The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1113082
36 ■ THE WOLFPACKER you didn't end up there. You belong here. This is your program. You're having a great recruiting year. Reynolds is renovated, and it's just going to be awesome.' "Next year I think you are going to see a really special women's basketball team." Do you feel the formation of the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame will be part of your legacy? "I hope they feel that way about it. I remember the first one was just stunning. It was all wrapped around changing the culture, remembering who we are and cel- ebrating even the smallest victories. "Whether it's going to a Sweet 16, which everybody wants to celebrate, or beating Arizona State in a bowl or finally beating Duke in men's tennis, you need to celebrate it. The success just builds on itself and cre- ates a different environment, ultimately. "The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is one of my all-time favorite events." What is retirement going to be like for you? "I think that one of the things that has helped me is the number of jobs that I've had over my lifetime and the number of times that I've had to start over. This is another start over. "I do have an offer from a couple of enti- ties at NC State to teach if I want to. I'm not going to do that right away. Teresa Sullivan, who retired last year as president of UVA, told me don't overcommit early because you never know what's going to come your way and what opportunities you're going to have. If you've already committed, then you're not going to be able to accept some- thing that you might like better. "I'm trying to take that advice. It might be teaching, or it might be guest speaking where I don't have to deal with the grades. It might be consulting. I am familiar with all the search firms. For so long I was the only stable Power Five female AD, so I got to know them well. "I just wanted to stay at Maryland and do a good job, and then my president was retiring and NC State had hired Chancellor [Randy] Woodson. It was a perfect time for me to come home and help the Pack. "I don't know what retirement will be like. I've never retired before, so I'm not sure. It's day-to-day. My main concern is things being in good shape for Boo. He will need to understand some things about where we are, and I am so glad that Mi- chael [Lipitz] and Chris [Boyer], Fred [De- marest] and others will be here so when he has questions they'll have answers. Why do we do such and such, and why haven't we done such and such? They understand how we got where we are." What are you not going to miss about being an athletics director? "The losses for me are agonizing. I'm sure it's not healthy. It'll be different, I think. "I feel such an overwhelming responsi- bility to fix things. If we drop a game we shouldn't have lost, I want to deal with it, to talk about it, to try to figure out how to fix it. "The fact is that sometimes as an AD the best thing you can do is take your hands off and let your coaches handle it. That's what they are hired to do. They know when they drop a game they're not supposed to drop. They understand that. "One of the wonderful things that hap- pened this year was when wrestling lost to Pitt, which should have never happened based on rankings. We had an athlete come forward and tell the team why they shouldn't have lost and what they had to do get back on track. I was stunned at the level of maturity and leadership that this young man already has. That floats my boat. Even in a loss, if you can find a hidden gem like that — what some people call a silver lin- ing — I think that matters. "Will the losses still bother me? Of course they are still going to matter, but I am not going to feel the responsibility to go try and figure it out because that's not my job. "People say to me, 'Why weren't you at Boo's press conference?' Because it was Boo's press conference. He needs space. That's his day. It's not my day. I'll try to remember that, too, as we go through this process. I'll be available to answer any questions he has, but he's going to be the AD effective April 30. Boo will run with it and do the best he can for us." ■ In March 2019, Yow was one of four from the Football Bowl Subdivision to be named an Under Armour AD of the Year. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN