The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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32 ■ THE WOLFPACKER we wanted to. Our fans are terrific about this. They give generously to the Wolfpack Club to be sure that both from a scholarship perspective and a facilities perspective our student-athletes are taken care of. "Of the 12 areas of autonomy that are being discussed, 10 of them will fall in the jurisdiction of the athletics program and not the Wolfpack Club. We will have to pay for changes in any of those areas. As an example: awards. "People might not be aware that at the end of your freshmen year, your sophomore year, your junior year and your senior year, athletic programs across the country give you an award. Let's just say traditionally at the end of your freshman year that might be a letter winner's jacket. "Now once the parameters are off, unless the five power conferences set limits, you would be able to as a campus, as an athletic department, to give anything you wanted for the first year award. You could give a Rolex watch at the end. I tend to think we're going to put parameters on this ourselves. They just might be more flexible than what they are today. "In 10 of the 12 areas being discussed, whatever the financial implications are, the athletics program will have to make up the difference." The ACC Basketball Tournament has made some changes by moving the title game from Sunday to Saturday night and scheduling two tournaments in New York. What are your thoughts as a longtime ACC fan and administrator? "I think Saturday night makes sense just because it's going to give us a great viewing audience. It also means we finish our busi- ness before Selection Sunday. I like the way that feels for all of our ACC teams. The se- lection committee will know Saturday night where we all stand. I think that's helpful. "We've ventured outside the state of North Carolina before. This is not new. Even in the '80s we would go up to the Maryland area as an example. We are doing the same thing. The home base is still going to be North Carolina. It's going to be Greensboro and Charlotte. It just so happens we have this I think a quirk in the schedule in where we go to D.C. and then from D.C. two years to New York. "You will probably never see a three-year absence from the state of North Carolina again." Speaking of Selection Sunday, what was that like for you as an athletics director this year? "I was trying to prepare for the worst-case scenario. I was with the team and Coach [Mark] Gottfried as we waited. Two regions had already been selected, and there were two left. I was thinking we had two chances left. We knew we would be a 12 seed if we were in, so we were looking at the five ver- sus 12 match. He said to me about that time, 'If we don't go in this next bracket we won't be selected.' "I said, 'There are two left.' He said, 'Yeah, but one of them is in the Raleigh region, and we know they can't put us in the Raleigh region.' About that time five versus somebody came up. I realized right before they said our name, if we're not here we're not going. "There is great video somebody put up on YouTube. We are in the back of the room. That was taken from the front of the room, and that's just as well because there were a lot of adults going crazy in the back as well. It was very exciting. "I was so happy for the players because they had come on so strong and had such tough luck in several games. Just watching T.J.'s face was enough for me. I was just happy watching them. "That win against Syracuse in the ACC Tournament — wow what a tough, tough game. Miami had just beaten us here, and we had them first. We didn't know if we were even going to get to Syracuse or if it all was going to be over with Miami. "There have only be 6.5 percent of men's basketball teams to get there the last three years and we're one of the six percent. That says it all, that's how hard it is to do." There has been talk about an early sign- ing period in football, and the ACC is push- ing for it Could this happen? "I think it won't likely won't get resolved until we get the restructuring resolved, but I understand why we want it in early Au- gust. There are players that have made their minds up where they want to go. It saves a lot of time and expense for everyone. Just let them go where they choose to go." Louisville is about to enter the ACC. What are your thoughts on the Cardinals? "It's a strong, strong athletic program that brings in over $100 million a year. We've looked at that number, and we are trying to decide how they do that. They are going to be a force to contend with, and they are within our division. We'll see a lot of them. "Jeff Walz, the head coach at women's basketball, worked for me in my previous life before I came home to NC State, and I know how talented he is." Anything else that stands out to you about this year at NC State? "I want to say something specifically about Wes Moore and the extraordinary job he did this year with our women's basket- ball team. He was ACC Coach of the Year in year one, finished in the top 25 and was one of four finalists for National Coach of the Year. "If we had not had season-ending injuries to two of our top six players in February, we could have done something special in the tournament but we had very little depth so we were living on the edge as it was. I see great things ahead for this program under his leadership." What are your goals, athletically and academically, for the athletic department? "They need to be clear, and I think we are clear competitively and academically. We have a very challenging goal — be in the top 25 in the final Directors' Cup standings. "Academically we want to be in the top half of the ACC public schools in gradua- tion rates and APR, and we are not there yet. One of the dynamics we face is as a STEM school, a science, technology, engineering and math school, it's a bit more challenging for us, for Georgia Tech, for Virginia Tech. "If you are a liberal arts campus, there is a considerable degree of flexibility in terms of the nature of classes. I personally believe that makes it a little easier to get higher marks in both the APR and in graduation rates, but that's the standard we set, and we're going to stick to that. "For competitive excellence and academic achievement, we have set benchmarks that are clearly objectively measurable. That's what I wanted from day one. "To add to those competitive and aca- demic benchmarks are expectations for community service and citizenship. That pretty much covers about everything you could expect of any student-athlete." ■ Yow made special mention of the performance of first-year women's basketball head coach Wes Moore and the job he did in leading his team to a successful season. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS 26-28,30.32.Interview With Yow.indd 32 6/27/14 12:03 PM