Two Big Administrative Announcements: Fowler Gets Extension, Radio Switches to 101.5FM

Campus News General Media NC State Administration99

One good announcement; one bad announcement.

First, the good news. NC State has entered the 21st century of FM radio coverage.

NC State officials announced today that an agreement has been reached involving its rights holder, Wolfpack Sports Marketing, and Capitol Broadcasting Corporation to partner with CBC station Mix 101.5 WRAL-FM. The agreement moves Wolfpack sports programming to the FM side of the dial and solidifies NC State’s flagship radio partnership through the 2016-2017 seasons.

Mix 101.5 WRAL FM is one of the most powerful (100,000 watt) and popular stations in the Triangle and surrounding areas. Radio broadcasts for the Football and Men’s Basketball season will move to Mix 101.5 starting with the NC State vs. Central Florida football match-up on Sept. 1. “Our relationship with NC State has been a great one over the years and we are extremely excited about expanding our affiliation with the University through this radio broadcast agreement,” Jim Goodmon, President of CBC said.

WCMC 99.9-FM will carry the weekly Tom O’Brien and Sidney Lowe coach’s call-in shows on Monday nights. The first Tom O’Brien show will debut on Monday, August 26, 2007. The Wolfpack Sports Network’s coverage of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament will also be carried on WCMC-FM, with the exception of NC State games broadcast on Mix 101.5 WRAL FM.

Now, the horrible news.

Lee Fowler, N.C. State’s athletics director since 2000, has signed a contract extension through 2013.

Wow.

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99 Responses to Two Big Administrative Announcements: Fowler Gets Extension, Radio Switches to 101.5FM

  1. RedTerror29 04/26/2007 at 9:26 AM #

    ^Club sports get some funding. I’m not sure if it’s through the athletic dept, intramural dept, or somewhere else.

  2. Cardiff Giant 04/26/2007 at 9:28 AM #

    Horrible news on Fowler, but very classic NC State: reward mediocrity with lifetime employment.

    The notion that the grotesquely bungled basketball search (that turned out well because of SID, NOT Fowler) deserved anything but an internal reprimand is absurd. A contract extension is beyond belief.

    Re TOB, Fowler gets credit only for staying the hell out of the way. But as much as TOB is a much needed tonic for Amato, recall that if Fowler had his way Amato would STILL BE HERE. Sendek, too. And some of you say, good on yer to extend his contract?

    Let’s not forget the other crew of incompetents that Fowler either fostered far too long (Mary Byrne) or keeps on the payroll (Annabel Myers, Nora Lynn Finch, and George Tarantini, to name but a few).

    Normally unbelievable, again – but perfectly believable at NC State, where the second place, also-ran, mediocrity mentality is institutionalized with our Board of Trustees.

  3. Cardiff Giant 04/26/2007 at 9:30 AM #

    “Finally, we are all Wolfpack fans and know matter what we think of Lee Fowler it could be worse, we could be wearing baby blue and have Dick Badour as an AD!”

    Yes, all those ACC and national titles really are the suck. What an incompetent.

  4. BoKnowsNCS71 04/26/2007 at 9:41 AM #

    LF exemplifies the difference between an administrator and a visionary. The average administrator stays the course and runs things routinely (people on staff are happy because there is no pressure, no firings, little accounability for performance, no new/big initiatives and no risk taking).

    The average administrator who fails to keep up with the times in the business world ends up coming in behind smarter more energetic competitiors. In our case — the other ACC schools.

    A visionary-administrator reinvents the business often, looks forward, tries new things, challenges staff, dares to be great, seeks more profit (wins).

    Find a person with both the characteristics of a visionary and you have a great AD.

    Right now we just have a nice, smart, average guy running the store. If we want to do better — he is going to have to change (unlikely) or move on up the ladder of success (Peter Principle) to the next level of incompetence.

    There may be one glint of hope. That being — at times an average administrator will hire some employees with talent and a vision. Those key staff will bring success and make the boss look great.

    In many cases, as in our past, great talent often gets hired away (or sought after) by other schools who have the visionary AD and offer more money to the employee who probably should have been paid for performance through raises before that.

    In our case, TOB is set to retire here (age) and Syd is an alumni — but with NBA teams looking for a dynamic, experienced coaches and other schools willing to offer $2 million contracts — even an alum might leave. Hopefully, as performance improves, our administrator AD will reward good performance and spend less time with an eye solely on balancing the budget.

