Thought I’d pass along the latest from the not-at-all satirical Bulletin Service wires:
A Passing Fancy: Pack Statements of Support Pass Each Other En Route to Media
RALEIGH (BS wire) — N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler, wanting to quiet another round of growing murmurs against Wolfpack basketball coach Herb Sendek, issued a statement of unconditional support for the coach Thursday.
The very same day, Coach Sendek, wanting to show a sign of support for the embattled athletic director, issued a statement of unconditional support for Fowler.
Both statements were made apparently without the knowledge of the other. The two men spoke highly of one another in their statements, released to the press mere minutes apart.
“Coach Sendek has done an excellent job as head coach at N.C. State, and he will be our coach next year and in the foreseeable future,” Fowler said. “Everyone needs to quit daydreaming.”
“AD Fowler has performed ably in leading North Carolina State athletics,” Sendek said. “His unselfish leadership, his repeated turning down of SEC school AD offers before they even get to the second interview process, and his hands-off, eyes-off management style have really helped N.C. State athletics to become what it is today.”
Both men laughed off the strange coincidence of passing statements of support. When Sendek heard about it, he said, “Obviously, this confluence of events evidences that we in North Carolina State athletics share one brainwave when it comes to our mutual importance to the program and to each other.”
When Fowler found out, he said, “Really? Wow.”
A call was placed to Wolfpack football coach Chuck Amato’s office to get his comments on the coincidence, but Amato was out recruiting and unable to respond in time for publication.
Fowler highlighted the need for consistency and a view of next year in his statement supporting Sendek. “I want to stop all the speculation and behind-the-scenes stuff about Coach Sendek again this year,” Fowler said. “More than wins, what this program needs right now is the consistency that the assurance of who will be coaching next year will bring.”
Fowler said people ought to consider the scholarships that are left for the coming year. “If you don’t understand why next year is so important,” Fowler said, “well, you just wait.”
Sendek has weathered yet another barrage of criticism from Wolfpack fans after his team neared a top 10 ranking before dropping five out of their last six games, most of them to unranked opponents, and most while having double-digit leads.
“Don’t forget; Coach Sendek was the first coach in the Triangle to win a Coach of the Year award since 2001, and that includes Coach K,” Fowler wrote. “That’s impressive.”
Sendek won the ACC Coach of the Year award in 2004. In 2001, then-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coach Matt Doherty won National Coach of the Year honors.
Sendek, meanwhile, spoke of the importance of his boss to N.C. State. “AD Fowler is an integral part of the Wolfpack athletics structure,” Sendek said. “I hope certain members of the Wolfpack family can grow to understand the role that AD Fowler plays in the system of North Carolina State athletics.”
Fowler has become a target of criticism recently over the lack of performance of many N.C. State squads, revenue and nonrevenue sports alike. Wolfpack women’s volleyball, for example, hasn’t won a conference game in 48 straight matches. From 2001-04 N.C. State women’s soccer won only six conference games. Wolfpack women’s tennis has won only one conference game since 2001-02. Wolfpack men’s soccer hasn’t won a conference game in three seasons.
“It’s a tribute to Fowler’s character and personal, one-on-one style that he flies to SEC schools to personally turn down job offers,” Sendek said. “This is the same gracious, pleasant nature that he brings to N.C. State, when he’s here.”
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