West Virginia’s Shane Lyons Fired

Morgantown, West Virginia – Moments ago, it was announced that West Virginia’s director of athletics, Shane Lyons, has been fired from the university.

MetroNews, who broke the story, has said that a nationwide search will begin for Lyons’ replacement and that Neal Brown’s  performance will be evaluated. If Brown is fired, the new director of athletics will make the hire.

Lyons, who has been WVU’s Director of Athletics and Associate Vice President since 2015, came under strong scrutiny in the past few months after signing head football coach Neal Brown to a contract extension following the 2020 season.

Brown had an 11-11 record at the time and now has a 21-24 overall record in his 4th season with the Mountaineers. Lyons’ decision to extend Brown’s contract and give him a massive contract buyout makes firing Brown difficult, as the university would owe him more than $16 million if he was let go immediately.

With Lyons now out as the director of athletics, the attention turns to Neal Brown, who will likely be fired in the coming weeks.