10:00 PM UPDATE
WRAL is now confirming that Debbie Yow will become NC State’s next AD.
ORIGINAL POST
About four hours ago we hit our message forums and Twitter account guiding you that something was breaking in the search for NC State’s Athletics Director.
Around 8:25 pm this evening, the N&O’s Joe Giglio posted a blog entry titled, N.C. State AD search closes in on Maryland’s Yow
Maryland’s Debbie Yow has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Lee Fowler as N.C. State’s athletic director.
The Terrapins have won 17 national titles in Yow’s 16-year tenure at the ACC school, including one in men’s basketball (2002) and women’s basketball (2006).
Yow confirmed Thursday night that she has been contacted by N.C. State.
“N.C. State has expressed interest in me, yes, but at this time that’s all I can say,” Yow said. “It’s flattering that they have interest.”
Yow’s late sister, Kay, was the legendary women’s basketball coach at N.C. State.
Also this evening, “InsideMDSports.com” has taken the news a few steps further reporting that Yow is expected to take the NC State AD Job.
University of Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow will be introduced shortly as the new A.D. at North Carolina State, multiple sources have told InsideMDSports.com.
N.C. State could officially announce the hire Friday. A source close to the Maryland athletic department said Yow told her staff she will be in North Carolina Friday for unspecified reasons, and a news conference at N.C. State could take place as soon as Friday afternoon.
Speaking to Terrapin Club members at Thursday night’s previously scheduled meeting, Yow did not confirm that she will take the N.C. State position, but a source said was emotional in her address.
Current N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler, who announced his resignation on May 4, will leave his post on June 30.
Yow interviewed at N.C. State two weeks ago, according to a source, but she denied doing so to The Baltimore Sun in a June 14 article.
“I have not interviewed with the N.C. State Search committee and, in the past, have likewise declined to be interviewed by other universities who have shown interest in me,†she told The Sun.
Yow, who took over the post in 1994, is in her 16th year at Maryland. Her tenure has been defined by widespread expansion and success of the athletic department and an emphasis on reducing past debt and maintaining a balanced budget.
But a recent high-profile spat with basketball coach Gary Williams and a failed attempt to buy out football coach Ralph Friedgen exacerbated tension between her, the school’s most powerful coaches and the Maryland fan base.
In her time at Maryland, the athletic department expanded to include 27 teams and became one of most successful in the ACC and the country, winning 20 national championships in six different sports since 1995.
Yow oversaw the building of the Comcast Center, which opened in 2002, and the expansion of Byrd Stadium’s Tyser Tower to include 64 suites, which was completed last year. Numerous other athletic facilities upgrades have been completed under her watch.
Her efforts in building up Maryland’s athletic department were overshadowed in recent years by often public riffs between the basketball program and the athletic department.
The tension came to a head in January of 2009, when a back-and-forth between Williams and associate athletic director Kathy Worthington spurned a media firestorm. Additionally, high-ranking boosters told InsideMDSports.com then that Yow contacted them in an effort to raise funds for a buyout of Williams. Yow denied the report.
Yow’s current contract at Maryland, last amended Jan, 17, 2007, expires Aug. 31, 2013.
Early indication, according to a source, is that Connecticut athletic director Jeff Hathaway, who graduated from Maryland in 1981 and received a Master’s from the school in 1991, would be a prime target. It is too early, however, to determine Maryland’s course of action, as it has yet to name a replacement for outgoing school president Dan Mote, who retires effective Aug. 31.
