The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/141892
nooga in Nikki West. She was an All-American at Clemson. Two of the three assistant coaches have ACC roots and ties." When it comes to non-revenue sports, what do you feel were some of the success stories this year? "Look no further than swimming. Braden Holloway was named ACC Coach of the Year and finished 15th at the NCAA Championships, the highest ranking of any ACC swim program. "And our softball, where Shawn Rychcik and his staff somehow managed to turn our team in one year into an ACC Championship-caliber team by winning the ACC Tournament at Florida State against Florida State. That's an amazing achievement. "I had a chance to go with them to Tennessee for the regional, and Tennessee ended Yow is excited about the future of the softball program, after watching head coach Shawn Rychcik (above) guide the Wolfpack to the ACC Tournament title in his first year on the job. photo courtesy nc state media relations up playing for the national championship. We took them to 11 innings in our first game against them. We have such a bright future in that sport. "That's just to name two teams. I think men's soccer is getting ready to have a breakout season. Women's soccer is going to take longer. We just made a change and brought in a terrific coach in Tim Santoro, but he's going to need time there. Although we are already starting to see some success in that he signed the No. 1 women's soccer player out of the state of Florida [forward Jackie Stengel]. That was his first recruit, so maybe this will take less time than I was thinking, but I do believe we need to give him a little bit of time there. "Volleyball is sailing under Bryan Bunn. He is an incredible leader. There are so many good things. Women's golf had a terrific year. We are getting ready to open a new golf clubhouse this fall, which is stunningly beautiful and a tremendous advantage in recruiting for both women's and men's golf." What are the expectations for the nonrevenue sports? "I think everybody understands that I put a stake in the ground for us and for all teams that are fully funded that we need to advance to the point that we are a top‑25 program. A number of programs have already reached that. "Rifle finished No. 14 in the country. People don't know that because there are only eight rifle teams participating in the NCAA postseason tournament. "The coaches all understand. We talk about it. Routinely at our monthly coaches' meetings we point out and applaud both our academic achievements and any of our teams' achievements when they occur. We stay on point, and the goal to is competitively be a top‑25 program." That's important as we try to attract the best athletes here. "He's also telling the best athletes and letting them know we are going to have an indoor facility sooner rather than later." You mentioned the golf clubhouse, what about other construction projects? "We just hired the architect for the Reynolds renovation. We'll spend the next six weeks on what they call value engineering. It's a very nice way of saying cutting costs. We are going to have to prioritize what we want done in the building. It's going to be a very hectic six weeks because that's the time period we have. "We'll have to be out of the building, completely. Every team that has offices or competes there will be out of the building in 2015‑16. We'll go back into the building in August of 2016, and it'll be completed. We'll have some wonderful celebration, and we'll have all of our friends and alums in to look at the new renovated Reynolds with the Walk of Fame and history. It will be magnificent." What are your thoughts on executive senior associate AD Chris Kingston moving on to become athletics director at Bowling Green State? "I'm so proud of him. Their president called me to interview about Chris before she made the hire. She's already invited my husband and I to stay at her house if I ever wanted to come up and see any of the Bowling Green teams. I don't know if I'll ever have any time to do that, but she was very nice to invite us. "I have three others, at least, that will become athletics directors. I have already told those three, 'Not now.' We lost Dick Christy to Pembroke, and now we've lost Chris to his first AD job. I get a great satisfaction in that. There are several in my AD tree — I have eight now I think. "But I don't want to lose them all at one time. The other three's day will come, just not anytime soon." How about an indoor football practice facility? "We are moving on that. In order to advance it in the queue of projects across the board for the campus, we need to tell them how much cash we can put on the table. They are more than willing to advance it if we can put up enough cash. "We have to be very careful that we don't impact other university projects that are already on the queue ahead of us, and the only way to do that is to put cash on the table. [Wolfpack Club director] Bobby Purcell and I are talking about that now, and we'll know in a couple of weeks how much cash we can put on the table to advance that project. "The athletic program has paid $600,000 to have field turf on the third practice field. Our football program has been having camps, and it's been raining a lot. Coach Doeren texted me that having the field turf down saved the camps. Are there any other projects? "We are doing a batter's eye [the visual backdrop behind center field] for baseball as soon as the season is over, and we are talking to people about how to get the netting behind home plate to be minus the poles and speakers. "We need a very nicely done indoor batting cage. We have a design for that of sorts. I am talking to Bobby Purcell about that as well, whether or not we can fit that in and if we have enough cash flow to do that, because we need to." There was a report that Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski made almost $10 million last year. Are you comfortable that NC State can stay competitive in coaching salaries? "I know we are competitive right now in terms of who we hire. I know we are very careful in the profile that we target. "I could make a case that you don't need that kind of money to have terrific coaches, but you do have to have an eye for evaluation of coaches. It's easy to pick out the top coach in the nation and say, 'That's the one that I want.' That's the same one that everyone else wants. "When you can't afford to do that, you need to really have enough experience and a propensity for trying to figure out who the great coaches are going to be. "I believe that we have two here that fit in that category both in football and men's basketball." 26 ■ the wolfpacker 24-26,28.Debbie Yow.indd 26 6/28/13 4:59 PM