Debbie Yow interview on Sidney Lowe and other topics

NCSU AD Debbie Yow today was interviewed on 99.9 ESPN Radio by Adam Gold and Joe Ovies. Several topics were discussed, most notably the men’s basketball program and the head coach, Sidney Lowe. She reiterated that she would review Coach Lowe’s job status at the conclusion of the basketball season. You can hear the entire interview here.

In regards to the job status of Coach Lowe, she said the following:

“We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Yow said. “[We’re] supporting Sidney [Lowe], his staff and our team in every way possible. That’s our focus.”

This is the right thing to say and this is what she does for every coach, every year. No special treatment needed being the coach of a revenue sport.

What I found very interesting was her response to the question of her greatest area of concern is. I completely agree with her answer.

However, Yow’s greatest concern is elevating the entire athletic program. From soccer to football, the goal is to win championships, she said. Considering the university only has four national championships of any kind in the last 100 years, it’s a from-the-ground up task.

“We’re not a factor. We finished No. 87 in the country,” said Yow, referring to the Director’s Cup standings. “You have to have a plan, and we have a plan. It starts with the people. People, resources and opportunity.”

People always look for the most part at the two revenue sports but I am extremely happy she is looking at the big picture. She has a plan to improve the ENTIRE athletic department. The athletic department is in good hands.

About ruffles31

1996 NC State graduate who is still waiting on his first ACC conference championship in any of the four main revenue sports (football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and baseball) since enrolling. All I want is a ACC Champions t-shirt.

AD & Department Coaches Debbie Yow Sidney Lowe

33 Responses to Debbie Yow interview on Sidney Lowe and other topics

  1. Avid109 01/21/2011 at 6:49 AM #

    Sounds encouraging. Yow continues to impress.

  2. Wufpacker 01/21/2011 at 8:15 AM #

    “However, Yow’s greatest concern is elevating the entire athletic program. From soccer to football, the goal is to win championships, she said.”

    What is all this talk of a goal to win championships? That’s just crazy talk.

    Ol’ Jed knew the score. He knew that we have no business expecting anything other than an occasional victory and that raising expectations was a sure fire road to disappointment. He knew what was right for NC State. I mean what more do you want? We now regularly lose in the finest fuhcilities in the ACC, some of the finest in the country.

    But some of you just couldn’t be appreciative of his style…the genius that is Jed.

    On a serious note, it is refreshing to hear DY talk the talk. So far she has also walked the walk. I don’t believe the athletic dept. has been in better hands in a long time. Perhaps never.

  3. coach13 01/21/2011 at 8:34 AM #

    Her language re: Lowe was very precise. We support him now in the middle of the season. We will deal with his ineptness once the season is over.

    He will be replaced after this season.

  4. Rochester 01/21/2011 at 8:59 AM #

    I liked her before and I like her even more after listening to that. She talked about respecting the fans, being accountable to them, wanting to win, about not being a factor in the ACC. She’s the anti-Jed. Everything he was, she is the opposite. She is exactly what we need.

    And, yeah, barring a miraculous finish, Sidney’s a goner. She’s not going to put up with 9th place.

  5. Prowling Woofie 01/21/2011 at 9:09 AM #

    Oh No !!!

    PLEASE don’t set any EXPECTATIONS !!!

    Good coaches may run away !!!

  6. 61Packer 01/21/2011 at 9:16 AM #

    I’m going to play devil’s advocate again and say that DY may not be the only one who has a say-so on Low’s tenure. Wolfpack officials besides the AD have input also, and that input apparently resulted in many incompetents remaining in their head coaching positions way too long. Sendek was here a decade and left when HE wanted to. O’Cain and Amato each brought 7 years of mostly bad luck. A volleyball coach who was finally fired after a 6-170 record sued, I think; maybe she felt that she was doing the expected job she was hired to do.

    Just sayin’ that this school has a history of tolerating incompetence a lot longer than most others do. Don’t be shocked if Low somehow manages an 8-8 ACC mark this season, wins a couple of tourney games, and is back again next season to bring us to even Lower depths. After all, if there are posters on here who say he needs more time, then there are no doubt administrators at NCSU who feel the same.

  7. section2chuck 01/21/2011 at 9:22 AM #

    ^No way, DY I think already knows this is not gonna work out for Sidney….

  8. packbackr04 01/21/2011 at 9:44 AM #

    she needs a few of the big donors to feel the same way she does and she can make a move fairly unilaterally.

  9. PoppaJohn 01/21/2011 at 9:48 AM #

    Had I written the script, it would have been pretty much what she said. I still think we have ourselves a pro who will move the entire program in the right direction.

    A year or so from now, she’ll tell us that she came into the job knowing that the BB coaching position was a concern, she watched it for a year giving Sid all the support he needed and hoped he would succeed. When he didn’t, she discussed it with Sid and they agreed on a separation agreement – and then she hired ….

  10. old13 01/21/2011 at 9:57 AM #

    I think Wolfpack Athletics is quite possibly in the best position it has ever been with not only a very strong AD with vision and a plan, but also a very strong Chancellor who will back her up and keep the meddlers at bay.

  11. Old MacDonald 01/21/2011 at 10:31 AM #

    Was there a “cougar rating” portion of the interview?

  12. Classof89 01/21/2011 at 10:41 AM #

    “A volleyball coach who was finally fired after a 6-170 record sued, I think; maybe she felt that she was doing the expected job she was hired to do.”

