We’ve all seen (as VaWolf82 summarized) numerous examples of Lee Fowler making thoughtless and insulting statements about the people who, in the aggregate, pay his salary.
Fans unhappy with the 8-38 Periclean Age of Herb Sendek, for instance, were a “lunatic fringe” consisting of “50 people on the Internet.” Just yesterday, when asked to name the “greatest challenge facing NC State athletics,” Fowler did not (as one would hope) respond with “my own general ineptitude.” No, according to “Coach,” the biggest challenge to NC State athletics (other than getting a new football coach) is fan message boards on the Internet. Hapless football teams, winless volleyball teams, and bottom-seeded soccer programs are, one must assume, comparative small potatoes.
Fowler’s enthusiastic bashing of NC State fans has, sadly, had an effect. When an athletic director makes regular attacks on his own fans – and no athletic director in the country has done so with the consistency and vitriol of Lee Fowler – it inevitably gets picked up in the media. Combine Fowler’s gas attacks with the generalized media love for Herb Sendek, and you have an ever-growing myth that NC State partisans are a uniquely terrible bunch, a collection of red-clad Peck’s Bad Boys who drove the noble Herb to the Valley of the Sun. And much of this bad rep, again, is due to Fowler, the sports administration equivalent of the Dixie Chicks (shut up and work, Mr. Fowler), attacking the fans with monotonous regularity.
Still, there was a line that even Fowler didn’t cross, and it was accusing fans of criminal and threatening behavior. No more. Fowler nimbly leaped that Rubicon in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in which he asserted that NC State fans “drove [Sendek] away for the security of his family.”
What the hell?
Is there credible evidence – any at all – that Herb Sendek’s family was truly threatened by the NC State fan base or members thereof? For that matter, is there any credible evidence that Sendek himself faced threats other than continued domination by Roy Williams and Coach K?
Fowler’s comment is an irresponsible, inappropriate, and absurd allegation by someone who, stripped of tinsel, is a contract employee of NC State. Enough, I suggest, is enough. Given that Fowler appears incapable of controlling his own statements, it is high time – past time – for the Board of Trustees to step in and muzzle him.
Fowler’s comments are sufficient reason to dismiss him from employment right now. Failing that, Fowler should be told in no uncertain terms that his continued employment is premised on a complete and permanent cessation of his attacks on the alumni and fan supporters of this university and a similar end to his media pining over the departure of Herb Sendek. Failure on Fowler’s part to comply would lead to his immediate termination for cause.
This university, and its supporters, deserve better than Lee Fowler and his runaway mouth. The Board of Trustees must act.
Let me sign my name in 100 % agreement!
Here. here
I’ll join the undersigned!
Jed needs to load up the truck and move to Beverly…Hills that is.
Totally inexcusable.
Dear Lee,
Party at my house when you get fired.
TopTenPack
The funny thing is that, in reality, Lee more or less told Herb that he should leave. He’s the one who pushed Herb out.
I am glad you guys feel this way. I am utterly outraged by this conduct and wanted to make sure I was not overreacting. I honestly can’t believe he said this and can do so with impunity.
Not on topic here but it seems as though PJ’s name is no longer “out there”…
You haven’t seen anything yet…. Wait till he signs Shane Montgomery as new HC……. The words “full scale revolt” by the fan base come to mind. Why… does this guy still represent NCSU?
Me too.
Do we have any reason to believe that the BOTs are concerned with LFs mouth?
Can someone please start fireleefowler.blogspot.com!?
We need to have some kind of central location to archive all the insults and missteps this incompetent man has made!
Amen, Brother. Amen.
“Do we have any reason to believe that the BOTs are concerned with LFs mouth?”
I don’t know. I have been told that his antics are wearing thin. However, they are his employers, and are the proper destination of complaints about his conduct.
I concur wholeheartedly.
he asserted that NC State fans “drove [Sendek] away for the security of his family.”
Even if that is his opinion it is totally inappropriate for him to be bashing the fan base. If collegiate sports are a business he just attacked the customer…again.
Yo, BOT; take care of business!
Great work.
As I posted in the other entry, I have fucking had it. This was the proverbial straw for me. In the past I’ve just laughed off Fowler’s buffonery. But reading this quote made me see red.
He’s a cancer to our school and our athletics program.
Un-believable. Absolutely inexcusable. No other university would tolerate this behavior. I can’t think of any comment from any other athletic director even coming close to this.
For what it’s worth, I’m going to express my displeasure to Fowler, Oblinger, and all the BoT members. What else can I do? Probably not much since I’m not a big contributor, but if anyone has ideas I am all for it. I love NC State too much to sit idly by while this man keeps destroying it.
