by schools by athletic departments by conferences by the NCAA by just any element of College athletics every decision gets made boils down to one question will thus will this make us money period and it's you know it's been that for a while but there was still like Something Beautiful about college sports where it wasn't a lot of it was about money but there were still decisions that were made for no reason other than just the the bizarre world of of college sport we just going to have rankings and whoever decides to number I was explaining like the history of college rankings to my family over the weekend and like like my wife and and my kids were like wait so they didn't even play a championship game I'm like no they didn't and it was kind of great it was kind of beautiful that that it just didn't make sense I was explaining to them we were watching the Notre Dame Northern Illinois game and I was explaining to them why everybody in the country hates Notre Dame and I was like but the one thing about Notre Dame is they they make decisions most of them for money but at least some of them just because of their own pretention and I appreciate that because it like yes they may be pretentious and condescending but at least they're doing it for that reason at least there's like one other reason that's not just money because everything else is made for every other decision is made for that reason and so I'm sorry to these other Athletics programs but like football and men's basketball make the money and football more than men's basketball and so where do you need to focus your resources where do you need to focus your efforts where do you need to focus your work and your biggest dedication of time it's football how do you get the money to football and whether it's nil or it's Revenue sharing or whatever else you could do to support that program this is your lifeblood because football has been paying for everything else football and men's basketball pay for everything else and that's only going to increase except now football and men's basketball need more money because they're going to have because of the revenue sharing and so the the priorities have to be there and whoever you hire has to come in and have a business sense for how to support and enhance everything that goes with football and men's basketball it's just the reality uh Matt Presto says hello darkness my old friend here we are again in the command center with our leader Chris hey uh Matt I'm glad that you know we had the opportunity to do this it's uh it's at least we can get together and talk about it for a little bit uh Mar Mark Alexander says am I tripping or did they not just sign an extension no they didn't sign an extension uh talkis pit says I think something went down behind the scenes that we'll never know about it must be something bad if they're firing her after an extension well she never got an extension again like there was never a contract extension signed and you know she did not get the Northwestern job they picked someone else it's not like pit signed an extension and convinced her to stay she came back from the Northwestern situation having not gotten the job and had to come back to pit and attempt to con negotiate on the contract again with far less leverage than she had before the Northwestern situation and I don't know how much leverage she had again pit was only interested in get offering her something short term maybe one or two years as an extension she wanted longer she wanted more and pit wasn't willing to offer it and so you know already from the start it's clear that there was a disconnect right between University leadership and athletic department leadership there was a disconnect there between Joan Gable and and Heather L you know there was a situation where a new Chancellor comes in takes stock of the situation takes stock of the the the health of the athletic department and says you know what I'm not so sure I want to sign you to a 5-year deal and and and we'll sign you know a year or two but I need to know how you're going to fix this I need to know how you're going to move pit forward and I need to see concrete examples of your plan to do what pit needs not just what Heather like needs I need concrete examples of how this athletic department is going to be successful and competitive and and I think you know those were the conversations over the last week two weeks um we have super chatter RJ cman 38 jumps in at the end says uh Jeff cable and patzi should expect the same good good call um whatever like we're here there's like 400 of us hanging out on a Monday morning talking about pit firing its athletic director and you want to talk about how they should fire Pat nzi and Jeff Gable I appreciate you being a super chatter and that's why I read that because you're a super chatter thank you sir um Scott m says if the reason behind this really is nil related then at least the concept of kiban pit Revenue Sports relevant is supposedly alive um I like I don't know about nil related you know I can't say why Joan Gable like what ultimately made her decide to do that but what I can say is that Pitt's athletic department under Heather likes Direction dragged its feet on getting on board with nil you know it like for a while with Pennsylvania law there was only so much the pck could do there was only so much the athletic department could do to support Alliance 412 but there were still things that could be done there was support