“Next Year” – Fowler’s 9th – shaping up to be sadly similar to past

AD & Department General Non-Revenue46

If you visit regularly visit SFN then you know how to search our archives to find any of our many articles on the current position of NC State’s poorly performing Athletics Department. But, if you need some quick help you can click here for just a sampling of some entries that might be of interest to you.

In that^ spirit – and as Lee Fowler enters his NINTH year of ‘leading’ NC State’s Athletics Department – the projected performance of the programs on which he has put his stamp for almost a decade seems to resemble the underwhelming performance of recent years.

WHEN will it get better? WHEN are you, as NC State supporters, allowed to ask such questions and deserve a legitimate response?

We all know the current situation of the major sports – the Wolfpack’s football program is projected last in the Atlantic Division (again) while the basketball program is projected to finish in the bottom three of the league after finishing last season in the basement of the standings.

But, did you know that NC State’s Men’s Soccer team – after compiling a 1-6-1 ACC record last year – has been chosen LAST (again) in the conference for the 2008 season? (Link)

I don’t know what is more perplexing – the lifetime contract that coach George Tarantini obviously has or the fact that GoPack.com’s preview of this year’s soccer team is titled, “Men’s Soccer Looks Forward to Memorable Season” and doesn’t reference the ACC’s preseason projections or last year’s results. Integrity and the pursuit of factual information at its best!

The 2008 season also has the possibilities of being an exciting one on the new pitch. After a two-year hiatus from the NCAA Tournament, the Wolfpack will return a strong core of offensive fire power this season, in addition to its starting goalkeeper and three defensive starters all back from last year’s squad. In his 23rd season, head coach George Tarantini will have a lot of new faces for this year’s squad, including a talented group transfers looking to step on the field from day one.

(We’d like to take this moment to thank GoPack.com for creating such a vibrant and great market for US and helping us create so much traffic and success)

The good news is that the soccer team is moving into their ALL IMPORTANT new facility (or ‘fuh-cility’ if you work at NC State)! Of course, I don’t understand how we haven’t been able to recently recruit better players to avoid being chosen last with the promise of this great new facility on the horizon; but, since Lee Fowler has told us that all we need is new facilities then of course we can all finally expect some success. Scratch that. We admittedly don’t aim for success at NC State; just ‘improvement’. Somebody will get back to you on the definition of improvement one day. Maybe.

How convenient that Fowler has been able to deflect accountability for the programs under his watch based on an excuse of ‘facilities’ for almost a decade? How sad is it that the (insert adjective here) who run NC State have allowed him to get away with it for so long?

Could you imagine telling you boss FOR TEN YEARS that your office, your computer and your car weren’t good enough for you to be expected to produce results? Perhaps you should take your bosses and co-workers out to dinner after some golf up at your lake house to insure your job security. It seems to work great at NC State.

In other sports, the Wolfpack’s women’s volleyball team has been chosen LAST in the ACC media’s preseason poll once again.

GoPack.com has also chosen to not report this. Amazing. I wonder if GoPack decides not to report our losses if we can lay claim to some National Championships? At least the folks at GoPack fit the NC State mindset perfectly – they all believe that if you just don’t talk about something then it must not be true or actually exist in reality.

Coming off a 3-29 season, who knows how “Coach Fowler” will find a way to point to “progress” – another one of his 100% subjective criterias that the NC State Administration allows him to self-define for his own job performance. Perhaps we just need to build a new facility for volleyball? I mean, playing in Reynolds Coliseum must be one of the worst facilities in the entire league. I bet every other school in league has a multi-million dollar palace dedicated soley to the women’s volleyball team. How can NC State be expected to compete while providing all the women’s programs their own 12,400 seat on-campus facility?

I don’t know about you guys…but, I can’t wait until the next, next year. I am sure that everything will just be fantastic in 2010 after Lee Fowler has had a full decade of ‘leading’ NC State Athletics. (Don’t you know that you can’ judge an AD by his first decade?)

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AD & Department General Non-Revenue

46 Responses to “Next Year” – Fowler’s 9th – shaping up to be sadly similar to past

  1. choppack1 08/14/2008 at 10:05 AM #

    Facilities do make a difference. They can help make a good program/coach great, they can make a mediocre coach look bad. However, it doesn’t make an apple an orange. If you stink w/ bad facilities, you’ll probably be just OK w/ a good one at best.

