We’re #56!!! NCSU finishes 53rd of 66 BCS Schools (must be the ‘fuhcilities’)

The final ‘all-sports’ intercollegiate Directors Cup for 2007-2008 has been released and is accessible by clicking here. (Looks like Lee Fowler’s second embarrassment in one day.)

NC State didn’t obtain extra credit for our great ‘fuhcilities’ or our fantastic fans and therefore finished the year ranked 56th in the country and next to last in the Atlantic Coast Conference, besting private institution Boston College.

NC State finished #56 in the Director’s Cup in “Coach” Lee Fowler’s first year as Athletics Director in 2000-2001 and before he set out on his important ‘seven year facilities plan’ that was proclaimed finished in yesterday’s release of the Athletics Department’s annual report. So, after all of those important facilities that had to be built before we could start holding coaches accountable, the Wolfpack’s program is sitting exactly where it was in Fowler’s first year on the job and worse than the average of State’s finishes under both Les Robinson and Todd Turner’s tenure as ADs at NC State (when our facilities were so bad). (Click here for a detailed comparison of recent ADs at NC State).

Additionally, NC State finished 53rd of all 66 BCS (major conference) institutions. The Wolfpack bested 13 schools – Iowa State, Vanderbilt (Lee Fowler’s alma mater who does not have an actual Athletics Department), Ole Miss, Boston College, Kansas State, Washington State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Oregon State, South Florida, Mississippi State, Rutgers and Cincinnati.

* A sampling of ‘surprising’ programs that ranked ahead of NC State include the following: Hawaii, Denver, UConn, Baylor, BYU and Northwestern.

* State bested Texas Christian by a quarter of one point (365.5 to 365.25).

* Princeton and Harvard do not provide athletics scholarships and finished only five and six spots behind NC State, respectively.

* Fresno State, Tulsa, UTEP, Northern Iowa and Navy all finished within striking distance of the Wolfpack (within 10 spots)

* NC State was beaten by three of the ACC’s four private institutions including Miami and Wake Forest.

The ACC’s rankings ended up as follows:
14. UNC
15. FSU
17. UVA
19. Duke
37. Va Tech
43. Clemson
45. Wake Forest
46. Miami
52. Maryland
55. Ga Tech
56. NC State
69. BC

For an historical perspective on NC State’s performance in the competition you can look below:

—Lee Fowler Years—-
2007-08 – #56
2006-07 – #44
2005-06 – #34
2004-05 – #51
2003-04 – #39
2002-03 – #43
2001-02 – #46
2000-01 – #56

—Les Robinson Years—
1999-00 – #40
1998-99 – #63
1997-98 – #43
1996-97 – #57

—Todd Turner Years—
1995-96 – #34
1994-95 – #32
1993-94 – #59

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39 Responses to We’re #56!!! NCSU finishes 53rd of 66 BCS Schools (must be the ‘fuhcilities’)

  1. WolftownVA81 06/27/2008 at 11:32 AM #

    No Champs State University. Hadn’t heard that before but it fits. 🙁

  2. choppack1 06/27/2008 at 12:22 PM #

    Lee Fowler “We face challenges on the internet only faced by 13 other BCS schools.”

  3. packplantpath 06/27/2008 at 12:30 PM #

    Earlier in the month, somebody described NC State as a stock with a good upside.

    I compare us to the Salad Oil scandal (wiki salad oil scandal). Looks great on top (facilities), but the tanker is filled with worthless filler.

  4. whitefang 06/27/2008 at 1:04 PM #

    Wonder how many of us who love NC State, even some of us who graduated from there, have “adopted” other schools to pull for due to the long-term futility of our overall athletics programs? I have read statements from ‘Bama fans to Tulsa fans here the last few days. Hell many of us retired our State hats, t-shirts, etc. several years ago. Maybe I am just a big disloyal pussy, but I have become embarrassed by our futility. I pull for State almost in secret now.
    A guy I went to State with and used to work with after we graduated told me recently that his daughter just decided on State over uSC and Bama and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, WHY?
    Wonder if James “ObeWanKenobi” Oblinger will ever realize that if you think you make a lot of money on athletics now, you have no idea how much you could make if you actually had a damn program. People like me would start coming out of the woodwork – rejoining the WP club, buying tickets, t-shirts, etc.
    I love (loved?) that place with all my heart, read this blog daily, search the Charlotte O for a postive State story religiously, etc, etc but this is becoming too f______ depressing.
    Do any of you who attend these Wolfpack functions where Mr. Call-In makes one of his majestic appearances ask that buffoon what the hell he is doing? I just wonder what the atmosphere is in there since I haven’t been to one in over 10 years.