that could be offered and it wasn't offered there was a distancing between the athletic department and Alliance 412 pits Collective aimed at you know Gathering nil money to help bolster the roster for football and men's basketball and look the success that pit basketball had in the last two years is entirely due to nil like nil is a big giant chunk of the success that pit had over the last two years okay without it without the efforts of Alliance 412 pit doesn't make the NCAA tournament two years ago they are not on the bubble this past year period Point Blank hash facts or whatever it is that kids say these days to make to to to state something as unequivocally as they can pit doesn't make the NCAA tournament two years ago without nil pit doesn't get on the bubble last year without nil and PS on the position they are right now without nil I'm talking about the basketball team okay it it's not it it doesn't happen and that was all the efforts of Alliance 412 because the athletic department Guided by the leader at the top dragged its feet and didn't want to get involved and there's something to be said for you know Heather like and this has been suggested to me by a number of people really over the last couple of years her background is in compliance you know her back she came up in compliance she worked in the NCAA enforcement office and when she was at Ohio State and you know Michigan State these place like her background is compliance okay and I think for a lot of people when nil became a thing a lot of people whose backgrounds are in compliance had a very difficult time adapting to it you know like like I I always would say about like you know fans you might not like donating to nil but you got to hold your nose and and do it because that's what well that goes for the administrators too you you might not like it but you need to hold your nose and dive in because this is what your department needs this is what your sports need and they didn't and they didn't and they dragged their feet and and as restrictions loosened up and there were more things that athletic departments could do they still dragged their feet they knew certain changes were coming they knew they were going to be able to do more to support Alliance 412 and they dragged their feet now in the past like six months or so yes I I I'm told they they've they've gotten more involved they've been doing more they've been doing more to help pit or help Alliance 412 but it's still not even enough they're still not doing the full amount of what they can do and that's on Heather like like it is her guidance and her executive team that make that decision and and and it's her specifically an athletic department yes and I think nil is one component of that um let's see uh Grant Cuda says what's the benefit of making this move now seems like this should have been made over the summer uh you know I think there were efforts made to try to resign Heather like um you know I I I presume over the summer you know I I think that those conversations were being had because ultimately Joan Gable probably wanted another year or two of of stability she wanted I I I think with a clear plan and a path forward Joan Gable wanted the stability of having the athletic director in place and so go for another year or to uh you know hire you know take take another year with Heather Lake uh with a clear plan forward of how she was going to advance the athletic department uh and then I think as things kind of came to a head with the Northwestern situation and and and the Fallout since then uh I I it seems like the decision was made like you know what this this isn't going to work we're we're not going to be able to get on the same page we're not going to be able to come to terms and get in the same spot and so the decision's made I I don't think was strategic like look we're doing this in September I don't know if there's ever a good time maybe the summer but I you know not really sure uh WG runan 132 says Heather like has a track record Joan Gable has none that I relate to well she just got hired in the next year um or she just got hired in the last year so there there's not a lot to uh to go on uh with Joan Gable but I mean she does have experience and and look the word out of like Minnesota when she was the chancellor there or president or whatever they they call their the university leader and the word from people at pit since she's been hired is that she is very committed to Athletics that that there's no like turning off the faucet um it's just looking for better management of the water that comes out uh Pat o says having a Chancellor that does not seem to have any enthusiasm for athletics is terrifying I like I say I I would disagree with with that assessment you know I I I I think that assessment is based on you know uh maybe outside perception but I again I can only go on what I've been told and what I've been told is that she does have enthusiasm for athletics she supports Athletics and and didn't intend to again turn off the faucet of of money going to Athletics just wanted it to be managed better uh which I think is reasonable uh Um Zack Wells says a family friend went to a donor dinner at Heather likes house on Friday 8:30 that friend said her language insinuated she was definitely staying so yeah that was one of the the funny stories like during um during the whole Northwestern flirtation was that Heather like was going to have this like donor party or dinner or something