Student Press Freedom Day is a reminder of the vital role student journalists play in holding institutions accountable. The money raised between now and March 6 will go directly toward supporting our independent newsroom. Donate today.

A December human resources complaint alleged Heather Lyke, a high-ranking advisor and candidate for Syracuse University’s next director of athletics, directed “employees to disregard instructions given by our department’s top leader” and overstepped “the appropriate boundaries of her role.”

In the HR complaint — filed on Dec. 1, 2025, and obtained by The Daily Orange — the complainant claims this ongoing pattern of behavior contributed to “a culture of intimidation” within SU Athletics. A staff member from the Office of Human Resources found that there appeared to be “some lack of clarity” about Lyke’s role and authority compared to current Director of Athletics John Wildhack, according to the documents.

Lyke, 55, was hired by SU on July 1, 2025, as its special advisor to the chancellor and director of athletics. Current Chancellor Kent Syverud and Wildhack are set to leave SU after this academic year. Lyke is a contender in the active athletics director search, three people close to SU Athletics told The D.O.

The complainant also cited harassment, bullying and abuse of authority to describe the general nature of Lyke’s alleged behavior, per the documents. A member of HR reportedly “elevated” these concerns, which had been ongoing for several months and experienced or witnessed by “multiple staff members,” but the complainant feared there may have been “possible interference” by a member of SU administration, per the documents.

SU’s Office of Human Resources ruled these allegations did not violate university policy, according to the documents, but acknowledged the merit of the complainant’s concerns. The concerns were not elevated outside of HR until the December written complaint was received, per the documents.

Lyke received “feedback about her approach,” and the member of HR reportedly suggested Lyke and Wildhack “align on their directives and provide transparent communication of changes,” the documents state. HR also found there was “no basis to conclude that a personal relationship might impede the fair and objective handling of any complaints,” according to the documents.

“Syracuse University takes all workplace concerns seriously and, following a thorough review that included interviews with multiple individuals, found no evidence of a policy violation or interference in the process,” SU Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Jeff Stoecker wrote in a statement to The D.O. Monday. “We are confident the matter was handled with full objectivity and integrity.”

From 2017-24, Lyke served as the University of Pittsburgh’s athletic director but was fired due to apparent friction with Chancellor Joan Gabel, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in October 2024. The Post-Gazette also reported Pitt decision-makers were unconfident in Lyke’s ability to handle its athletic budget amid the explosion of name, image and likeness in college sports.

Recently, on Feb. 6, Lyke was named in a series of six lawsuits from former Pitt women’s basketball players. The lawsuits allege that university officials, including Lyke, failed to act on women’s basketball head coach Tony Verdi’s allegedly abusive coaching methods toward players despite multiple requests to do so.

Lyke did not respond to The D.O.’s request for comment.

When asked, SU Athletics referred The D.O. to the university for comment.

SU Athletics Human Resources complaint by The Daily Orange

Read the full complaint here.

Lyke’s alleged behavior took place for several months inside SU’s John A. Lally Athletics Complex and was still ongoing as of Dec. 1, per the documents. The other staff members’ names were withheld from the HR complaint out of concern for retaliation, according to the documents.

Lyke’s “misuse of authority,” as stated in the HR complaint, revolved around a confusing power dynamic between Wildhack and her, the documents show. The complainant feels Lyke has made it unclear to staffers about who is actually the boss, per the documents.

In a staff-wide email on Sept. 25, 2025, Wildhack allegedly named Lyke as Syracuse’s first-ever “Chief Sport Administrator” and wrote that she would lead “administrative operations for all 20 of our sports,” according to the documents. This title was not announced publicly.

The complainant alleged Lyke used the role to overstep Wildhack by assigning directives to people who she wasn’t supposed to be overseeing, per the documents. This included Lyke allegedly telling employees to disregard direct orders from Wildhack, then dismissing his position as an authority figure in front of other staff members, the documents state.

There is reportedly “uncertainty” among SU Athletics’ staff about the limitations to Lyke’s “chief sport administrator” role, or lack thereof, per the documents.

“This has contributed to confusion, operational disruption, and increased tension within the department,” the complainant states in the HR complaint, referring to the mysterious nature of Lyke’s role.

The complainant stated that in mid-October, after Wildhack had told all department units to stop spending on unbudgeted expenses, Lyke then directed staff members to buy new furniture for a lounge area, per the documents.

The complainant provided another example that allegedly occurred around Oct. 15, 2025, per the documents. Lyke reportedly “embarrassed” an employee by pressing them about how SU’s ticket office needed to alter their pricing process ahead of 2026, the documents state.

However, Lyke was allegedly uninformed about SU’s ticket pricing process, which had already been completed under Wildhack’s approval ahead of the new year, the documents state. Once Lyke realized this, per the documents, she stopped questioning the employee.

Wildhack did not respond to The D.O.’s request for comment.

The complainant also provided an alleged incident where Lyke made a subordinate feel uncomfortable.

During the fall academic semester, Lyke allegedly directly ordered an SU Athletics employee to stop using formal titles when speaking — such as Mr., Ms., ma’am, etc. — even though this employee commonly uses those titles in everyday conversation, per the documents. The manner in which Lyke gave this order “made the employee feel singled out and uncomfortable,” the documents state.

The incident was widely discussed among staff members due to Lyke’s comment, which the complainant called “demeaning.”

The complainant claimed that an SU Senior HR business partner originally took these concerns to “higher leadership,” but the complainant claimed that Candace Campbell Jackson, chief of staff to Chancellor Syverud, could have interfered with the inquiry, the documents state.

Lyke and Campbell Jackson attended law school together at the University of Akron in the mid 1990s.

HR found there was “no basis to conclude that a personal relationship might impede the fair and objective handling of any complaints,” according to the documents.

Campbell Jackson did not respond to The D.O.’s request for comment.

During her seven-year tenure as Pittsburgh’s athletic director, Lyke received scrutiny for how she managed the department’s finances. After spearheading the “Victory Heights” project — a series of state-of-the-art athletic facilities and renovations for low-revenue sports that cost $246 million to build — Lyke revealed in April 2023 that just $12 million were raised through donations. The university debt-serviced the rest of the stadium’s required funding.

Gabel also questioned Lyke’s fiscal responsibility. The chancellor called Lyke’s idea to pay for “a number of expenditures” to renovate Pitt’s main arena, the Petersen Events Center, “excessive,” the Post-Gazette reported in September 2024.

On Feb. 11, SU formed a seven-person search committee to find its next director of athletics — which is led by Steve Ballentine, chair of the Board of Trustees Athletics Committee, and includes Vice President of Communications Sarah Scalese, sports broadcaster and vice chair of SU’s Board of Trustees Mike Tirico and university trustee John Lally, among others. Syverud told the University Senate last Wednesday that the committee hired a consultant.

Ballentine said the committee is looking for a “visionary leader” to take the reins of SU’s Athletic Department.

Published on March 2, 2026 at 7:20 pm
Contact Cooper: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews