Athletic Department Goals – Straight From The Horse’s Mouth

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Back in May of 2008 I posted an entry based on these two quotes from Lee Fowler:

“My goals have always been to be in the top three in the conference. If you’re in the top three you always have a chance to win the championship. That’s an obvious goal as well. Minimum goals, we don’t want to be in the bottom-half of anything.. the bottom-half in any sport.”

–Lee Fowler, PackPride.com, 5-22-08

and

“Our minimum should be middle of the conference, not last in the league”

–Lee Fowler, Technician, 8-31-07

This entry will be an update of the May 2008 entry linked above but will also look at some numbers in a little different way.

Based on those two quotes above, you can come away with at least four distinct goals for our athletic programs.
Goal #1 – ACC Championships
Goal #2 – Top 3 in the ACC
Goal #3 – Top half of the ACC
Goal #4 – Not last place in ACC

I think it is very important to note that these are not goals made by fans with unreasonable expectations or the “lunatic fringe” or “HateFans Nation”. These are goals straight from the mouth of the AD.

A couple of notes before we start looking at those four goals –

(a) I did not keep track of ties in the standings in my research. For example, NC State finished tied for 11th in Men’s Basketball in 2008. While technically we finished tied for last, my notes had us as 11th. Since 11th is not 12th, they did not get counted as a last place finish. This actually errs on the side of the athletic department, and as you will see as you read, they need all the help they can get.

(b) Also, these stats are only for the 21 sports in which NC State participates that are a part of Atlantic Coast Conference sanctioned events and therefore do not include gymnastics or rifle. The 2009-2010 baseball and softball seasons have not been completed so they are not included.

 

Goal #1 – Win ACC Championships
Let’s start with Goal #1, winning an ACC championship, the loftiest goal of the four. In the 10 years Fowler has been AD, NC State has fielded 205 different teams across the 21 sports and brought home 15 ACC titles.

Success Rate for Goal #1 – Win ACC Championships: 7.3%

The Athletics Department has experienced drastic drop after a near-peak of 14.3% in 2007. 2008-2010 has produced a lone ACC Title (this year) in men’s cross country after going two consecutive years without winning a single ACC Championship for the first time in the history of the Athletics Department.

Only four different programs (M Cross Country, W Cross Country, Softball & Wrestling) have won an ACC Championship during Lee Fowler’s tenure in Raleigh, meaning 19% of our programs have met Goal #1 at least once and 81% of our programs have failed over the last 10 years.

 

Goal #2 – Top 3 In the Atlantic Coast Conference
In the 10 years Fowler has been Athletics Director, NC State has fielded 205 different teams in 21 sports and finished in the top three of the conference standings 44 times.

Success Rate for Goal #2 – Top 3: 21.5%

Again, if you look at the success rate by year, after another near-peak in 2007 at 33.3% has been followed by dramatic drop. In the last two years, men’s cross country is the only sport to finish in the top three of the ACC.

13 programs that have finished in the top 3 at least once, meaning 61.9% of our programs have met Goal #2 at least once in a ten year period; while 8 different programs – 38.1% of the programs – have failed to finish in the top 3 of the ACC a single time in 80 different attempts.

 

Goal #3 – Top half of the ACC
This was stated by Fowler in both quotes above as the “bare minimum” goal. In the 10 years Fowler has been AD, NC State has fielded 205 different teams in 21 sports and finished in the top half of the confernce 75 times.

Success Rate for Goal #3 – Top Half: 36.6%

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you look at the success rate by year, after a peak success rate of 57.1% in 2006 there has been another drop-off over the last three years.

There are 16 programs that have finished in the top half at least once, meaning 76.2% of our programs have met Goal #3 at least once while five different programs have never finished in the top half of the ACC a single time in the last 10 years.

 

Goal #4 – Don’t finish last in the ACC
In the 10 years Fowler has been AD, NC State has fielded 205 different teams in 21 sports and has avoided sole possession of last place 177 times.