  5. Rick 06/27/2008 at 3:16 PM #

    ” pull for State almost in secret now.”

    I am the oppsoite. I wear our futility like a badge of honor.
    “I pull for a team that sucks but at least I do not give up on them”
    I have all but given up on us ever being anything but a doormat.

  6. redfred2 06/27/2008 at 4:08 PM #

    I’m glad to say this because of the coaches and kids, but I really hate to say this because of those who did NOTHING to deserve it. But I honestly believe that these two GIFT coaches, that’s TOB and Sidney Lowe (that’s right, I said Sidney Lowe), are on the verge of making some visible improvements in both of their programs. That means that this abysmal administration becomes even further entrenched, and then after years upon years everyone ignoring our totally LEGITIMATE complaints, to the detached onlooker, we do finally start taking on the appearance of a “ lunatic fringe“.

    They have ignored and belittled us fans for so long that they have driven a wedge. I will still pull the Red and White, and the coaches and kids, but I have lost the better part of my good will towards NC State University itself. As a matter of fact, I almost hate everything that those guys stand for.

  7. redfred2 06/27/2008 at 4:59 PM #

    whitefang, good post!

  8. Pack84 06/29/2008 at 1:57 AM #

    But, but, but. Lee is ‘excellent’.

  9. graywolf 06/29/2008 at 6:42 AM #

    MONEY!!!! as long as it continues to roll in then the administration thinks everything is just peachy.

    LTR are killing the athletic program.

  10. redfred2 06/29/2008 at 9:17 AM #

    James Oblinger + Lee Fowler = the Ron Popeil + Billy Mayes of university administrators

    They’ve worked much harder on marketing themselves, and making money, than they ever have in developing the inferior products that they’re shoving down people’s throats.

    “Just set it, and forget it.”

  11. redfred2 06/29/2008 at 11:26 AM #

    Selling large blocks of LTRs to big business does nothing to insure that the players will be supported by enthusiastic Wolfpack fans who are there for one purpose, and one purpose only. In fact, it accomplishes just the opposite. It insures that the TV cameras will ALWAYS pick up on large areas of empty seats, in the prime locations of the RBC. That, or a bunch of people sitting in them who have no real interest in NC State athletics. Those seats are USED for many reasons, and a lot of those reasons are far removed from pulling for the NC State basketball program.

    Selling LTRs insures only that the money will always be guaranteed and safe, regardless of supporting the players, the coaches, or anything else. You have to give them credit though, they have been very creative and done a good job of insuring that the financing is available, no matter what actually occurs on the BB court.

    Sorry to ramble, but that’s my long winded explanation for the “Just set it, and forget it” part of my last post.

  12. howlie 06/29/2008 at 9:07 PM #

    Just out of curiosity, if all our non-revenue sports had tanked [which was almost the case] and our basketball and football wins would have been solely responsible for getting us into 53rd place, how many wins would we have averaged in those sports to achieved 53rd?

  13. packpigskinfan23 06/30/2008 at 12:52 AM #

    howlie- it must be a good amount of wins.

    Think about BYU for a minute here guys. I have seen it been labeled as a “surprise” that they beat us in this Directors Cup ranking this year, but do you guys not remember them being ranked #17 in football and #34 in basketball at the end of their respective seasons?! WHAT is SO surprising about that?! They are a quality program. WE are NOT.

  14. waxhaw 06/30/2008 at 12:12 PM #

    Interesting observations:

    3 of the top 6 are expansion teams.

    FSU was only one spot shy of being the top ACC team.

    PAC 10 came close to getting 8 teams in the top 25.

    I wonder what this would be if you limited the number of sports that you can accumulate points. I would imagine that many ACC schools are hindered by the lack of fielding all teams. And though I’m sure this would be the AD’s office reasoning behind the poor ranking, we would still be way down the rankings since we really were mediocre to poor in almost everything. In fact, we might be worse.

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