The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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18 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK BY MATT CARTER T he Wolfpacker staff has enjoyed get- ting to know various guests on their podcast nearly every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. inside of Amedeo's Italian Res- taurant in Raleigh. The show is always available to listen to on TheWolfpacker. com, iTunes and most everywhere else podcasts can be downloaded. Here are some excerpts from when former NC State director of athletics Debbie Yow appeared on the podcast Sept. 4 to talk about her tenure with the Wolfpack: How has retirement been for you and what is keeping you busy? "Retirement is fascinating in differ- ent ways. One of the things I'm trying to balance is commitments. I've spoken at Harvard Law School and Ohio State … Orlando and a few other places. A number of times to people who would like to become athletic directors. I have a couple of business ventures people are talking to me about, but I haven't been able to make a choice yet. It's so very different. I've been following the Pack of course. "It's very different and I've learned there is a big world out there. For the last nine years, it has been beating a path between my house in Cary to Weisiger-Brown and back, over and over and over again. We had a lot that we were focused on trying to achieve." What was it like to watch an NC State football game as a retired person? "Very different as a fan now. New parking space and place to watch the game. New seats but a lot of fun. People were very kind. I saw a lot of friends I normally wouldn't have time to talk with. I'd normally have been in the Murphy Center and talking to parents [of recruits] prior to the game. I enjoyed being around the other fans." What is a start to finish approach to hiring a new coach? "ADs are different with how they manage searches. I can only speak from my own prior experience. In the mod- ern age, in the last 20 years, if it is a revenue sport, I always wanted a search firm involved. I think the caveat to that is that if you knew exactly whom you wanted and where they were and that they were pretty much inclined to ac- cept the position. If we don't have that set up, then [the search firm] do some of the background work and find out infor- mation that you can't get as an AD. "At least for us, there has always been a type of search committee, that pulled together the faculty athletics representa- tive, so the faculty had a part in this, along with the senior staff members. "We always talk to the team. Teams, at least when I was AD, didn't interview the candidates because you didn't want to create an issue for those that you didn't end up hiring. They would talk about the attributes they wanted to see in their new coach. "In this day and age in social media, it's very, very challenging to hire qui- etly." What was the stress factor when you watched current NC State foot- ball coach Dave Doeren coach North- ern Illinois in the MAC title game, and then tried to hire him after it was over? "In Dave's case, I just asked that we be first. That's the only thing I asked for. Just tell me the moment you are available, and I'll be there. The only thing I asked is that I'm first, and no other AD has a chance to be there first. "We did have a moment with Univer- sity of California during that particular search where the agent called and said, 'Cal wants to go in first.' I said, 'No, you told me I could go in first. For you to change at this point would be you re- neging on what you said to me.' "We did get in first, and there was no second. When I came home that night [on the plane], they came with me, the whole family." What was it like watching current NC State men's basketball coach Kevin Keatts in the NCAA Tournament with UNC-Wilmington, were you hoping it wasn't a long tourney run? "I wasn't going to have any control on whether he beats Virginia. I was watch- ing like everyone else. I just wanted to be there first. There is something to be said to be able to share the vision of NC State at that time first. "I was able to do that when he lost out West in Salt Lake City or somewhere like that. The next afternoon I was with him as soon as he got home [to Wilm- ington]. He was hired by 7 p.m." Any fun stories when you hired current NC State women's basketball coach Wes Moore? "Dinner ends and I turn to Wes and say, 'I enjoyed getting to know you more.' I knew the next day he was still going to be here interviewing. "He said, 'Are you going to offer me the job or not?' I had not had anyone say that to me in an interview. I said, 'Right now? I'd like to think about what we talked about.' He said, 'I figure if you don't offer it to me now, you are never going to offer it to me.' I said, 'That's not true, I just have to think about it.' "He has his version of what was said, and that's my version. And my version was accurate." ■ PODCAST H I G H L I G H T S Yow was named the National Football Foun- dation John L. Toner Award recipient in June 2019. She is the first female to win the annual honor that has been presented since 1997 to recognize athletics directors who have dem- onstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletes and particularly college football. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN