Veteran West Virginia University director of athletics Shane Lyons has a clear vision for his athletic program. It’s a vision that focuses on the betterment of more than 500 student-athletes and the day-to-day needs that will help them succeed in the classroom and in competition.

His open lines of communications have made him a popular role model for WVU athletes, and his honest, fair and caring approach has energized an entire department. Whether it’s regularly scheduled meetings with the student-athletes or his open-door office policy, Lyons has his finger on the pulse of his student-athletes, coaches and staff.

His endless energy is devoted to his facilities master plan that will keep West Virginia a strong Power 5 institution and position his department for growth and continued success. Lyons’ facilities master plan isn’t about keeping up with the Joneses, it’s about taking what his department has, improving it and making it complete for the student-athlete. From training, nutrition, medical and competitiveness, Lyons’ vision is for future success, building winning programs and enhancing the overall WVU student-athlete experience. Lyons is about results, and he has already left a great deal of accomplishments in his rear view mirror.

He spearheaded and finished more than $100 million in fan enhancements to Milan Puskar Stadium and the WVU Coliseum, broke ground on a $45 million aquatic and track center in Morgantown, completed phase two of Coliseum renovations, bringing the arena up to current ADA seating code, and for the first-time ever, introduced a second video board to Milan Puskar Stadium to provide information and improve fan entertainment.

Overseeing 18 varsity sports, a self-sustaining department budget of more than $93 million and 250 employees, Lyons’ leadership has also guided WVU to unparalleled success in the classroom as the department recorded an impressive overall 3.2 GPA in 2018. And, with the student-athlete in mind, he has implemented a Clinical and Sport Psychology unit with a full-time director and professional interns, added specialized learning assistants to the Student-Athlete Development unit and entered into a partnership with WVU Medicine’s Neuroscience Department to assist in the training and recovery of student-athletes, all emphasizing his overall commitment to the well-being and performance student-athletes.

Ask him and he’ll tell you it’s not his department, but West Virginia’s department, and he can tell you his vision to improve it not only for the coming year, but for three, five, seven and 10 years down the road. He cares and the proof lies in what he has already accomplished in three years.

Additionally, his work with WVU President E. Gordon Gee’s senior leadership team, as well as the Big 12 Conference and other national committees, has brought additional respect and positive exposure to his department and the University. He currently serves on the Big 12 Administration Committee, Finance and Budget Committee and the Game Management and Officiating Subcommittee. In 2018, he chaired the overall athletic directors committee for the Big 12, was named again to the NCAA Division I Council and will serve as chair of the NCAA Division I Football Oversite Committee. He is also on the board of directors for Mylan Park in Morgantown.

Lyons came to West Virginia after spending three years as the deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer at Alabama where he worked closely on day-to-day strategic leadership and direction of the Crimson Tide Athletic program.

During his time at Alabama, his responsibilities included oversight of a $120 million budget, management of the day-to-day operations of the department and oversight of the Crimson Tide’s 21 sports teams. In addition, he played a pivotal role in a historic renegotiation of Alabama’s multimedia rights agreement that started in 2014 and was involved in several significant capital projects totaling more than $85 million.

The Crimson Tide won seven national titles in five different sports during his time there – two in football, two in men’s golf, one in women’s golf, one in gymnastics and one in softball. He also played a critical role in the hiring of four Alabama head coaches.

Prior to joining the Alabama staff in November 2011, Lyons spent 10 years as an associate commissioner at the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the ACC, Lyons focused on conference-wide compliance and academic initiatives, providing direct assistance to the conference’s presidents, chancellors and athletics directors in matters dealing with NCAA regulatory matters.

In addition, he served as the ACC’s human resource manager and was responsible for the administration, negotiation and mediation of the employee benefits program and managing the conference’s organizational policies and procedures. He was part of the senior administrative team for ACC events, including the football championship game, the men’s basketball tournament and men’s and women’s NCAA basketball events.

Prior to working at the ACC, Lyons served as associate athletics director for compliance at Big 12 member Texas Tech from 1998 to 2001. During that time, Lyons assumed responsibility for the leadership, administration and implementation of a comprehensive NCAA compliance program with emphasis toward rules education and extensive monitoring systems. He also served as oversight administrator for several of the Red Raiders’ athletic teams and had financial and operational supervision of the strength and conditioning, nutritional and sports medicine units.

Before joining Texas Tech, Lyons worked at the NCAA for almost 10 years as a senior membership services representative, where he was responsible for the oversight and coordination of rules and interpretations for the 25 membership service representatives and was the staff liaison to various NCAA standing committees.

Lyons began his career in college athletics in July 1988 as assistant commissioner of the Big South Conference. With the Big South, he was in charge of conference-wide compliance and championships.

A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and a graduate of Parkersburg High, Lyons was a standout basketball player for the Big Reds. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sport management from WVU in 1987 and 1988, respectively.

Lyons, the University’s 12th athletic director, and his wife, Emily, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have two children: Cameron and Brooke. Cameron is a member of Terry Bowden’s football team at Akron and Brooke plays volleyball at Morgantown High School.