Required Reading: ACCSJ’s Post-Fowler Insight

“No matter what you think about Lee personally, he couldn’t be trusted to run another search for either football or men’s basketball,” a source close to the situation said. “That (2006 search) was an embarrassment for everyone associated with N.C. State, and I think it will remain Lee’s most identifying moment. And that’s just not good.”

We are usually pretty quick to point out mistakes, inaccuracies and general bad work from the ‘mainstream media’ – last Sunday’s articles in the N&O/Chlt Observer and just about anything from the awful WRAL blog community immediately come to mind.

So, when someone comes along and really gets it right we owe it to them and to you to praise them and make sure that you see it!

In a fantastic article that we heavily encourage you to traffic and read by clicking here, the ACC Sports Journal has somehow figured out how to write an honest, detailed and insightful piece on many of the ‘intangibles’ of the Lee Fowler ‘debate’ that the rest of the media never could see fit to publicly approach.

In the article, the ACCSJ doesn’t spend too much time on the statistics and numbers that highlight NC State’s Athletics struggles; and, as an SFN reader, you don’t need that kind of regurgitation. Instead, the article hits a home run reminding all of the clueless media observes (and few fans of other schools) who choose to ignore the obvious struggles of the department and feign bewilderment wondering, “what did Lee Fowler do – or not do – that was so bad.”

ACCSJ just ticks right down the list with balanced, well-written reminders of many of the developments that the rest of the media have chosen to conveniently ignore for years – from the ‘bungled 34-day search for Sendek’s replacement in 2006’ to giving proper credit for fund raising to the organization that is actually responsible for fund raising to Fowler’s infamous ‘Cougars’ phone call to A LOT more…the article is a welcome breath of common sense, honesty, balance and fresh air.

All of ^this, and they still don’t have time to mention:
(1) the awful academic performance of the Athletics Department as often highlighted by Chancellor Woodson;
(2) Fowler’s unwillingness to fire Chuck Amato forcing the Board of Trustees to mandate a change; (3) bungling of the Carter-Finley expansion that required the Wolfpack Club to step in to finish the project;
(4) the ‘done-on-the-cheap’ Doak Field project that was obsolete before it began;
(5) the Department’s inability to find ways to increase revenues during a period that other ACC schools grew at a much quicker rate;
(6) awful performance and perspective in the industry of the Sports Information Department;
(7) and the putrid state of affairs of morale amongst the employees of the Athletics Department.

…just to name a few.

Even if you don’t want to read the piece, please click on the link so that ACCSJ can get traffic and get the message that providing quality product will be rewarded.

But it’s about even more. If Amato was fired, in part, because of the silliness that routinely emanated from his mouth, Fowler’s legacy should be remembered for some of his doozies as well.

When asked in March about his job security – and a “For Sale” sign in his front yard – he said, “They had me fired about seven times, too,” speaking of State fans, whom he has chastised publicly several times. “I put my house on the market because our house is 4,200 square feet and our kids are out of the house.”

He once referred to State fans on the internet as the “lunatic fringe,” and when Sendek guided State to the Sweet 16 in 2005, after a 7-9 ACC mark, Fowler said, “You know, I really haven’t heard much this week from a lot of the people that I’ve been hearing from recently.”

And who will ever forget Fowler’s phone call to a local radio station to engage in a discussion about the “hottest cougars” in show business?

Post-script: With Lee Fowler’s departure, new Chancellor Woodson and all of the buzz of conference expansion the summer of 2010 is anything but a typical ‘slow summer’. So, we hope that you are taking the opportunity to follow and discuss everything in more real-time by being an active member of our growing message board community. Please click here and look around some. We really want to continue growing the participation here as we head into football season.

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11 Responses to Required Reading: ACCSJ’s Post-Fowler Insight

  1. WolftownVA81 06/14/2010 at 12:15 PM #

    Thanks for the link. This was a well thoughtout and written piece. Very refreshing indeed.

  2. Cosmo96 06/14/2010 at 12:22 PM #

    Just remember that none of this is Lee’s fault. He was working under “impossible conditions”.

  3. Daily Update 06/14/2010 at 12:52 PM #

    I was very impressed with this article when I first read it. Thanks to the ACCSJ for sharing it with the public. Whoever wrote that article nailed the Fowler issue perfectly.

  4. tann84 06/14/2010 at 1:31 PM #

    “Some sources very close to the situation then and now maintain that State would have lured away Texas coach Rick Barnes if only Fowler had flown to Austin and personally made him an offer. For whatever reason, he didn’t do it.”

    I am a huge Lowe supporter, but I crap my pants to think what Rick Barnes could do here. Fowler didn’t even fly to Austin to personally an offer? I thought that was SOP, good riddance to the bum. Rick is still on the top if the list for me if we do fire Lowe after this season.

  5. choppack1 06/14/2010 at 2:21 PM #

    Nice to know someone buying ink gets this.

    It’s really a stunning contrast to how Fowler was portrayed in the NO.

  6. Plz2BStateFan 06/14/2010 at 4:05 PM #

    It is always disturbing to see people who are big fowler supporters. It is also disturbing how people still show suprise at this stuff.

    I dislike that paper…….. Except for j Bilous 🙂

  7. goforit 06/14/2010 at 7:38 PM #

    Maybe it is just me, but everything in that article has been stated here and in other sites. A “cut and paste” article at best.

    And I am no defender of Fowler and the N&O.

    Maybe the significance here is that an entity other than State fans who post on the various sites (aka “the lunatic fringe”) is now willing to put it in print.

  8. PoppaJohn 06/14/2010 at 8:07 PM #

    Nicely written, thanks for the link. I would have missed it otherwise.

  9. packplantpath 06/14/2010 at 10:03 PM #

    I wonder how much of the impetus to write the article is the fact that, with Fowler (almost) gone, he no longer has the power to blacklist the ACCSJ with the pack media office? Is this even a likely possibility?

  10. wufpup76 06/15/2010 at 3:29 AM #

    ^Echo the statements above … I wouldn’t have seen this without the link and the commentary. Glad someone wrote an unbiased article (and it really is unbiased because it strives to give him credit for almost anything good … of which there isn’t much).

    Is writing something objective without the taint of a personal relationship conflict really so hard?

    Thanks for the link.

  11. NCMike 06/15/2010 at 3:47 PM #

    Congratulations Lee Fowler, the southeastern Athletic Director of the year.

    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/ncsu/story/7788889/

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