Pressure on Pitt after Heather Lyke's firing? | Why is Sidney Crosby extension taking so long?

good morning everybody Welcome to Jason Mackey's first 10 short version podcast talking all things Pittsburgh sports today is Tuesday September 10th and it was a busy busy day around Pittsburgh pretty much every one of our teams had some item of news attached to it the big news obviously Heather lake is out as ad at pit U Pirates won a game David benar was named the Roberto Clemente Award nominee for the team believe that was the third straight year for him Sydney Crosby talked about his contract said he was quote optimistic some will get done Steelers found out their punter was out for the year also brought back Terrell Edmonds but again the lead topic has to be Heather like right I don't think anybody saw this coming myself included and out of nowhere our Chris Carter broke the story that Heather like is out Chancellor uh Joan Gable said in a statement as we enter a new era of College athletics one that seems to change by the day we need a new vision and new leader of our athletics department you've probably read that statement it's me that kind of frames what we're talking about here uh because how else does this come to such an Abrupt end I like was a candidate at Ohio State Michigan State Northwestern very recently Northwestern her name was mentioned at USC as well I mean this is not somebody who has thought poorly of um nationally now locally uh you hear Rumblings and I believe Paul Zeiss wrote this in his column as well that the relationship between Gable and like was not great um we could probably all speculate as to why but I think that statement kind of tells you without telling you a lot of things that pit is looking for maybe not happy with that sort of thing with Heather lik's leadership if you look at on field success I think you could make a case that Heather like did a very very good job here um teams won they the coaches were extended who were here and coaches were hired who have been effective um not not blanket statement right not every coach she hired has been good but I mean did she leave pit Athletics in a better place than she found it I would say that she did um but has she best navigated um what college athletics is now which can sometimes uh be a little nuts can be a lot nuts and um yeah that's my takeaways from this are that and also that like they have to know what they're doing or they better know what they're doing would be a better way of putting that because this timing is horrible number one I mean you've got the pit Hall of Fame induction on Friday you're sending darell revas dwan Blair Bill Hill grve dick Roo and others into the Hall of Fame it's the week of the Backyard Brawl pit volleyball was just ranked number one in the country like there's a lot of things surrounding pit Athletics right now that would not point to a great time for pit to do this now if you have your mind made up if you want to be done with the relationship I guess I get it now and I wonder how much of the last straw the Northwestern thing was you know her being a candidate for that and pit ultimately deciding we're not going to get something done here this isn't going to work we want somebody who's going to do the job maybe a little bit differently um an alarming thing in Chris Carter's story you probably read this but like was obviously very much attached to their Victory Heights um their 24,000 square foot facility uh basically for Olympic sports it's got a pretty hefty price tag 240 million I believe like was on record saying that they've raised around 12 million for that well that's that's a very incomplete bill um and that's some problem some problems there as far as fundraising paying for things stuff that will ultimately fall on the University and to me that's a that's a pretty big Gulf between maybe where Heather wants to be maybe where the university wants to be but I think that's a lot of speculating from the outside um what I do know again is that this timing is horrible and that you know they're making a pretty big statement by saying what we have here is not good enough we're going to change reverse course find somebody who does the job differently and that can navigate the current state of College athletics so I there's some interesting candid candidates out there we have a piece on our website uh do check it out Pat bosk is listed as one Doug wayy um Lewis rck um a few a few others so I I don't want to give anybody short shrift I'm sure I will make sure you check that out but yeah just just wild to me and and honestly I think this might be the biggest hire in the history of pit Athletics or you could make that case certainly with what this person's going to have have to navigate um you know nil money sort of rectifying relationships with the 412 Alliance um being able to fund raise better you're going to be paying athletes due to the ongoing legal settlement uh it's estimated 20 to $30 million that sort of thing and um you know obviously keeping teams competitive keeping coaches here it's it's it's a lot it's a lot and I mean I I hope they find the right candidate I'm sure they will um exhaust all options but again it just says to me that you must you must really be dissatisfied and think you have a better idea to do this right now all right going to move on to a couple other topics we have a lot of stuff to cover today next up in our uh weekly or daily segment here um Sydney Crosby in his contract how about that stuff um so he talked at the NHL media tours out in Vegas did it with some national writers and the Penguins sent us the audio um Crosby's quote on his contract I'm pretty optimistic it's going to get done I don't know what day but it's been really positive hasn't been a difficult process at all I might argue against that