at her house the night before the season opener against Kent State that Friday night which was the week leading up to that game and um so I was like boy what's going to happen and and you know by all accounts it the the the dinner uh you know went down um you know it it happened you know she had had people over at her house and everything but um you know I wouldn't be surprised if she gave indications that she planned on staying like I say she was in Cincinnati two days ago for the pit Cincinnati game uh so I would say This was um maybe not something she saw coming uh I can't I mean it's it's speculation to say how it all went down but yeah I all indications are that she intended to stay at pit after Northwestern fell through um scroll here um Scotty troter says these statements all sound like talking points from the Board of Trustees like was a good ad she's at a university who's Alum alumni don't donate you know I I mean that's okay like if you uh want to perceive it to be that uh I'm I'm getting talking points from the uh the Board of Trustees or something like that I mean that's that's your perception I I can tell you that I've heard from multiple people in a variety of walks of life some in the athletic department dep some out of the athletic department some here some there that um what I'm telling you is is accurate I like the things I've said about nil about the plan for Revenue sharing about the overall Financial Health of the athletic department like I'm I'm not making them up and I wouldn't say them if I didn't feel like I had gotten them from very good very reliable sources uh I I wouldn't come out here and like it would be irresponsible to say some of these things okay to to talk about these things and the General State of it but I've heard it from enough people and not just in the last like two weeks I mean some of these conversations I've been having with people over the last like year or two uh and maybe longer about what is really going on in pits athletic department and and kind of the the state of things and I I think I've had enough people tell me that Pit's nil budget is near the bottom of the ACCC I've had enough people tell me that Pit's debt situation in the athletic department is among the worst in FBS I've had enough people tell me that there's no clear plan for how to proceed with Revenue sharing like I've I have enough people telling me these things that I I tend to believe them and now the athletic Church got fired so there's probably some truth to it and and whether it's a talking point or not that doesn't make it false and again I didn't I didn't get an email with talking points I wish I would that you know how easy it would make it if I would get an email from like uh you know a source On The Board of Trustees just saying like okay so here's the deal there's this this this and this and then I could just like recite those and expound on that would make my job a lot there'd be a lot fewer phone calls and text messages and all that it'll be a lot easier Eric Bruno uh comes in as a super chatter says I think it boils down to what pit and Joan Gable emphasize when it comes to Athletics so they emphasize football basketball or Olympic sports the next hire is going to be telling um like you got to emphasize what makes money and like I don't mean to be cold and unfeeling about it but like you have to emphasize what makes money football makes the money football costs a lot of money but football makes the money you have to support football you have to support football and and and I'm not going to sit here I I think there's a false equivalence Le we start talking about well they built Victory Heights instead of supporting football I don't think that's the case I I I wouldn't suggest that I don't believe it um I think they were two separate things I think there were much needed long overdue updates uh for Olympic sports but I like I you you've got to your next athletic director has to support football um get through as many comments as we can got another you know a little less than 10 minutes here um where was I uh Ed Mahoney says uh surpris on the timing of the move I expect more to come out in the following days nil fundraising she seem to be looking for a new job new hire will be critical for future pit Athletics you know it's interesting about the looking for a new job because it's not like Northwestern was the first time she interviewed for a different job I mean we heard her connected to Ohio State we heard her connected to Michigan State at least one of those West Coast jobs us USC or Washington State maybe both like we heard her connected to a bunch of different jobs over the last seven years and it's it's not entirely atypical people look for better jobs people look for other jobs um people people try to climb the ladder right it's not totally out of you know it's not like I say it's not atypical it's not unconventional for an athletic director to interview for other jobs but she interviewed for a lot She interviewed for a lot of jobs and um didn't get any of them you know and and you wonder you know you wonder if there's something to be read to read into there you know you wonder if P got a little bit tired of her looking for other jobs but you wonder if there's something to be reading into the fact that she didn't get other jobs I mean it's debatable if Northwestern is a lateral move or not you know Ohio state is one thing but you know if she was being talked about with like