Heather Lyke has dismissed Suzie McConnell-Serio as Pitt Women’s Basketball head coach

Pitt today officially announced that Suzie McConnell-Serio would not be back next season as women’s basketball coach. She had 5 seasons at Pitt.

University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics Heather Lyke announced today that Suzie McConnell-Serio will not return as the Panthers’ head women’s basketball coach.

McConnell-Serio recently completed her fifth season with the Panthers, compiling a 67-87 overall record and 22-58 ACC mark during that span.

“We thank Coach McConnell-Serio for her contributions to Pitt and wish her the very best in her future endeavors,” Lyke said. “In finding the next leader of our women’s basketball program, I believe this is an opportunity that will attract interest from across the country. We are wholeheartedly committed to building Pitt women’s basketball into a contender both in the ACC and nationally.”

There were a few people that wondered if Kevin Stallings was doing Suzie McConnell-Serio a favor with how bad he was doing this season, because Susie was only doing slightly worse. Pitt WBB only won 2 ACC games this year, after winning 4 and 4 the two years prior. Frankly, since McConnell-Serio lost Pitt great Brianna Kiesel, she has simply not had good results. Since making the tournament in 2014-2015, She’s gone 36-55 overall in three seasons, and 10-48 in conference.

McConnell-Serio’s hire was considered by many to be a good one, and the early results were definitely promising as Pitt improved upon previous winless conference campaigns from Agnus Berenato’s tenure.

However, things started to slide badly after the graduation of Brianna Kiesel, and a big hit was Suzie losing her best player in Brenna Wise after last season.

Recently, there have also been rumors of off the court issues as well, but it didn’t seem to be the main driver of her dismissal.

Heather Lyke has only been here roughly a year, but this will already be her 5th coaching search since her arrival. The jury may still be out a bit on the wrestling hire, but her hire of Samantha Snider for women’s gymnastics has paid off already, Randy Waldrum’s hire for women’s soccer was well regarded, and Jeff Capel’s hire was considered a home run on paper at least. It’s clear that Lyke is not afraid to get rid of coaches who aren’t performing well, and attracts good candidates to open positions. Hopefully she finds a good replacement to lead the women’s basketball program.