    But – we got what we got.

  5. BoKnowsNCS71 04/26/2007 at 9:45 AM #

    WV wolf – Thanks for the info.

    Still interesting that our Bass Fishing Club not under the auspices of our athletic department excelled so well. Might be a lesson there.

  6. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 04/26/2007 at 10:16 AM #

    “When will Lee Fowler critics realize that he is a great AD?”

    Because he gave a speech and told us so.

  7. Rick 04/26/2007 at 10:23 AM #

    I have to say I am dissapointed in this news and am shocked that anyone can find his performance even satisfactory much less good.

    As to blaming Annabelle and not LF…
    That is a perfect example of him keeping incompetance in place and not having the guts to do something about it. If it is a problem then fix it, don;t close your eyes and hope it goes away.

    The big “plusses” for LF seem to be facilities and the two hires.
    I will have to be convinced he was actualy responsible for any of that.

    He has no goals or expectations. All he has is contempt fro the very fanbase that pays his salary.

  8. Trout 04/26/2007 at 10:35 AM #

    Personally, I would have waited at least one year, maybe 2 before doing this. This isn’t like the coaches, that need long term contracts for recruiting purposes. Fowler’s current contract ran throw 2010, so waiting until 2008 or even 2009 made more sense, IMO.

  9. highstick 04/26/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    Off topic, but any further developments in the Larry Harris issue???

  10. kbstokes09 04/26/2007 at 10:50 AM #

    Sorry guys, I just support my school regardless of who’s in office. Unless they’re making remarks like CTC’s Akron comment, I’m supportive. Young or not, I don’t bitch all day about how I would run the program, because I’m not in the athletic department yet, nor do I have a masters in sport management… yet. Maybe one day the athletic world will take these blogs seriously.

  11. RedTerror29 04/26/2007 at 10:59 AM #

    How do I not support my school regardless of who’s in office. I may not have been happy with Sendek, Amato, or Fowler, but I’ve never stopped rooting for State and never will. And Fowler has made many comments insulting our fan base. As for the athletic world taking these blogs seriously…considering we are the fans supplying the revenue, they would be wise to take us seriously.

  12. Rick 04/26/2007 at 11:20 AM #

    “Sorry guys, I just support my school regardless of who’s in office. ”

    How is not liking how the AD runs things not supporting your school? I realize you are young but surely you understand there is a difference between supporting NCSU and supporting LF. IMO if you think an AD is not doing a good job you ar enot supporting your school by supporting him.

    “Maybe one day the athletic world will take these blogs seriously.”
    Despite LF’s fear of all things electronic, blogs and the internet are here to stay and are only going to grow in influence. I dare to say without the internet Herb would still be here because he was not “feeling heat” from LF or the big dogs.
    So you can dismiss teh blogs as irrelevant (odd given your age) but ADs will realize (as some have) that many fans use them as their primary interface with other like minded fans.

  13. McPete 04/26/2007 at 11:27 AM #

    In my limited history of following major college sports i’ve heard maybe two or three AD’s get major props for their work (one being Florida State’s AD – Dave Hart?) and most of these guys i’m willing to bet are at historically very sucessful universities and their job is to not screw it up. nc state is not one of those flagship universities, and i don’t think lee fowler had anything to do with that. and who the F**K cares about women’s volleyball? when was the last time anyone on this board went to a women’s vollelyball game, match, whatever the hell you call it? that should be like intramurals as long as everyone has fun and gets some fruit juice and cookies we’re ok. seriously, volleyball? volleyball? you’re criticizing Folwer over volleyball?. it sounds like a thankless job, despite the 250K a year salary. i hope everyone who blasts LF submits their resume to the university for a position in the athletics department and plots out how they’d go about turning around that volley ball program. and racketball, and table tennis, and competitive basketweaving.

  14. kbstokes09 04/26/2007 at 12:11 PM #

    I do know the difference between the two Rick, and I apologize for getting so passionate and ill about this, but I have met the man, and you can’t hate him once you meet him. I just kinda feel like McPete here… I can’t publicly criticize the guy unless I have experienced the same things he has, and I just don’t like all the negativeness. If you guys meet him in person, talk to him about this stuff like I did, and still feel the same way, then I would gladly respect your opinion and would love to talk about it. But when everybody just speculates based on what they see through the media, including myself, it’s hard to develop an accurate opinion. This is why I try to stay neutral, for the most part, and just supportive.