Fowler’s oral flatulence is absolutely inexcusable!! He has got to be corked!
when was this article printed, and do you have the link?
Seriously, Fowler seems to lack impulse control. When his mouth opens, everything on his mind comes out. The man is truly mentally ill.
I mean we as fans seem to have stopped pushing for him (PJ)….especially on pp.com’s boards.
http://www.fireleefowler.com/
Is this man accountable for anything that he says or does? In what other job can you bad mouth your company and your “target audience” and not be responsible for anything. Not only is this embarrasing for the school and the athletic department, this is something that Coach Lowe shouldn’t be having to deal with. It really isn’t fair to him.
How long is Fowler going to last?
The last thing you want in an AD is an adversarial personality. Lee has proved over and over again that he cannot handle his position. The majority of the athletic programs have struggled in recent years, and he is a horrible fan liason.
There is simply no excuse to have an AD that cannot be trusted to make a hire or relate with fans.
I say we all hit fireleefowler.com 15 times a day just to get the count up and give it some attention.
Seriously, what else can we do to run him out?
Maybe we should give Lee Fowler that movie the Wedding Crashers, but change the name to “Wolfpack Fan’s Hopes and Dreams Crasher”
Rule # 1- Dont throw ur fans under a bus!
Rule # 2- It doeasnt hurt to have one of your teams occasionally win at least a share of the ACC title.
Rule # 493b-When you talk trash about State fans….the only person needing security is you!
Rule # 68-Whether or not a potential coaching candidate would make “A Great Fishing Buddy” should have absolutely no bearing on whether or not he is interviewed for the job!
Rule # 99- You are not the little short guy running the bar in Cheers….so we will no longer refer to you as “Coach.” On second thought….considering his light intellect perhaps that is exactly what we should call you!
MA…..MEATLOAF!
This would be bad enough if he said it at anytime. But the fact that we ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A COACHING SEARCH makes it all the worse. I wonder how the phone conversation with a prospective coach goes . . .
Fowler: “You would love coaching football at NC State. I am the best AD in America, just see how many times I am quoted in the mass media.”
Prospective Coach: “Speaking of quotes, I see that you said that the NC State fans are completely unreasonable and threatened the safety of one of your past coach’s family.”
Fowler: “uhh, no what I meant was that the interweb is an evil place that only crazy people go.”
Prospective Coach: *click*
That’s right they just need to shut that eBay thing down!
BBowden
Here’s the link someone requested:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&s=1045855934926&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191963107&path=!sports!colleges
Email chancellor@ncsu.edu! I did!
I just posted a $10,000 Reward for Lee Fowler’s head on EBAY!!! That ought to get him rattled. Hehehe
A few unnecessary attacks on people no longer affiliated with our program aside, I agree 100%. What kind of AD tries to make his fanbase look bad? Isn’t that like a CEO who tries to convince stockholders that his employees are worthless?
Also, what’s up with the dude squatting on fireleefowler.com? If you’re a true State fan, stop trying to sell the site, and put up the relevant info, okay?
Maybe I’m the lunatic one, but I took that to mean *financial* security of his family.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855934926&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191963107&path=%21sports%21colleges
If you want to get REALLY PISSED, i invite you to read this!!!!!!!!
MadWolf, it can be taken many ways. Unfortunately the media likes to give it the worst possible connotation (from a Wolfpacker perspective) and Foulup just keeps feeding it to them!
^^ How is that, Madwolf. He was in absolutely NO danger - none! - of getting fired at NC State. He was the most financially secure mediocre coach in the country.
But I think he was feeling the heat, and both Lee and he knew he couldn’t hold off us lunatics forever.
At ASU, he gets a raise, and a welcoming environment. What’s not more secure about that?
Can we get Les Robinson back? At least he was a pack fan. Really, I would rather have Les.
How do you even think it is okay for someone in the AD’s position to make a statement like that.
Is there anyone else that is one of us that could fill the AD job?
MW92: i would have thought that too were it not for us being described as “ravenous”
(cont.)
Security doesn’t have to mean “freedom from being beat up or killed”. Hell, my fiancee gives me a hug and I feel more secure.
(cont. cont.)
And “ravenous” doesn’t have to mean *actual* thirst for blood. Maybe he did mean that exactly, but that’s definitely *not* the first place I go. Stop being so literal, guys!
^ Madwolf, it is the job of the speaker to be clear, not his audience. He should not be commenting about the fans driving Sendek off, or Sendek matters in general, to begin with. It’s that simple.
no madwolf92 i think you are wrong. I remember reading this spring during the other coaching search that Lee Fowler was blowing it out of proportion that some people on wolfpack boards or through letters or something had made death threats to herb or his family. Many public figures get death threats for the weirdest reasons possible. If you can prosecute then prosecute, but otherwise how can you consider threats like that to be serious?
