Women’s Basketball Coaching News (Update w/ Caulton Tudor’s thoughts)

Thanks to a link on another thread, WRAL is reporting that Stephanie Glance will not be promoted to head women’s basketball coach at NC State. I don’t really follow women’s basketball, but didn’t want the BB Byte thread to be taken over by this emotional topic.

UPDATE: Ronnie Brown, Kay’s brother, talked to WRAL and also provided a copy of the letter that Coach Yow sent Lee Fowler and Chancellor Oblinger.

Caulton Tudor weighs in on Saturday morning.

But there’s a wise old adage that the hands of the dead should not dictate the hands of the living. On this issue, there’s more to be taken into account than the last wish of the legendary Yow. Her request should be a primary consideration, of course. But even more than honoring Yow’s request, Fowler and his superiors owe it to her memory to hire the very best candidate the school can afford.

About VaWolf82

Engineer living in Central Va. and senior curmudgeon amongst SFN authors One wife, two kids, one dog, four vehicles on insurance, and four phones on cell plan...looking forward to empty nest status. Graduated 1982

General Kay Yow NCS Basketball Non-Revenue

132 Responses to Women’s Basketball Coaching News (Update w/ Caulton Tudor’s thoughts)

  1. 66pack 04/10/2009 at 11:06 AM #

    we should hire Glance and continue our medicore WBB PROGRAM. OTHER programs might try to hire the best coach available.

  2. old13 04/10/2009 at 11:14 AM #

    In summary, it has been suggested that the term “Wolfpack” be discontinued in association with NCSU and that from this time forward “Keystone Kops” be used instead.

  3. BoKnowsNCS71 04/10/2009 at 11:36 AM #

    This is one of those dammed if you do dammed if you don’t scenarios.

    Option 1 LF apoints Sylvia,

    a) she does poorly, fans gripe in a a few years that LF acted on emotion and did not get a known entity.

    b) she does good but does not compete well against Duke and Carolina and the fans bemoan not being competitive and always coming in 4th and losing early in the NCAAT

    c) she does well and contends — fans say LF was lucky and fell into it.

    Option 2: LF does not hire Sylvia

    a) LF goes out and makes a hire. That person fails, fans bemoan he should have picked Sylvia

    b) New hire does average. Fans bemoan no competing, coming in 4th and going out early in NCAAT.

    c) new hire does great and everyone says LF lucked into it.

    It’s an emotional decision and sometimes someone has to make the tough call. Where is Chuck Neinas?

  4. old13 04/10/2009 at 11:42 AM #

    Option 1 LF apoints Sylvia

    Who is Sylvia?

  5. BassPacker 04/10/2009 at 12:16 PM #

    I find this all in poor taste, you gotta give Glance the position, just like UNC gave Coach Gut the job when Dean stepped down. Its just the right thing to do. There is no reward anymore for loyality in our society.

    I find it interesting also that the timing of the AD to announce it before a coach is hired. Why? Maybe Fowler is trying to fend off negative attention from the Wolfpack Club survey that was send to us. Or the fact that even though most if not all us Wolfpack Nation are dissatisfied with the way athletics as a whole are run at NCSU, we get notice of an increase of our season tix and parking passes for NCSU football. Again, bad timing.

  6. IMFletcherWolf 04/10/2009 at 12:21 PM #

    There was no “announcement.” It was a leak.

  7. Clarksa 04/10/2009 at 12:25 PM #

    I don’t honestly care that much about the WBB team…but if he doesn’t make the “splash” hire, then he should have stayed with Glance. IMHO, there wouldn’t be that much difference in a mid-major type coach and Glance.

  8. choppack1 04/10/2009 at 12:30 PM #

    “I find this all in poor taste, you gotta give Glance the position, just like UNC gave Coach Gut the job when Dean stepped down. Its just the right thing to do. There is no reward anymore for loyality in our society.”

    Sorry – I don’t buy this line of thinking. Loyalty – in and of itself, is not even virtuous. Societies do best when parties act in their best self-interests.

    Think about it – would NC State have been better off if Glance DID go to Kentucky? We’d at least know what kind of head coach she could be then – and so would she.

    This line of thinking is class bureaucratic thinking….Person “A” is owed the job because he/she has served in position “Y” for a long time, and is my chosen successor.