  15. tvp 04/26/2007 at 12:11 PM #

    Apparently, supporting your school means never questioning any decisions or striving to be better. Gotcha.

  16. Rochester 04/26/2007 at 12:13 PM #

    My two chief complaints on Fowler are: 1) He offered the basketball job to Steve Lavin; 2) He routinely insults the fan base. Both should recede into the background in time thanks to Sid’s hiring, because we finally have a coach we can all support.

    What if Lavin had said yes? I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about that. If there’s any proof that God doesn’t hate the Wolfpack it’s that Lavin turned the job down.

  17. McPete 04/26/2007 at 12:23 PM #

    LF is an empoyee of a state-supported university and i hope we all can agree it’s our place to question decisions. but we have to be rational about it, and sometimes i don’t think that’s the case at all. we’re partial to our beloved university and think we should be the best at everything. well, guess what? so does every other school’s fanbase and there’s only one space for that top slot and everyone else is dissatisfied. it just bugs me to no end when people trash LF for every negative thing that happens with wolfpack sports, and then conveniently ignore the positive or, better yet, claim he played no part in it. sweet. selective reasoning in action and getting results. now i must get off the computer and catch that woman’s volleyball spring game. i’m sure i’ll see everyone there!

  18. Rick 04/26/2007 at 1:02 PM #

    “I can’t publicly criticize the guy unless I have experienced the same things he has, and I just don’t like all the negativeness. If you guys meet him in person, talk to him about this stuff like I did, and still feel the same way, then I would gladly respect your opinion and would love to talk about it.”

    I hate to keep bringin up your age but it is very apparent by your posting.
    Whether I like LF or not has nothing to do with how I view his job performance. You can like someone and think they are not doing a good job. You need to stop linking feelings with appraisals. That is something you will have to do once you get into the working world because if not you will be very upset.

    I have still not seen a reason for thinking he is doing a good job other than liking LF.

  19. Mr O 04/26/2007 at 1:04 PM #

    Trout: I didn’t get it either. Why does Fowler need an extension in 2007 all the way through 2013??? Especially when you point out that he has several years left on his contract anyways.

    Are we really afraid that he was going to leave NC State?

    Which brings up another question…when is the last time NC State lost a coach/administrator to another athletic program which clearly was an “upgrade” for that particular coach/administrator?

    About the only one I can think of is the former baseball coach.

  20. BoKnowsNCS71 04/26/2007 at 1:08 PM #

    HWSNBN got the last upgrade. Just ask him.

  21. Mike 04/26/2007 at 1:28 PM #

    One other funny point, read in this morning’s N&O.

    Quoted a booster (unnamed) who raises hogs in the southern part of the state down I-40 as being pleased with the change, because he picks up WRAL much better than WPTF.

    Wonder if that had any influence in the change.

  22. joe 04/26/2007 at 1:35 PM #

    Bo Rein and Lou Holtz left for better jobs, but that was a long time ago. Valvano wanted to leave for UCLA but did not because of his buyout.

    A few years back a tennis coach left for a better job, I think it was the women’s tennis coach.

    NCSU coaches now either retire or get fired.

  23. waxhaw 04/26/2007 at 1:35 PM #

    Most of the things listed as accomplishments could be done by a lot of AD’s because of NC State not because of who the AD happens to be.

    I believe Lee Fowler is excellent at raising money. I give him as much credit as Purcell and the WPC in that area. I think he lets his “bottom line” and his personal feelings get in the way of making objective decisions about our coaches. It’s really hard to say who gets the credit for certain things that happen behind the scenes. If our current revenue coaches win as much as I think they will, it won’t matter because Fowler is going to be here a long time. (or until he gets an SEC offer)

  24. RickJ 04/26/2007 at 1:38 PM #

    Mr. O – Charlie Cobb went from Associate AD at State to AD at Appalachian State.

  25. ToddKeune 04/26/2007 at 1:48 PM #

    I’ll get back to the GREAT news (at least it is to me) about PTF/RAL. Is there any reason RAL wont have the games streaming like the rest of thier broadcast? (as ask in an early post but not answered. I would assume they will). Former Raleigh resident here, now in SE MN. My wife thinks I spend to much time on internet now, wait till BB season!! At football games do they still play a wolf howeling after a big play? On the rare chance I get to watch State games on TV here, I often imitate that – drives my wife nuts!! Next winter she’s either gonna shoot me or shoot the computer.

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