    Just a quibble: unless there is another lawsuit I’m not remembering, the coach who sued was Judy Martino, who coached our last ACC championship team in volleyball–she sued Todd Turner. She was basically fired because she was a lesbian, IIRC.

    Mary Byrne, she of the beautiful golden tresses, wholesome husband and God-awful record, filed no lawsuit, as far as I know…

  13. whope90 01/21/2011 at 11:42 AM #

    I have great respect for Debbie Yow, she is a winner in that she knows what she wants and she goes for it.She tangled with Gary Williams and he won a national championship at maryland and she knows what the revenus sports are and is not worried about lawsuits or etc.

    Unless Lowe goes 9-3 in the next 12 acc games and wins some in the acc and gets a ncaa bid, he is done and he knows it and if you look at the players they know it. Carlton Tudor told me yesterday that CJ Leslie is one and done and he should not go to the NBA but he will so that leaves us with a lesser talent level, but mark her words, she wants and demands results not like our old Jed ad whom i had no idea how he got the job. But i like the quote that “i want to remember the past and honor it but not live in it”” There are some olde die hard packers whom don’t want sidney treated badly like the way they treated les robinson, so i expect him to be forced into a back door resignation and taking an athletic dept position as a new coach is hired.

  14. sautz 01/21/2011 at 11:44 AM #

    As painful as this year has been, I can’t imagine how bad it will be next year if we don’t fire Lowe and get an actual coach in here.

  15. bradleyb123 01/21/2011 at 11:53 AM #

    A couple of thoughts… I think HWSNBN had the support of big donors and others (not sure why, but he did). He did take us to five straight NCAA tournaments. I’m not singing his praises, just saying there was a marginal difference between him and Sid. I don’t believe Sid has the same “outsider” support that HWSNBN had. So it may be easier for DY to replace him.

    Secondly, if DY tried to oust a recent NCAA championship winner in Gary Williams while she was at Maryland, I can’t imagine her being content to keep Sidney around for another year.

    Like someone said, barring a 9-3 finish in the ACC, and relatively respectable NCAA tournament run, I can’t imagine Sid being here next year. I agree that due to the love from the fans for having won a national championship for us, it will probably be a quiet, behind-closed-doors deal when it goes down.

  16. graywolf 01/21/2011 at 12:25 PM #

    The more I hear from Yow the more impressed I am with her as a person and an AD. I like her methodology and her willingness to see NC State the way the many, if not most, of the alumni and fans see the sports program. Thank you Debbie Yow for taking on this task. We all look forward to your, and our, success.

  17. Classof89 01/21/2011 at 12:52 PM #

    Remind me, what was bad about how Les was treated? I seem to remember everyone feeling really grateful he had resigned instead of having to be fired…did he have his arm twisted really hard behind the scenes? He must not have felt to bad about his treatment, considering he remained at NC State as AD for years afterward…

  18. Wolfy__79 01/21/2011 at 12:55 PM #

    Debbie Yow is a winner! that’s all this says.. nothing to do with previous NC STATE officials. they are gone and she’s planning! watch out ncsu good ol boys!! there’s a new sherrif in town 🙂

  19. jbwbubba 01/21/2011 at 1:01 PM #

    Yow was right on target in her remarks. She didn’t bust Lowe, but made clear they needed improvement. Fowler would have given Lowe an endorsment and say he was doing a great job. If things keep on, I think Sid is toast. Yow will want to make a move sooner rather than later.

  20. Wolfpack_1995 01/21/2011 at 1:04 PM #

    Debbow Yow “Get’s It” plain and simple.

    So glad she is here and it is definetely Maryland’s loss.

    She understands what needs to be done with our athletics and plans to get it done.

    I feel that she is a lot like Mary Ann Fox. Watch out. We are in for good things.

    My dream list for Yow is to hire Sean Miller and bring back Ray Tanner for baseball.

    GO DEB!

  21. Wolfy__79 01/21/2011 at 1:04 PM #

    Woodson too is a winner! two great hires… suprised the unc board of tarholes didn’t sabotage us!

    Let alone the specifics about athletics, i’m glad to see and hear progress on upgrading the campus too. for too long hillsborough street was a mess. we’ve needed a upgrade in “curb appeal” for far too long.

    i agree with old13! keeping the whole picture in mind, we do have great fuhcilities to back that up! the general feeling i get is that we are stepping into our period of success. of course that includes some adjustments but i like where we are trending.

  22. Wolfy__79 01/21/2011 at 1:12 PM #

    I’m afraid anything herb-like won’t do for me! Don’t they just run another version of the weave and heave? I wouldn’t mind incorporating that as duke does but i like inside out play. princeton cannot compete with power basketball as you’ll most notably find in the big east.

  23. PoppaJohn 01/21/2011 at 1:24 PM #

    This is the first time I’ve heard that CJ was definately leaving after this year – I assumed it, but hoped the fact that he hasn’t been a dominant player would cause him to give it two years.

    The rest will stay, so the incoming guy will have a good core. Hope we can keep the incoming center.

  24. MP 01/21/2011 at 1:33 PM #

    Sounds like the next “appeal to support SL” needs to be addressed directly to Debbie Yow.

  25. Packfan28 01/21/2011 at 1:42 PM #

    Regarding CJ Leslie leaving after this year, nbadraft.net has him as 20th in the 1st round. If they are anywhere close to beigng right, then he’s gone for sure. And that’s too bad, because I believe he has an opportunity to move up to a lottery pick next year. There is just so much raw talent there, with the right coach he could really develop into something special.

    http://www.nbadraft.net/2011mock_draft

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