    And isn’t it funny how the mantra keeps on changing? All we care about is football and basketball – and those doing OK, so Lee is doing OK. Those are struggling, but look at all the facilities we are building for our non-revenue sports – some day they’ll be as good as football and basketball! Now, while our non-revenues struggle, we’re told – all that really matters is football and basketball – and we’ve got great coaches in those – stop being so negative!

  2. McPete 08/14/2008 at 10:21 AM #

    Speaking of lee fowler, he’s about to give an interview on 99.9 the fan for their acc football preview. dick baddour was just on – that guy annoys me as much as a politician. most ad’s are probably like that.

  3. StateFans 08/14/2008 at 10:21 AM #

    ^ I think they need to start telling the ACC media to stop being so ‘negative’. They are the ones who keep picking us last in everything and reporting all the ‘bad’ news of our win/loss record.

  4. WV Wolf 08/14/2008 at 10:23 AM #

    Also keep in mind that the facility where the volleyball team has been god-awful is the exact same facility where the wrestling and gymnastics teams have won conference championships.

  5. old13 08/14/2008 at 10:36 AM #

    Same ol’, same ol’!

  6. sockerne1 08/14/2008 at 10:50 AM #

    Straight from the mouth of Fowler during a meeting with the soccer team, “Even Dean Smith had a couple bad years. George Tarantini can stay as long as he wants.” The meeting was to address a petition the whole soccer team submitted trying to get Tarantini replaced. I think this was in ’01. I believe that during this same meeting, he mentioned that we should be on our new field in ’03, and things should get better. In my opinion, the removal of Tarantini would add at least two “extra” ACC wins in just the first year.

    SFN: Don’t forget that this is the same Einstein who validated the 3 or 4 moron Duke fans who don’t like Coach K as kind of irrelevant comparison to his support of Herb Sendek. (Link)

  7. UpstateSCWolfpack 08/14/2008 at 10:54 AM #

    Oh man, this makes my head hurt.

    To paraphrase Jack Nicholson as the Joker, “This school needs an enima.”

  8. choppack1 08/14/2008 at 11:12 AM #

    Here’s two more classic arguments:
    *”Aside from the Men and women’s soccer coach – and maybe the volleyball coach – who would you fire?”
    Well, I’d definitely fire them since their job appears to be safe under the watchful eye of “Lee”. Doesn’t say something that we have 3 coaches right off the bat that almost every wolfpacker – even those who are Lee Fowler apologists – agree should go – but they don’t???

    *”Aside from Wellman at Wake, who is that good? An AD doesn’t make that big of a difference.”

    Then why keep Lee if the AD doesn’t make a big difference. I really can’t imagine our AD doing worse in terms of wins and losses. Sure, you could find someone who was corrupt, unethical or can’t manage $$ – but this is like keeping an employee who doesn’t steal from the company and shows up to work every day – that’s the bare minimum of what you have to do to avoid being fired on the spot – not keep your job for 5+ years.

  9. StateFans 08/14/2008 at 11:18 AM #

    If an AD doesn’t make any difference then we shouldn’t have one.

  10. wufpup76 08/14/2008 at 11:21 AM #

    SSDY

    same **** different YEAR

    the tides of change just don’t seem to apply at my ncsu

  11. vtpackfan 08/14/2008 at 11:29 AM #

    We may have to wait until Spring sports to see any thing resembling success.

    Baseball: Great shape

    Softball & Tennis: Will hopefully bounce back to ’07 form

    Golf: Seems to be gaining ground. Brand new Golf Course

    T & F & Swimming: Old tried and true programs just can’t get it going

    The Fall and Winter sports should be a depressing waste as usual.
    X-C is nice to read about but not follow. Wrestling, especially w/ Caldwell is about where X-C.

    W/O a miracle along the way it once again rests on the shoulders of Kay Yow to attempt to compete with the ACC from top to bottom, though losing Whittington is going to hurt. Her and Costner should have switched places last year.

