The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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28 ■ THE WOLFPACKER year that we renegotiate our adidas agree- ment. We are in the initial negotiating pe- riod right now." Is there a timeframe for those negotia- tions? "They have exclusive negotiating rights for now. Later in the summer we enter into a period where others could bid through Nov. 15, but they have a right to match any- body. Then after Nov. 15 we are completely free to do as we wish." The SEC Network was a major success, and that is the model the ACC is looking at. Where does the league stand with having a network? "I would be comfortable if we follow that model. We will have a network — it's just a question of when. The sooner the better." Any thoughts on the issue of satellite camps in football? "The ACC coaches said that they don't want it, so it started and ended right there." This was Louisville's first year in the ACC. What are your thoughts on their entry into the conference? "They had the largest operating budget in the ACC in year one, and that's not a bad place to start. They have amazing facilities. When we played there this year, we toured the football place first, and there is some expansion that they have done that I am interested in for us. "As I said earlier, we are going to have a master facility plan before long. It won't tell us when these things get done, but we can prioritize what they are and then work with the Wolfpack Club on lining them up at appropriate times. "Louisville had just finished and opened a $20 million soccer complex that we also toured that boggled my mind. They are as aggressive in what they are doing as any SEC school, and I have been in the SEC. I worked there for nine years between Ken- tucky and Florida. "This is not just FSU and Clemson. Lou- isville is right there in terms of their level of aggressiveness in doing everything they can to advance their program. "That's why I said when we get to this level of achievement, near top 25, it's dif- ferent. Everybody is trying to do the same thing at the same time, and we need to take advantage of every opportunity that we have. We need to make smart decisions, and we need to utilize our funds well. "As an example, I believe personally you will never find a more efficient use of $14 million than our indoor practice facility. I watched what people are paying for their facilities, and this is just a great use of money. It's very efficient. "There is a lobby area that is all glass. When football season begins we'll have some staff there so people can come in the lobby and look into it and appreciate the expansive nature of the facility. "That's what we've been doing for the last five years. It all goes back to hiring. You cannot get to where we want to go if we make hiring mistakes. We are careful as we can possibly be and as thoughtful as we can be when we do make a change or someone retires because it isn't always about letting somebody go. "We want to continue to be thoughtful in that regard and use the experience that we all have here to make the best choices for NC State." There is an imbalance in divisions for football right now and subsequently a lot of discussions about scheduling in the ACC. Any thoughts on ways to address that? "I'd love for us not to have divisions. I have always been a proponent of that. In our case, in particular, it becomes a little bit dicier because we need to maintain the UNC rivalry. I don't want to lose that, but if there was ever a way to protect that rivalry and do a rotation, I'd much rather do that. "We have people here playing football that will never play Duke because we play them twice in 12 years, and they are 30 minutes away. This is illogical. If we could get some type of rotation in place, I would be happy about it. "For the time being, we are imbalanced, and we are in the Atlantic which is the mother lode for ACC schools. We are al- ways going to have Florida State, Clemson and Louisville, and Syracuse is not going to stand still nor Boston College nor Wake with their new coaching staff." You launched the #STATEment campaign last year. How has the feedback been? "It's been successful and fun. People have enjoyed it and post things so easily on Twitter. We have fans doing it all the time. I think it's simplistic but very smart, and I applaud the efforts of our external operations unit for doing that. I think that is going to last for a while." Is there a timeframe on the facilities master plan? "I am hopeful we can pull it all together in the next six months. We have been busy working on parking lots at Carter-Finley and making that experience better, bum- pering a number of lots that were not bum- pered before. "We are moving the student gate. That has all been done. James Greenwell is on point for us as associate AD for all of that. He's a very talented person. He worked with a number of us at Maryland, and he was working at Georgia Tech when we went and got him. We said you guys need to move here and help out." Are you going to the Rolling Stones con- cert at Carter Finley Stadium on July 1? "I will be at the Rolling Stones concert, absolutely. It was also a great opportunity for the Wolfpack Club because they have the rights for the sale of the suites. I think they are going to pick up over $100,000. They completely sold out the suites, which is great because they need all the help they can get for the scholarship funds." ■ In the next months, Yow said she is hopeful that NC State will be able to put together its master plan for facilities, which will detail what needs to be done and then prioritize it. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS