After coming to Seton Hall eight years ago and turning around an athletics department that was nearly in shambles, Pat Lyons is being rewarded for all he has done to right the ship.
President-elect Joseph Nyre announced on Monday that Lyons is being promoted to executive vice president and chief of staff. In that role, Lyons will serve as Seton Hall's No. 2 administrator behind Nyre. He will also lead the search to find his successor as athletics director, which will begin immediately.
"I am very excited to take on this new role under President-elect Nyre's leadership and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve Seton Hall in this expanded capacity," Lyons said in a statement. "For the last eight years, I've had the honor of serving as Seton Hall's athletics director, and I am grateful for having led a department with so many tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators who have developed a culture of excellence in the classroom and on the field of competition.
"I very much look forward to selecting and working with the next athletics director to continue elevating Seton Hall Athletics and providing a first-class experience to its student-athletes."
"For the past eight years, Mr. Lyons has served as Seton Hall University’s Vice President for Athletics and Recreational Services, leading the University through a period of remarkable success in competition, academics, infrastructure growth and conference realignment," Nyre said. "In his new role, Mr. Lyons will continue to serve on the Executive Cabinet and oversee Athletics, Facilities and Operations, Human Resources, strategy and the Office of the President. Mr. Lyons will lead, and immediately commence, the national search for the next Director of Athletics at Seton Hall University."
In his time as athletics director, Lyons has overseen facility upgrades. He hired women's basketball coach Tony Bozzella, who has turned around the program and elected to keep Kevin Willard after a disastrous 2015 season despite immense pressure to fire him. Lyons was also responsible for negotiating Willard's contract extension this past offseason to prevent him from leaving Seton Hall for Virginia Tech.
Lyons' promotion goes into effect on July 1. Seton Hall's new athletics director will report directly to him.
Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @tyler_calvaruso.
