Remember – The Hard Work is Just Beginning

Now that a few days have passed, and the initial euphoria is starting to wear off – let’s put everything into perspective. Chancellor Randy Woodson is off to a great start. And by removing a clear, absolute impediment to athletic success (Lee Fowler), he is giving us a fantastic opportunity to move forward. But we must remember that it is only a start. It is only an opportunity. The journey to possibly relevance has just begun, and is nowhere near completed. Nor is it inevitable.

First, the right athletic director must be found. Preferably, in time to critically analyze the football and mens’ basketball programs in 2010-11. The right athletic director will not be a gladhandler, but rather a tough but fair administrator. One who sets clear, objective goals and demands that each coach under his watch have concrete plans to get where they need to be, competitively. Hope is not a plan. “I want to win more than anybody” is not a plan. Those days need to be over, and every coach needs to get that message immediately.

Obviously, lots of deadwood has built up during Fowler’s tenure. With a boss like that, why wouldn’t it? The first year or two will require separating wheat from chaff, determining which stragglers can recover and grow under more aggressive leadership, and which simply need to be the shown the door. No doubt this applies to the internal workings of the department itself, in addition to the coaching ranks. And, from a larger perspective, there are also problems within the university community beyond its athletics department.

But the most immediate concerns for you, the blog reader, are naturally football and mens’ basketball. Start with first principles – the market clearly states that neither Tom O’Brien nor Sidney Lowe requires any sort of contract extension. Forget about the subjective term “deserve” for a moment. Contract extensions are about market forces. Tom O’Brien is probably at most 3 to 4 years from retirement. As respected as he is generally (despite his poor record at NC State), nobody’s coming to hire him away to fix their broken football program. And nobody’s coming for Sidney Lowe, either. He’s still a guy with zero track record of on-court success, and the coaching profession is littered with failed coaches who have had multiple (and not just one) top-flight recruiting classes.

By extending either contract, you are tying the new athletic director’s hands and/or adding to sunk costs (for absolutely no benefit to NC State), when it is certainly possible (perhaps even probable) that moves will need to be made sooner rather than later. And if the new athletic director comes in and wants to be a “buddy” right away, instead of a critical evaluator? Well, then we will have screwed up royally again. I must repeat – hope is not a strategy.

I do firmly believe that it would be impossible to hire an athletic director worse than Lee Fowler – a man that saw the athletic department produce poor results academically and athletically. A man who regularly insulted the “shareholders” of Wolfpack athletics. A man who treated NC State athletics like a family used car lot, instead of the big business that it is. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t still hire another bad one. Or that a slight improvement will be sufficient to get us where we need to be. Where we deserve to be. Roll up those sleeves, Wolfpack nation. There’s a lot of work ahead of us.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

Athletics Directors Coaches Sidney Lowe Tom O'Brien

13 Responses to Remember – The Hard Work is Just Beginning

  1. old13 05/09/2010 at 11:38 AM #

    Thanks, BJD95. I think that this article points up a very important fact – rebuilding Wolfpack athletics, and support of it, is not an overnight venture. The same can be said of other aspects of NCSU that the Chancellor and BOT must address. And it will take everybody – administration, BOT, alumni, coaches, fans, etc. – to do it.

    I see from entries in the SFN article concerning the resumption of contributions by Wolfpackers, that some are taking a wait-and-see attitude. As for me, the ONLY reason I took a hiatus from contributing was the continued employment of Foulup by NCSU. Now that he is essentialy gone, I will resume. But I can always stop again in the future if appropriate in my view.

    While I fully understand why people would take the wait-and-see attitude, I must confess that it also bothers me in some respects. I guess I look at it somewhat like buying stock. If I’m looking at a newly-formed company and wait until it is successful, I’ve missed an opportunity, plus I’ve denied the complany funds which could accelerate its success. At the same time, there are certain aspects I would want to see, such as company leadership in place with a good chance of being successful, to give me some confidence that I am making a potentially good investment and not just hoping for success without basis. But, at the same time, I must accept that risk still exists no matter how good the company looks on paper. For me, that is where I think NCSU is right now.

    The primary NCSU leadership position, the office of Chancellor, has been filled admirably in my opinion by a BOT with a seemingly changed attitude (which Dr. Woodward must have facilitated.) The new Chancellor has made numerous policy statements of vision and purpose that he appears to be actively pursuing as evidenced by the most public removal of the bane of Wolfpack athletics. Those policies cannot, however, be implemented overnight either. But I chose to extend some trust that, in time, this Chancellor will be able to move those policies forward successfully, including hiring an effective AD, and to act on that trust with monitary support to help provide the resources needed for that success.

    I would like Wolfpackers to be willing to make investments in that future rather than waiting to only reward success when it is achieved. But, then, we all have different threshholds of confidence and acceptance. So I hope that Dr. Woodson can soon cross even the most difficult of Wolfpacker confidence threshholds.

  2. Moose Hunter 05/10/2010 at 2:17 PM #

    Great response old13. I agree. I re-activated last week, and think its time for all of us to do so. Nice article BJD! Opportunity is what you make of it.