Success Rate for Goal #4 – Not Last: 86.3%

While not as drastic as the other 3 goals, when you look at the yearly success rates there is a drop-off over the last 3 years after peaks of 95.2% in both 2005 and 2006.

There are 10 programs that have never finished in dead last in the ACC, meaning 47.6% of our programs have met Goal #4 each year and every program has met Goal #4 at least once.

Success Rate For The Four Major Sports
What about the success rate for the four major sports (Football, M Basketball, W Basketball, Baseball)?

Success Rate for Goal #1 – ACC Title: 0%
Success Rate for Goal #2 – Top 3: 17.9%
Success Rate for Goal #3 – Top Half: 46.2%
Success Rate for Goal #4 – Not Last: 100%

Success Rate For Football & Men’s Basketball
Some fans only follow football and men’s basketball. Here are the success rates for those 2 sports.

Success Rate for Goal #1 – ACC Title: 0%
Success Rate for Goal #2 – Top 3: 10.0%
Success Rate for Goal #3 – Top Half: 40.0%
Success Rate for Goal #4 – Not Last: 100%

Conclusions and Comments
Let’s look at another quote from Fowler from the Feb 16, 2004 issue of The Wolfpacker:

“By the end of ‘05, we will have most of our programs in the types of facilities that coaches can be held accountable to. I don’t think that was the case when I first got here. I think we had teams competing against people with a lot more assets than we had.”

Wouldn’t logic dictate that after 2005, all our facilities should be in good shape and we should start to reap the benefits? Instead the success rates for all 4 goals are at or near their lowest points over the last 3 years. Things are not getting better or even maintaining the status quo, they are getting worse.

And again, I feel it is very important to remember, these are not goals that I came up with. They were not made by the “lunatic fringe” or posters on the “monkey boards” or “HateFans Nation”. These goals are straight from the AD who claims “I do love NC State” and “I’ve worked hard to make it the best it can be”.

Take another look at Goal #3 – Top Half, which was considered by Fowler to be the minimum goal. Over his tenure as AD this goal has only been met 36.6% of the time. I’m assuming as State grads, we have a few engineers, scientists, researchers, etc. reading this. If your overall success rate for your stated MINIMUM goal is 36.6%, you’ve only hit 50% twice in 10 years, the last 3 years have been your lowest since your first year and your 2 national profile projects are at 40%, are you working hard to make your project the best it can be? Do you get a contract extension? Do you get an award for excellence? Do you still keep your job?

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About WV Wolf

Graduated from NCSU in 1996 with a degree in statistics. Born and inbred in West "By God" Virginia and now live in Raleigh where I spend my time watching the Wolfpack, the Mountaineers and the Carolina Hurricanes as well as making bar graphs for SFN. I'm @wvncsu on the Twitter machine.

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41 Responses to Athletic Department Goals – Straight From The Horse’s Mouth

  1. waxhaw 05/03/2010 at 4:54 PM #

    What’s really ironic is the results and progress towards goals have gotten worse since the facilities were put in place.

  2. 61Packer 05/03/2010 at 4:56 PM #

    “State is a basketball school. the success of the basketball team drives the other sports.”

    Historically that’s correct, but not now. Yes, it’s been longer since we won an ACC football championship (1979) than an ACC basketball championship (1987), but since 1991, as sbas2 correctly points out, the administration has ruined basketball.

    The proof lies on those two seating boards in the Wolfpack Club office. Go in there and see which sport offers the best LTR seating availability, and the direction it’s been going in the past 3 or 4 years, and it’s clear, to me anyway, that football is now the money sport that’s driving NCSU. Those red pins stuck in those seats don’t lie.

    That could change in the next few seasons, but it’ll take more than a few NBA wannabe basketball freshmen to put basketball back where it should be at NCSU. There are a lot of other things that have got to happen. Don’t hold your breath.

