New URI Athletic Director Pat Lyons Answers All the Questions - Jim Malachowski

New URI Athletic Director Pat Lyons Answers All the Questions - Jim Malachowski

Would your “Dream Job” as an athletic director be one where the flagship men's basketball program is floundering, attendance at basketball games has plummeted, the football program has broken through but is being kicked out of its on-campus stadium for a year, and the stellar women’s basketball coach has just left for another school?

 

Oh, and college athletics is going through unprecedented changes, rocking the core of how things work, including making players free agents who can transfer every year to play for the highest bidder.

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Dream job

New URI Athletic Director Pat Lyons is not fazed by any of this as he calls his new position his “Dream Job”. Lyons grew up in Rhode Island, attended La Salle Academy, and his wife attended URI. Lyons has 25 years of combined experience in college athletics, serving as Athletic Director at Iona College and Seton Hall University, where he also held senior administrative positions.

 

Lyons is friends with the previous URI AD, Thorr Bjorn. When he heard that Bjorn was leaving, he quickly began contacting people to express his keen interest in the position.

 

Lyons wants to build success

Lyons firmly believes URI athletics has a lot to build on and is poised for further success. In the past 4 years, URI teams have won 15 Championships across 6 sports. These are highlighted by the football team winning the CAA Championship the past two years, the women’s basketball team winning the A-10 Championship and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, and the men's track and field team winning its 6th consecutive A-10 Championship.

 

The state’s General Assembly and governor approved $66 million for the renovation of athletic facilities at URI, including major renovations to Meade Field, which will displace the football team for the 2026 season.

 

Cautious responses

Lyons was guarded during the interview. He was pensive and careful with his responses. He remained positive and upbeat even when asked some tough questions. There would be no controversial response during the nearly hour-long interview.

 

For example, when asked what he thought of the performance of the men’s basketball team this past season, Lyons said, “As you know, I was not here. I am looking forward. I am all about next year. Now that I am Athletic Director, I am looking forward.”

 

Retaining Coach Archie Miller

When told there were people calling for Coach Archie Miller to be fired and asked if he considered doing that, Lyons responded, “My first meeting with Coach Miller was to see if his vision for the basketball program aligned with mine, and it did. We are moving forward together.”

 

The follow-up question was whether Miller’s contract buyout costs were a factor in his decision to keep Miller. Lyons repeated, “As I said, the coach and I are aligned in our vision for the basketball program.”

 

Lyons was then asked about the clause in Miller’s contract that guarantees him a share of gate (game attendance revenue). This guarantee, which is not tied to attendance, began at $750,000 per year and increased to $1,000,000 in the final two years of Miller’s contract. It was noted that attendance at men's games has dropped by 25% over the four years under Miller.

 

Lyons was asked whether he had ever seen a contract with that type of clause and, as AD, whether he would ever sign a contract with that type of clause. Lyons answered, “There are all sorts of contracts out there with all sorts of clauses. I don’t want to comment on a contract I had nothing to do with. I am focused on going forward.”

 

Replacing Coach Tammi Reiss

The discussion shifted to the situation involving the women’s basketball coach, as Tammi Reiss left URI to take the head-coaching position at the University of Florida. Lyons first major hire was to bring in former Albany coach Colleen Mullin. Reiss’ salary was $459,000. Mullin’s base salary will be $400,000.

 

When Reiss came to URI, the women’s team had one winning season in the prior 15 years. Reiss won right away and took the team to the NCAA Tournament. When asked, considering Mullin has not done anything at URI yet, why should she be making about what Reiss made, Lyons did not blink or hesitate. He confidently spoke about how attracting talent requires paying market rates.

 

Coach Reiss had recently signed a ten-year contract extension with URI.  The University of Florida will pay a buyout of Reiss’ contract. When asked what those monies would be used for, Lyons said,” That is to be determined.” When asked the follow-up question if it would be used to pay players, Lyons repeated, “To be determined.”

 

At URI, it’s all about men’s basketball

Rhode Island is a basketball state, and men's basketball is the flagship sport at URI. The past two years, the team has had a strong start in non-conference play, reinforcing expectations for a good season. But the team has struggled in A-10 Conference play and has floundered down the stretch. It has not won a game in the A-10 Tournament in four years.

 

Lyons core principles include winning

During his introductory press conference, in detailing one of his four principles, Lyons said, “We want to win. It's about winning. Winning is extremely important, and we want to win in every sport.”

 

This core principle is tied to his subsequent core principle about resources. Lyons said, “We need to generate the resources we need to stay competitive.” He called on the community to invest and partner with URI during this new chapter in college athletics.

 

Money for players is the key

The most important factor in winning in college basketball today is how much money a school has to pay its players. It is strange that no one, players, coaches, athletic directors, or administrators, will talk about how much a player is being paid or the total amount of money being paid to the team.

 

Word leaked out that URI basketball had a total player payroll of $2.5 million this past year. There are claims that their budget will be higher for this coming year. When asked about total payments to players, Lyons said, “I can’t really comment on that.” When asked why, he said, “Usually, what teams spend on NIL is kept private and confidential.”

 

Revenue sharing by schools with players

One of the major recent changes in college athletics this past year is that schools are now allowed to pay players directly from school resources. A practice known as “Revenue Sharing.” Conceptually, schools can share some of the revenue they earn from athletics with the student-athletes who played a large role in generating it.

 

The rules allow schools to directly share up to $23 million dollars per year with players. This past year, URI participated in revenue sharing but would not disclose the amount. When asked about university funds being directed to players, Lyons would not reveal the extent to which this is happening.

 

Can URI men’s basketball be tops in the A-10?

The core question put to Lyons, which ties to his principles of winning and resources, is whether URI basketball can win the A-10, make the NCAA Tournament, and reach the level of UConn, a neighboring public state university. Lyons responded, “That is the hope that you start to be the best. It is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of support to do it. I would say that for any university, for any team, and AD would say the same thing. Of course, we can aspire to be an elite program, but it takes all those things I just mentioned.”

 

There is a difference between aspiring and accomplishing, so Lyons has his work cut out for him. URI needs to annually raise three times what they are currently paying players if they are seriously aspiring to be one of the top teams in the A-10.

 

Will passion turn aspirations into accomplishments?

Lyons is excited and, in fact, passionate about his new position. During his introductory press conference, he provided some heartfelt comments about the position, saying, “This is a special place. It’s Rhode Island. It’s home for me. To be honest, this is personal for me. This is really personal.”

 

He continued, “I have never felt like I have been in a situation where it is such a passion for me right now. This just means so much to me. It really does. It's personal for me. I have never felt that I have been in a situation where it is such a passion. This means just so much to me. It really does.”

 

Lyons will need all his passion, all his abilities, and most of all, a lot more money if he is to achieve his, the university's, and the fan bases’ aspirations for the men’s basketball team.