  12. Wolf-n-Atl 08/14/2008 at 11:52 AM #

    Swimming’s facilities are a big hindrance and they have tried different coaches. The pool is archaic and the first few lanes are useless. Despite that, we have had some good pub with Cullen Jones and Dan Velez. Hopefully that will push some good recruits to choose us.

    The other sports cited are deplorable. How the soccer coach hangs on is beside me.

  13. Rick 08/14/2008 at 11:55 AM #

    “If an AD doesn’t make any difference then we shouldn’t have one.”

    I would take an AD that did not make any difference. It would be an improvement from what we have.

  14. BJD95 08/14/2008 at 11:58 AM #

    If we aren’t going to make any effort to really compete, then we should get rid of the sport – or if needed for Title IX, then strip all of the scholarships. Either way, the scholarships and funds should be redirected to non-revenue sports that show some semblance of a clue (such as softball).

  15. Rick 08/14/2008 at 12:08 PM #

    How can anyone argue that leadership does not matter?
    How come WFU has success but we do not?

    Fowler has almost completed his chore of running NCSU athletics completely into the ground.

  16. thekind 08/14/2008 at 12:31 PM #

    The bottom line, if we can all agree is that State athletics basically SUCK!
    I hate to say it about my own school, but under Fowlers guidance or lack therof, we have turned into a joke.

    And what does Fowler tell us at the Wolfpack Club function at Atlantic Beach…..
    that he is spending the night smoozing BOT Bob Mattocks.

    Fowler is a politicer, not an AD.

  17. packalum44 08/14/2008 at 12:31 PM #

    Serious Question…

    Can we start a petition on this website to have Lee Fowler removed??? I will write it up. I am sick of his sh*t…he comes off as a total redneck and has no charisma….he seems better suited to run a public golf course in eastern NC than be an AD

  18. thekind 08/14/2008 at 12:32 PM #

    What do you mean?

  19. thekind 08/14/2008 at 12:35 PM #

    I am sorry if I offended anyone. No disrespect intended. And even though we do stink, I still do love the group of squirrels.

  20. LRM 08/14/2008 at 12:38 PM #

    “Could you imagine telling you boss FOR TEN YEARS that your office, your computer and your car weren’t good enough for you to be expected to produce results?”

    That’s reality for most of us and we’re expected to perform regardless.

  21. choppack1 08/14/2008 at 12:56 PM #

    Rick – I sometimes think that Lee Fowler’s and Oblinger’s primary goal is to make NC State a great place to work.

    I actually think that’s a laudable goal – and making an employee enjoy his job should be one of each manager’s goals.

    Unfortunately, like anything else, it’s a balancing act. If your employees are getting their way, chances are, customers aren’t. And here’s the problem, by making NC State a really super place to work – you know, the kind of place you never want to leave – bad employees don’t want to leave.

    This creates customer dissatification. Customers voice their concerns about their dissatisfaction – often to the same employees. Guess what – suddenly, all employees enjoy their job less.

    I really think that NC State athletics is teetering on a delicate edge right now. A few good b’ball and/or football seasons can get us off the edge, but w/out it – I think you’ll see Alumni giving take a huge hit in the upcoming years.

  22. packalum44 08/14/2008 at 1:07 PM #

    too bad we don’t have a t. boone pickens to run our athletics. if only goodnight were more of a sports fan.

  23. ruffles31 08/14/2008 at 1:26 PM #

    As WV Wolf statistically and graphically showed us earlier this summer, the Fowler era can be summed up in one phrase:

    “NC State: Where mediocrity reigns.”

    Fowler’s goals, as told by his superiors, here while AD appear to be this:

    1. Make money. Keep the athletic department in the black.
    2. Make sure no programs get put on probation (well, the wrestling team is on academic probation you can guess with the APR report)
    3. Winning is optional.

  24. JeremyH 08/14/2008 at 2:21 PM #

    can we get Mark Cuban?

  25. sfpack 08/14/2008 at 2:26 PM #

    while i’m as ready to see fowler go as anyone, there is no reason to blame the folks that provide the content on gopack.com. it is not their job to point out the glaring problems within the department or of the individual teams, the n&o seems to have that covered. i’m sure some of those folks aren’t happy covering unsuccessful teams or working for fowler, but they do work for fowler, and when it comes down to it, they have bills to pay. i like what this website does, but put the blame in the appropriate place, please.

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