well I I shouldn't say I might argue it again that's that's not the perception um I I'll be really curious when this gets done and I do expect it to get done before training camp a lot of people that I've talked to said I'm not going to worry until training camp if he starts training camp without a new contract we've got a problem so I don't think we have a problem I think he's going to start training camp with the contract he said I didn't know exactly what day like I said before but uh yeah I'm just curious what what took so long what took so long if he wants to be here if the Penguins want him here but we'll find out soon enough Crosby also talked about some of his um longevity how he feels sort of a passion but I I've heard this stuff a decent amount from Sid and I it was good this was one of the better sitter interviews that I've heard but um he said he's just as excited to get to training camp as he was his first year the passion that sort of things all there I feel like Sid can be 60 he's probably going to say that I don't know if his body will cooperate but he'll want to be out there uh he's just one of the most passionate driven players in any sport that I've ever seen he said as long as that's there and you're willing to put in the work everything it does be successful um hopefully it can be at least for a few more years so part of that interview Sid talked about wanting to play a few more years I think he will play a few more years I think the the sticking point the bigger topic is something I wrote about something we've been writing about how do you put a better team around syney Crosby how did the Penguins improve and that's a different discussion all right I have a couple more things I want to get to on the back end of our mid uh mid episode break from bra the Bron Area Convention and visitors bureau check that out now embrace the laid-back charm of Island life while sinking your toes in the sand and discovering real authentic Florida in the Bradenton Area unspoiled Beauty and pristine beaches a vibrant waterfront downtown energized by local arts and culture fresh floran Cuisine with a flourish of Rich history and friendly locals ready to welcome you to this is preserved Paradise on Florida's GF Coast plan your visit today at Bradenton islands.com and welcome back to first 10 I'm your host Jason Mackie want to get to some Steelers and Pirates stuff before we're done for the day too bad for cam Johnston uh I think we figured that the punter out for the year we saw the injury in Atlanta and man he's been so good so good and so fun to watch he's out for the year the Steelers are going to bring back Corless W uh man not Waltman um he actually signed at the Steelers in 2020 was an undrafted free agent filled in for them for two games in the 21 season when Presley Harvin the third's father died um spent all of 2022 with Denver kind of bounced around to a couple different teams um this year in the preseason but um he can kick we know that in 2022 he ranked 13th in the NFL and net punting average 41.4 yards per punt in 20th in yards per punt 46.6 those are some numbers to say that he's a perfectly serviceable kicker I thought it was interesting that they didn't go with Presley Harvin the third for one reason just he was he was here they know him um he's held for Chris Boswell before but nope didn't want to go that route um we'll see what happens I know that whoever they bring in probably isn't going to be as good as cam Johnson has been throughout the preseason um and even early on I just man such a shame I think I thought the Steelers were GNA finally have their punter problem solved and well I was wrong they also bring it they're also bringing back Terrell Edmonds uh first round pick in 2018 safety I'm not sure where he fits to be honest with you U but I guess depth played a little bit for Jacksonville in week one um somebody they know again and can theoretically contribute if they get into some injury trouble Pirates last night they won uh three to2 Paul sk's pitch six Innings six hits one run it was earned a walk nine strikeouts he's now 10- two on the year um was watching that game last night I came to the conclusion that Paul skes is good I don't know what you all of course we know Paul SK is good it's uh awesome to watch and Pitch always fun Pirates have won five in a row against Miami O'Neal Cruz by the way welcome back a 444 foot Homer uh on a one two4 seamer up pretty impressive pitch there good to see Cruz producing got into a conversation with with somebody the Bowers family by the way in the Atlanta airport we were talking about O'Neil Cruz and I kind of didn't realize this it was in my head until I said it out loud but his defense All Things Considered fine with it um they asked me what I thought about O'Neal Cruz in center field and I I love it um very much liking what he's done very much liking what he's done with the bat I think it's the exact right move again I had some questions about it happening in season but so far what I've seen he's gonna have problem he's like not problems but like you know they're going to be bumps along the road that's okay that doesn't mean it's the wrong move um and I love the experience that he's getting and I love looking at him as the opening day center fielder next year no issues there is bad has come a long way he having a pretty solid year overall anyway thank you for watching this make sure you like And subscribe you can get these videos every day as well as plenty of other content from our other post cazette writers and columnists will'll be back here same time same place tomorrow thanks for watching first time thank you for checking out this content from Post cazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports covered the post cazette has offer visit postgazette.com [Music]