  3. GoldenChain 05/10/2010 at 2:40 PM #

    Great article BJD, I had made a couple of similar points in the forum (obviously not teh wordsmith you are). Nice brief “high” but the reality is the program has been down for years and won’t rebound instantly. I had actually been one who toughed it out and stayed current with the boosters club and frankly I can’t understand the wait and see attitude.
    Heck any fan can give when things are going well, true fans stick with the program. I understand why some dropped but now that we have an administration that’s actually trying to make the right moves I think its up to WPnation to support them if they want sustained results.

  4. WTNY 05/10/2010 at 3:54 PM #

    Thanks for the good article. I do agree with your thoughts on the next hire.

    While I believe Fowler 100% needed to be replaced, I must take issue with:

    “I do firmly believe that it would be impossible to hire an athletic director worse than Lee Fowler.”

    1) Yes we can do worse. Think along “Todd Turner” lines.
    2) Sometimes I think people actually thought “Lee_Folwer” was really the AD Lee Fowler. Besmirching his name served the purpose of showing him the door, but at the same time I understand why it ticked him off. In a way the process besmirched NC State’s name.

  5. old13 05/10/2010 at 6:16 PM #

    “In a way the process besmirched NC State’s name.”

    Not nearly to the extent that Foulup did!

  6. BJD95 05/10/2010 at 6:18 PM #

    I’m not sure Todd Turner’s any worse than Fowler. He did get multiple other major D-1 jobs (as absurd as that was).

    I am only hesitating to resume giving because I had to scarifice a lot in order to send a message. That can’t be reversed overnight.

  7. tractor57 05/10/2010 at 8:04 PM #

    I’ve not been a member of the Wolfpack Club for a number of years (possibly preceding Fowler). I might consider joining once again but it won’t be at more than a minimum level – that has nothing to do with any sort of protest rather a change in my circumstances.

    I agree with BJD95 that this is a beginning not an ending (or maybe a continuation of YEARS of effort to right the ship). It’s tit for tat when comparing Todd Turner to Lee Fowler in my book. Neither provided what State needed and without more pruning of deadwood a new AD will have even more problems.

    Speaking of Lowe and O’Brien I’m optimistic but at this point a contract extension is sheer lunacy. Not only because of their situations as discussed but also if I were a candidate for AD I would want the freedom to make a move if I saw the need.

    It IS a positive step but it is only a step.

  8. choppack1 05/10/2010 at 9:50 PM #

    Regarding contract extensions – here’s where a public university’s hands are really tied.

    Ideally when faced w/ the situation that both Lowe and TOB find themselves in – you’d circle up and agree to some terms where they’d get to keep their jobs if they had a good season and were financially rewarded for doing so.

    While neither of them is a hot commodity, TOB was a solid season away from being a candidate from Notre Dame and Lowe – with his recruiting prowess would definitely raise some eyebrows if he put together 2 good seasons.

    When suitors come calling w/ the checkbook – if you believe you’ve been wronged – you’re more likely to jump ship at the first opportunity.

    I’d tend to agree that TOB is too old to be a hot commodity, but you never know – if he believes that he’s working for someone w/ a short fuse – he may bolt elsewhere…as we know, colleges are full of AD’s that lack vision.

    I don’t envy the task of dealing w/ these 2. One appears to be a star on the rise – the other may be a fading star – and quite frankly, there’s probably a better than 50% that both of them will be busts. However, you don’t ever want to burn bridges.

    Me, I like easy decisions – and there’s a chance these decisions will be easy next year.

  9. 85pack 05/10/2010 at 10:48 PM #

    I wonder what Turner’s up to ? can we get him back ? (pause) just kidding. GO PACK !!!!

  10. GoldenChain 05/11/2010 at 9:45 AM #

    Keg when I say you’re FoS I mean it in the kindest way possible!LOL
    If you’ve followed the forums you’d know that the biggest critics become the biggest bandwagoners over the slightest provocation.

    As to the other comments, I never cease to be amazed at those who have no ‘skin’ in the game….other than their mouths.

  11. Sam92 05/11/2010 at 10:08 AM #

    hey keg man, i think it’s pretty interesting how people who apparently hate us can’t help themselves from visiting the site *and* posting

  12. DFMo 05/11/2010 at 8:59 PM #

    >> Start with first principles – the market clearly states that neither Tom O’Brien nor Sidney Lowe requires any sort of contract extension.

    Well said … I could not agree more and have been saying this for the last year or so. You’d want the new AD to get on the job and be involved in the analysis and decision making … and there is time for that.

    I guess I missed keg man’s post.

  13. wolfpack4evermore 05/14/2010 at 12:02 AM #

    I do not post frequently. However, I do agree with the status of our football and men’s basketball coaches described above. I have stated before that I felt a new AD had to be in place prior to any coach evaluations/firings being made. Certainly, no contract extensions should be offered. No incoming AD would want to feel handcuffed by longer contracts.
    While it is still early, I feel that our interim Chancellor Woodward and Chancellor Woodson have demonstrated the capability to make appropriate, solid decisons. I feel that Dr. Woodson will make a good choice to lead our athletic dept. and will join with the newly selected individual to properly evaluate our coaches against clearly defined goals and expectations. Go Pack!!

Leave a Reply