Fowler could have cut Herb loose after year 5 and nobody (even Herb supporters) could/would have given him a hard time about it. Lee went the other way, however. From that day on, Fowler was an advocate for Herb, and , IMO was not impartial in his analysis, which is not where an AD should ever be. You can’t say Lee made the wrong call keeping Herb given the NCAA run. I’m not saying the decision was wrong.
After the decision, Fowler, rather than letting Herb’s record speak for itself and understanding that you will always have disputes among a large group, felt/feels the need to defend “his guy,” even now that he is gone, to the point of getting into a name-calling contest with NC State fans in papers throughout the Southeast. (!)
I can’t think of a less productive thing for him to do than getting himself into a pissing contest with Jeff Brock for 2 reasons. 1) It’s a no-win for Lee. 2) Brock will win.
I am sadly beginning to believe that the only way we can get rid of Mr. ‘I know basketball’ is if he gets hit by a truck. Anybody got a truck I can borrow?
I didn’t like Fowler’s comments when I read this post. After reading the article, it is worse than I thought!! His negative comments about NCSU fans (us) not only give us a bad reputation, they lead the press to ask our current coaches questions about the pressure they feel coaching here. That only increases the pressure on our coaches. Some of them will not feel it but some will and it could impact their preparation and the team’s performance.
Add my name to the growing list of NCSU alums and fans that would like to see Fowler replaced.
CG, I agree about that, but it seems that the major part of the ire here is directed at the idea that Fowler would intimate that our fans would actually hurt Sendek’s family.
Again, like I said, maybe I’m the lunatic, but it seemed clear to me before I came here and you guys muddied it all up.
(cont.)
This is not to say that I don’t wholeheartedly agree with WendellPackster’s truck solution. In a metaphorical way, of course.
buttPACKer
DAMNIT!!!
EVERYBODY…I MEAN EVERYBODY…IS READY AND WILLING FOR HERB SENDEK TO BECOME PART OF THE PAST!!!
Not Lee Fowler though, he just cannot and will not left go. He brings it up everytime he faces the media in an attempt to discredit NC State fans, and further gain their favor.
If the dumb ass meant financial security he should have said “financial security.”
The quote says “all the criticism drove him away for the security of his family.” I’m not certain what this means but my best reading is that Herb was “threatened” only by “criticism.” No fear of physical harm. Nowhere in the piece is there any assertion that any State fan ever intended any harm to Sendek or anyone involved with him.
Maybe he was trying to say that his children and wife and his daily life were miserable to the point he was concerned about the long term effect on his family. This is understandable. However, it happened because he subjected a major basketball power with a storied tradition to 5 years of losing seasons and 10 years or unwatchable basketball, featuring one of the worst cupcake OOC schedules in the nation (per Dick Vitale) geared to getting him to 20+- wins to make the first round of the NCAA where State usually got pasted, and a style of basketball that muzzled talented players and drove many, if not most, fans insane.
The lack of clarity in this quote has the kind of Bill Clinton (what do you mean by “is?”) OJ Simpson dancing around innuendo style that is intended to attack fans while also leaving Lee a way of defending his hamfisted remarks. Shame on you Lee.
CG great piece and spot on in every respect! LF is totally inept in dealing with his job and his customers.
Jeb is making sure that he looks good in the end. Once he’s ousted at NCSU (I don’t understand how you can trash your fans) he’ll be able to keep his soapbox and say that we’re terrible fans and that no one would be able to survive at a place like this.
,
Wendell, that’s the kind of remark that gets people talking about physical safety. Wrongly or rightly.
PRINCETON STYLE…HERB SENDEK…UNINSPIRED BASKETBALL…they are all history.
Lee Fowler hired Sidney Lowe and took care of it.
He doesn’t even have enough sense to move on and focus on the good that is happening because of the hire.
It’s HERB was, HERB is, HERB did, HERB still is…
What a freakin basket case!!!
Whether Fowler meant physical security or financial security, it is irrelevant.
The AD of NC STATE is focusing on our old coach instead of discussing the new direction of our basketball program and promoting the promising future of Sidney Lowe, whom the fans clearly embrace, support, and love.
How is this productive in his goal to promote NC State atheletics? It isn’t. Its further evidence that this man continually loses sight of his role and is ineffective at performing the duties of his job.
Who in the hell said Fowler meant financial security???
He and his cronies control that, Herb didn’t have a worry in the world that way.
