The most recent NACDA Directors Cup rankings of College Athletics Programs were released today. (You may recognize the “Directors Cup” from its former identity of “Sears Cup”).
The June 2, 2005 rankings have Lee Fowler’s NC State Athletics Department holding firm at an embarrassing, but not surprising #50. Fowler’s program has averaged finishing #46.5 in his previous four years in Raleigh, and has never finished better than #41.
2004-05 – #50
2003-04 – #41
2002-03 – #43
2001-02 – #46
2000-01 – #56
NC State’s #50 ranking equates to 10th place in the 12 team Atlantic Coast Conference, ahead of only #51 Georgia Tech and #63 Clemson – both of whom field a lesser number of varsity sports than does NC State. The ACC currently shakes out as follows:
(4) Duke
(5) UNC-Chapel Hill
(20) Virginia
(25) Maryland
(36) Wake Forest
(41) Boston College
(43) Florida State
(45) Miami
(49) Virginia Tech
(50) NC State
(51) Georgia Tech
(63) Clemson
Schools currently ahead of State (that will make your stomach turn) with significantly less resources, national prominence, and support include names like Baylor, New Mexico, and Southern Methodist University.
Return on Investment?
It was recently announced on the Summer Caravan that NC State’s Wolfpack Club ranked #6 amongst athletic booster clubs in the entire country. (I *think* that the ranking was based on number of members and not dollars raised, and would welcome any outside clarification on this in the comments section below).
I am currently waiting for someone to tell me some about how we fans need to step up more to support our programs before we can start to expect some kind of tangible success? Or how our newly renovated Football, Basketball, Baseball, Tennis and other facilities just don’t compare to what Baylor, Wake Forest, New Mexico and all the other schools have. (And, before you try to float that idea, perhaps you should leave the state of North Carolina to share your perspective of the facilities and support at schools outside of the Triangle).
Doesn’t NC State have some “Athletics Council” comprised of various members of NC State constituencies supposedly serving as a Board of Directors? I am just curious…what the hell do these people do? And, what can us “stockholders” of the program do to influence the composition of this Council? Or…is being a part of the Council like everything else at NC State — an appointment for life with no accountability attached to it?
Our “Athletics” programs (it may be crazy for me to think that the “Athletics Council” would be focused on “Athletics” at NC State) are consistently amongst the worst in the ACC, while simultaneously the “APR” (new NCAA academic grading standards for programs) of our basketball program was one of the worst in the ACC and below NCAA minimums. Maybe more embarrassingly, the Athletics Department couldn’t even calculate the correct APR for the football program and took a useless and inaccurate public relations beating by initially reporting failure for the Football APR when, in fact, the program bested NCAA minimums!!!! Great work, everyone!
I’m just curious…is there a college athletics program in the country over the last 10 years that has enjoyed more broad and rabid fan support and delivered such comparably unsuccessful results on the field of athletic battle than NC State?
I guess I initially think of the University of South Carolina as a candidate…but (a) I am not versed on the breadth and depth of their overall fan support (just that they attend their football games) and (b) their baseball team has been a prominent national power since Todd Turner allowed Ray Tanner to get away from NC State. (One for the NC State Athletics Management Decisions Hall of Fame).
Any thoughts on a Top 10 Booster Club that has experienced such a Championship & Success drought in the last 10 years? I’d love to hear them…