  3. choppack1 05/03/2010 at 5:22 PM #

    In the classic case of nitpicking – I’m going to point out the one item in this long, informative and detail-oriented article by WV Wolf.

    He mentions “working hard for NC State”. IMHO, hard work doesn’t really matter when you reach this level. His work ethic is as irrelevant as Chuck’s sunglasses or red shoes. It doesn’t matter.

    What matters is the damning evidence that you’ve nicely assembled which basically demonstrates that he’s better at getting us into last place than he is winning titles.

    Nice work.

  4. highstick 05/03/2010 at 7:09 PM #

    Adventuroos comments are darned scary, but probably very appropriate. I hope that our new Chancellor does his research and slams the door on that possibility. Maybe it’s time he fights a big battle with the tenured demons! Wonder how many of them hold degrees from Carolina or worse(if there is a worse)?

  5. wolfmanmat 05/03/2010 at 7:23 PM #

    here’s the issue: Basketball AND football drive recruiting in all the smaller sports(sans baseball/soccer maybe). Basketball and football have been laughable. Basketball now appears on the rise. It will drive other sports.

  6. 61Packer 05/03/2010 at 7:24 PM #

    Basketball WILL drive other sports, but only when we become relevant again in the ACC.

  7. highstick 05/03/2010 at 9:58 PM #

    Not only the ACC, but nationwide! Relevant to me is on the top, not 3rd, and challenging for national titles. Now, I view that more of a possibility in basketball. We’ve got a long way to go in football guys!! A long way!! Just think of the math!

  8. howlie 05/03/2010 at 10:12 PM #

    1) That was no horse; &,
    2) I’m not sure that was a mouth.

  9. turfpack 05/03/2010 at 11:45 PM #

    Lee had goals? who knew? Shutup nothing to see here……
    YES- Lee’s not the only one who needs to be gone…I could think of a couple others – sometimes if you bail out the water the boat stops sinking!

  10. DC_wolf 05/04/2010 at 7:38 AM #

    Dude, WV Wolf – 2 great posts: this and the 1 on Fowler’s “coloring book” athletics yearbook. With the level of effort on these posts as well as some others I would venture to say this is 1 of the best alumni boards going.

    I truly dig the out-of-state love. So the question is: are you a born-and-bred Mountaineer who went to NCSU, or are you a native North Carolininan now living in West Virginia?

  11. Alpha Wolf 05/04/2010 at 7:53 AM #

    This is just shy of scholarly research. Put it in MLA format with a citations page, and it would be.

  12. Rick 05/04/2010 at 8:42 AM #

    This is damning stuff.
    Nothing like using your own words to hang you.

    Only NCSU would keep such incompetence around for so long.

    LF was obviously doing what he was asked to do. And what he was asked to do had nothing to do with winning.

  13. Sam92 05/04/2010 at 9:37 AM #

    great work – what amazes me is that anyone needs to be told this again

  14. WV Wolf 05/04/2010 at 9:40 AM #

    Thanks guys, I appreciate the compliments. I think I’ve reached my limit on making bar graphs showing that State sucks but I wanted to update this one because it did come straight from Fowler.

    DC_Wolf – to answer your question, I was born and raised in southern West Virginia. I always liked messing around with sports stats (as you might have guessed) and got my degree in statistics from NCSU. I live in Raleigh now and love it here but those mountains will always be home and I still follow Mountaineer football and basketball.

  15. durhamwolf19 05/04/2010 at 11:47 AM #

    WC- Where in southern WV? I think the New River Gorge area near Fayetteville is one of the greatest places on earth. Have rafted the Gauley 8-10 times. A whole lot of fun.

  16. WV Wolf 05/04/2010 at 12:04 PM #

    durhamwolf19 – I’m from Beckley so I’m not far from the New River Gorge, my dad grew up fishing in the New River

    And I guess we know the answer to the “do you still keep your job” question now…

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