That is stupidest words, from whoever said them, that I have heard to date.
It must have come straight Lee Fowler.
Wait a minute Lee. Jsut yesterday, didn’t you say that it is the internets that start stuff and the media just takes that stuff to a different level and it just grows and grows.
Correct me if I am wrong Lee, but didn’t you make this partiucular quote, and then it was published in a news paper, and now it has made it’s way to the internets.
So just to be clear Lee. The fans are to blame for all of your job difficuties.
Girlfriend in a Coma
Great post!
And what Lee Fowler did back then, then trickled down into many minds within the fanbase, the media, and on and on.
It is a blight that was started at the top of the food chain.
PAPackster…That’s only if you know who Mr. ‘I know basketball’ is.
I read Bob Lipper’s Times-Dispatch article this morning and emailed him before I read this thread. The title of the article “Pack chooses Lowe road” is disparaging in itself. Lipper fails to note any of Lowe recent accomplishments, other than mentioning the team’s 5-0 start. Nothing about the Michigan win or his recruiting success in the early signing period.
I was perplexed by Lipper’s infatuation with Herb Sendek. He squarely took Fowler’s view and implied it was mean-spirited fans that ran off Herb. Fowler’s comment about “the security of [Sendek's] family” was bizarre and should have been questioned by Lipper. If true, Fowler has been holding back this information for quite a while, at the very least since Herb resigned. Why mention it now? If the “security” comment was just idle speculation by Fowler, it is deeply irresponsible. Fowler didn’t need to go out of his way to deepen the rift between himself and the fan base, but he appears to have done just that.
primacyone
“the security of [Sendek’s] family”
That statement originated where? On the internet boards?
justaguy — I thought the same thing when I read that article this morning.
I don’t care what Fowler was meaning. Tell me how the following statement can do anything but push a potential coach away from NCSU!
“I think all the criticism drove him away for the security of his family.”
This man is a moron. How can you be looking to hire someone to fill an open position while at the same time saying the previous employee left for the security of his family. I just don’t understand how someone like this can be running a major college program. Not only does this make me mad, but it is also depressing to know that he has influence on an NCSU athletic program that we all love and support.
Four team sports have completed their seasons since school started this year.
Volleyball was 2-29, 0-22 in the ACC.
Men’s soccer was 6-10-1, 1-6-1 in the ACC.
Women’s soccer was 9-9-2, 3-7 in the ACC.
Football was 3-9, 2-6 in the ACC.
That’s 6 conference wins. In 4 combined sports. Out of 48 chances. (In fairness, we did win both cross country ACC titles but they don’t really have a won-loss record to quantify.)
And Lee wonders why there is negativity on the internets. It looks to me like the hardest part of his job is not just fielding winning teams, but competitive teams. But I think we do lead the ACC in ADs throwing fans under the bus.
4ever, the main problem with Fowler is that he creates these firestorms with his desire to be public and combative. This thread is a prime example. This thread, and the anger seen here, is a creation of Lee Fowler’s misguided and public comments. There was absolutely no need for them, but he had to put it out there. He does this over and over and over again. He cannot help himself.
Honestly, the only guy I know to compare him with is T.O. A person who cannot hold his tongue should not be in administration.
PackHooligan Says: “‘Speaking of quotes, I see that you said that the NC State fans are completely unreasonable and threatened the safety of one of your past coach’s family.’”
This is a terrible thing for LF to have said. Do you have a link or cite for the publication?
Wolfpack4ever, if anyone is guilty of sloppy reading here, it’s you. I present, for all, the actual exchange:
Technician: What is the biggest issue facing N.C. State athletics?
Fowler: Well, today the biggest issue facing us is getting a new football coach, and I’m working like crazy to get somebody. Everyone wants us to have the guy yesterday, but I want us to have the guy two days ago. But we’ve got to get the right guy. Academics will be very much involved in what we do with this search. Any coach I hire will have to realize we won’t realize we won’t lower our standards, and we won’t do things to jeopardize guys’ graduating.
But other than that, the biggest challenge? It’s probably the message boards on the Internet. There is so much negative stuff coming off the boards, and I think that drives the newspapers. Then the papers are constantly chasing stuff that’s being talked about on the Internet. But I think that’s the biggest challenge facing all ADs.
There are so many people on the Internet, and you never know who they are. You don’t know if they are affiliated with N.C. State in any way. It’s like an anonymous letter, and when I get an anonymous letter, I throw it in the trash. So, you write things that are just hateful to a lot of a people without any knowledge of what’s really going on.
Cardiff: Fowler was asked, WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE? He answered, other than getting a new football coach, “The Internet.” No facilities. Those were in response to the question, “What is your step by step plan” for the department.