    As for the Coach Gut example – if that doesn’t show how foolish this is – I don’t know what does. Think about how many great coaches have been “handed” the job after serving as the “key assistant” for an extended amount of time…Sorry, if you want the HC job – you’ve got to go striking out on your own.

    Granted, in this case, there were certainly some extenuating circumstances, but it’s not like we can say that Glance ran the program seemlessly in Yow’s abscence.

  9. LKNpackfan 04/10/2009 at 12:52 PM #

    The extenuating circumstance is that by suddenly and selectively taking a performance-based, must-win-at-all-costs approach to this decision – and it’s this inconsistency that is really curious – we are essentially spitting on Kay Yow’s grave in front of the nation and torching bridges with friends, alumni, staff, players, and fans of the program.

  10. choppack1 04/10/2009 at 12:57 PM #

    LKN – I see what you’re saying, but maybe, just maybe, we’re seeing some LEADERSHIP from someone.

  11. LKNpackfan 04/10/2009 at 1:11 PM #

    chop, I truly could buy that argument if whomever gets the HC position is more qualified than Glance – it would then be clear to everyone that the decision was made for the good of the program, as opposed to any less than honorable reasons – but I see no signs of a professional, well-executed coaching search. I hope I’m proven wrong.

  12. choppack1 04/10/2009 at 1:19 PM #

    I understand your skepticism.

  13. Classof89 04/10/2009 at 1:31 PM #

    I applaud Lee Fowler for finally making a tough–and correct decision. And shame on Ronnie Yow for leaking this letter. FWIW, I think the 2007 letter was a bluff that failed. If Glance was such a great candidate, she would have been hired away years ago, given the opportunity to build that other program and demonstrate her bona fides, and then come home to great acclaim (I’d welcome her in that scenario). As it was, she hung around as this once great program cratered.

    And if the on the court results don’t speak for themself, how about the anti-nepotism policy? I have it on pretty good authority (a conversation with a woman who used to coach at NC State, and, indeed, coached Yow herself at Elon) that Yow and Glance had a personal relationship (the worst kept secret in Wolfpack athletics). Alabama didn’t promote Bear Bryant’s widow to the coaching job…and likewise, we should take Yow’s attempts to take care of Glance after she departed from the scene with a grain of salt (or maybe a whole shaker).

  14. Greywolf 04/10/2009 at 1:33 PM #

    Cardiff Giant
    April 10th, 2009 at 10:40 am
    “Lee Fowler is such a bumbling fool. We have Sergeant Schultz running our athletic department, folks”
    `
    CG, There’s no need to insult Schultz. Besides, he openly admitted, “I tink it is time I know NOTHING!! If only our AD knew it was past time for him to realize that.

  15. Greywolf 04/10/2009 at 1:39 PM #

    “Alabama didn’t promote Bear Bryant’s widow to the coaching job…”
    `
    Is it true that Bryant’s widow retired to Chapel Hill?
    `
    I heard that after Bear’s death,
    she wanted to get as far away from
    organized football as possible.

  16. mikeD 04/10/2009 at 1:40 PM #

    Since we are on the topic of Kay Yow, the DVD of her final farewell from her funeral is available online at https://www.yowfarewelldvd.com/. Just thought I’d pass that on.

  17. LKNpackfan 04/10/2009 at 1:43 PM #

    ^^^^and there it is.
    THAT’S why Fowler/Oblinger are going out on such a limb. The pressure is on Fowler then to deliver, so that its perfectly clear this decision is for the good of the program.

  18. whitefang 04/10/2009 at 1:53 PM #

    We are now in a no-win situation that makes our athletic dept. look stupid and unprofessional (surprise, surprise). Maybe she is not the right person for the job, maybe she is Yow’s “widow”, I don’t know nor do I care. What I do know is that everything should have been done behind the scenes weeks ago. Glance should have “removed her name from consideration” or “retired” or “left to pursue other options” because she had been properly “incentivised” to do so if she was not going to be promoted. A professionally run dept. would have “managed” the media with their own “leaks” and spin.
    It may be our 3rd biggest sport, but after all this is women’s basketball. The negative publicity this will generate for State will far outshine any positive we may get short of a championship which won’t happen for years in a best case scenario.