Washington State or something like that or I I forget some of the other programs but like not all of them you know at least some of them felt like probably more or less lateral moves and so I don't know I think you could read into it a lot of ways uh another Super chatter RJC man 38 says when the ad comes in and you are Jeff or Pat do you feel good about your resume I think it's fair to say no um I don't know I think if you're Pat oroi you got a pretty nice troph one of the few that pit has since joining the ACC and that buys you a little bit of time also you know I don't know if this is a hire that'll get done I don't know what the timeline would be for an athletic director hire they've got an interim ad if you recall Jeff long left pit for Arkansas during the 2006 season 2007 excuse me 2007 season and Steve Peterson I think was announced on December 1st so you're looking at a couple months in there where Donna s was the interim ad um and so this is a hire that could take a little while now if Joan Gable wants to go back to Minnesota uh and and find the ad that she had there and you know bring him along uh that could that could be a possibility and maybe that could happen a little bit quicker but you're going to hire an ad who's going to have an at least an eye on this year's football season and men's basketball season if if Pat Uzi has an ACC championship trophy two division titles uh you know 20 games over two years in 21 and 22 uh bounces back and if he can bounce back from a three and N season with a solid year this year an eight win season or better I don't think he should feel too much on the hot seat if Jeff cable can do what we expect him to do this year and I mean he's got amsol delalic so or amsol delich so I I I mean how could he not do what we expect him to do uh but if Jeff cable does we expect him to do this year then I I I I wouldn't be worried if I was those guys you know I I think the bigger questions are about how to support and build those Sports uh rather than just firing the head coaches right off the bat but everybody's got their own preferences and thoughts there's a a lot of um Josh nework says EJ for director of Athletics Peak to uh the pit Sid no thank you I I I I would not I I would not be interested in working in the University of Pittsburgh athletic department uh at least not in the sports information to to deal with people like me no would EJ boretti the current pit Sid make a great athletic director probably um does he have the business background that that is needed in this kind of situation I I'm not sure but do I know that every decision he would make would be with Pit's best interest in mind absolutely you know you there are pit people sort of scattered throughout College athletics Dan Bartholome is the athletic director at Western Michigan um he's a younger guy but he's he really kind of came up through pit and and and learned learned the job at pit learned how athletic departments work at pit For Better or For Worse he's a guy that I think if if you were to hire him he would make every decision with Pit's best interest in mind Marcus Bowman I think is at Oklahoma you know former pit basketball player and um uh you know got a spent a lot of time in Pit's athletic department if if he were to get hir something I think he would make every decision with Pit's best interest in mind that's what you need you know I mean that that's that's important but I think you also need that business acum you need to be able to run the business that is Big Time College athletics if you want to be a big time College athletic department you need to run it like a business um there's so many uh so many comments here I'm not going to be able to get to everybody uh on this one because we got to kind of uh we got to run panoi talks in an hour and so I'm uh I wish I could read all your comments we definitely got all the super Chatters in we appreciate everybody who uh who chimed in as a a super chatter um and I appreciate everybody who tuned in today you know we got like 400 people watching a live stream at 10 o'clock in the morning on a Monday uh it's a lot of fun I wish we could go longer but we got to kind of we got to wrap it up but that's the news pitf fires ath uh director of Athletics Heather L A Move that uh I think was a surprise when the expectation was that she was going to sign a contract extension but again if you were following Along on pan.com over the last couple weeks I think we laid out the context of how something like this could happen we never said that this would happen uh because I didn't necessarily think this would happen but with the context I think we put out there I think you have some idea uh and maybe it's not as crazy of notion as um as you might have thought or as it might have seemed but either way uh a little bit of news I'm sure we're going to be talking about this on the morning pit tomorrow but listen like this video And subscribe youtube.com pancom thanks so much for tuning in today really appreciate it uh we will have lots more to talk about this week and uh the message boards are jumping off at panther.com so if you want to go talk about it head over to panther-lair.com pittsburgh. rivals.com again thanks so much for tuning in today have a great rest of your Monday we'll see if the rest of the day can live up to what today was but thanks uh like And subscribe we'll catch up with you on panther.com and uh tomorrow morning's morning pit right here youtube.com/ pancom