Now who’s the “apple licker,” again?
I dont think Lee ever intended his comment to mean physical security to Herb and family. I think he meant emotionally……but as someone posted above, it is his responsibility to be clear about his comments. To a headline reader without the context, they think we are loonies threatening physical violence.
We have problems in society when little league coaches have guns pulled on them by parents for not playing their kids more. Stuff like this happens, and Fowler makes it look like we are doing the same.
Unfortantely this threatened for family’s emotions……..no one should accost the wife or kids in school, but people do. Being a coach makes you a public figure, and you make good money to do it. It is a tradeoff. If you dont want to subject your life to being in a fish bowl, come back and get a real job like the rest of us.
I would play in the NFL, NBA, or MLB for $500K a year. I would love a big raise to play a game. For that matter, I am submitting my resume to be the new football coach, and I will only seek $500K to do it. Let me have that for a couple years till you all run me out of town. I will laugh all the way to the bank. We never threatened anyone physically, and for Lee to suggest this is absurd.
On a side note I thought I remembered Lee saying he did not read all this stuff. How does he know what is being said and that we are loonies if he does not read it?
“Did Fowler like the red off your apple 5 years ago?”
What in the hell does that mean, exactly?
“Let’s hope that level-headed Chancellors can see through this and retain or not the AD based on truth, not half-truths created by taking words out of context.”
The quote was exact. You are either assuming or creating context it is not surrounded by.
Fowler said what he said, and now your defense is predicated on parsing his words favorably, all the while claiming “taken out of context” - a red herring at best, intellectually dishonest at worst. Either indicates the lack of efficacy in the propogation of your argument.
Were it the first time Lee Fowler were antagonistic to NC State fans, you might have a point. In fact, it is not, a point you conveniently ignore.
^ Nice RAWFS. You said it better than I did and did a great job demolishing that poster’s weak attack. Thank you.
1) I’m sure that some people were unkind to Sendek’s family - that kind of crap happens everywhere, and it’s reprehensible EVERYWHERE. No reason to single out NC State.
2) EVEN IF there were reason to single out NC State (of which I have seen no evidence), the athletic director’s job is to ADVANCE THE INTERESTS OF NC STATE ATHLETICS. Not to “speak his mind,” regardless of the ultimate impact.
3) Whether he meant “physical” or “financial” security, it made NC State look bad, and came out of the mouth of the fan whose FUCKING JOB is to make NC State look good. Whichever way you take it, it’s only a matter of degree as to how harmful of a statement it is.
4) How can the Chancellor and Board of Trustees put up with this kind of shit?
Two thoughts:
The difference between the attitude of Fowler and Sid in that artical are night and day. Sid respects us because he’s one of us, while clearly Fowler disrespects us because we ask him to do his job.
WHAT AN IDIOT HE IS TO GIVE THIS STATEMENT TO THE HOMETOWN PAPER OF OUR BIGGEST QB RECRUIT WHETHER HE THINKS IT TO BE TRUE OR NOT……
Attn Lee Fowler: For the security of your family, maybe you should find employment at another institution.
Opps. I meant “finanical” security. Or “emotional” security. Take your pick.
Sorry, I meant “finanical” security. Or “emotional” security. Take your pick.
Wow, that’s the first time I ever heard Sendek was run off because he was afraid of his familys security. Of course doubtful that’s true, considering the source of said information is Uncle Jed. I think if it was really the case, that would have come out long ago.
What Fowler is referring to is the negativity which is portrayed on the message boards. You can not like it all you want, but what he said is a fact. One of the biggest problems facing sports today is that idiots who don’t have the SLIGHTEST idea how to run a program, an athletic department, or a team are on here trying to act like they’re professionals at it. This causes tension with other people who aren’t as knowledgable about sports. It’s like a cancer, one idiot starts whining and crying about something he knows NOTHING about, and then a bunch of other idiots who also don’t know anything about it jump on their bandwagon and it becomes a full scale idiot fest which then moves into the media. He was right. You can like it or not. If you don’t like it, quit acting like you know what you’re talking about, when in fact, you’re just an idiot.
The true meaning of this is that Fowler uses us… the fans… as a scapegoat for his ineptness because he could care less about NC State. He’s in it for personal justification and gratification. He knows eventually we’ll have enough gumption to do the right thing and fire him. Thus, he acts now not for the betterment of NC State Athletics or the University as a whole, but rather for what’s best for Lee Fowler. In that sense, he’s no idiot. He’s the slimeball we all know him to be, but in self-interest he’s trying to paint to the national media a different picture in the hopes of furthering future job prospects.