  19. MatSci94 04/10/2009 at 2:18 PM #

    from an earlier SFN post…

    “At that time, I went to the *chancellor*. I talked to the *[board of] trustees*. We felt like that’s not something we really do at N.C. State, where we name the successor for somebody—not in the dean’s office, not in the head of departments, not any of those things,” Fowler said. “We always do a search.”

    Totally agree with the comment about us totally messing up even the simplest things. First, this strikes me as sour grapes by the chancellor and BOT “this *coach* isn’t going to have more power than *me*”. Second, how is promotion from within *not* the way we do things at NC State?

  20. Girlfriend in a Coma 04/10/2009 at 2:23 PM #

    Three things:

    First, wasn’t it Nora Lynn who was “involved” with Yow? Was Glance also? Either of those relationships is highly innapropriate for lots of reasons btw.

    Second, why should we continue the “Yow program” that has underperformed for decades and has been downright bad for the past few years?

    Third, a clean break is needed for other reasons. The Women’s basketball “Royal Family” has been pulling all sorts of financial shenanigans for years and years, from “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” travel budgets to ridiculous decorating expenditures. For example, Nora Lynn took advantage of the Turner-Fowler interregnum to pull some stunts that got the womens’ staff (and Nora herself also iirc) some really opulant new digs.

  21. Girlfriend in a Coma 04/10/2009 at 2:40 PM #

    ^ Although it is humorous (and somewhat accurate) to characterize Les’ tenure as AD as an interregnum, let me correct myself to specify that it was between the Les and Fowler ADships that Nora pulled the decorating stunt.

  22. BillyTheKid 04/10/2009 at 4:47 PM #

    I think it’s very sad that for all of the talk about how great Yow was and what a great Christian woman she was a lot of those same people would force her to live as a second class citizen in the US and also in the state of North Carolina. When will we give all of our citizens the same rights and privileges? Feel free to make all of the jokes you want to but, this is at the very heart of this issue. Yow was trying to protect this woman financialy the only way she could. It’s not like she could get her retirement or SS checks. Right?!?

  23. xphoenix87 04/10/2009 at 4:50 PM #

    Yes, obviously Yow was in an illicit sexual relationship with her assistant coach. Nevermind that she was a devout Christian, to the point of recording a video sharing her faith to be played at her funeral. Nevermind that there’s not a shred of substantial evidence to back up that claim. Because she was a women’s basketball coach and unmarried, obviously she must have been having a lesbian affair with half of the women’s basketball department. The fact that she recommended her assistant coach of 15 years for the head coaching position basically proves it, right?

    Seriously, that kind of thing sickens me. Kay Yow was one of the most respected figures in all of sports. Take your baseless rumors about our legendary coach and shove them where the sun don’t shine.

    “Second, why should we continue the “Yow program” that has underperformed for decades and has been downright bad for the past few years?”

    Yeah, that Final Four in 1998 was “decades” ago, and the 2 Sweet 16s and 7 NCAA appearances since then have been downright embarrassing. And it’s really too bad that we’ve been “downright bad” the past few years. It really sucks when you beat the #1 and #2 teams in the country and come within 7 points of beating the #4 team to advance to the elite eight. If only they’d done that while their Hall of Fame coach missed half the season due to cancer treatments (oh wait, they did do that).

    If only the men’s team could experience some of that “underperforming”.

    [/rant]

    As I’ve said, I’m ok with them not hiring Glance, provided they can bring in a solid, proven coach. There are some legitimate reasons to not want Glance back, but the team’s record over the past few years really isn’t one of them. If they’re going to bring in some unproven assistant or mid-major coach, then they should’ve just kept Stephanie to see what she can do.

    Whatever the end result, Fowler has, again, made a mess of this. As others have said, this should’ve been dealt with long ago, and the longer it drags on, the more embarrassing it’s going to get.

  24. BillyTheKid 04/10/2009 at 5:16 PM #

    I’m sorry, are you saying that Yow could not have been both a devout Christian and in a relationship with another woman? I’m sorry that the idea of this upsets you so bad but, the two are possible.

  25. RabidWolf 04/10/2009 at 5:38 PM #

    Way to go Fowlup! You stay classy there, bud. WHAT a JACKASS!!

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