The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JULY 2016 ■ 23 facets of our program and made the changes that he felt would be most beneficial. We'll see how things go this year with the most challenging schedule in the ACC. That comes straight from ESPN, not from us internally. "It was never designed to be the most dif- ficult schedule in the ACC. The fact is things happen in programs. In our case, we are in the Atlantic Division, and we will have to face Florida State, Clemson and Lou- isville every single year. That is not go- ing to change. There is no movement in the ACC to do away with the divisions, which is something I have wanted to do from day one. "I do believe those in the Coastal Division are very happy with the situ- ation. "We're also not going to play two FCS schools in any given year, knowing that only one of those can be counted towards bowl eligibility. "It just happens to be the year we go to East Carolina, which is always a challenging game for us." You just announced a sellout of football season tickets. The NCAA reported that on average that 2015 was the lowest attendance per game since it began keeping stats in 2003, and the ACC dropped by an aver- age of 1,258 per game. Yet, last year NCSU was 23rd nationally in aver- age game attendance increase from 2014 to 2015. How have you man- aged to avert the downward trend in football attendance? "There are several factors that can be attributed to our success in atten- dance. The most important one is the loyalty of our fans and the great tailgating experience you can have at Carter-Finley. We work hard to main- tain that opportunity. "The second thing is I do believe people understand that Coach Doeren and his staff are some of the hardest working coaches ever, and they are relentless recruiters. "We've had very young teams for several years, and this will be the first year that we will change that since he's been here. I think there has al- ways been hope in our young talent, that if we give them the opportunity to mature that we could have some very special moments here. "We're not at the juncture where FSU is trying to find its way and re- tire a legend and find someone new. They are fully installed, operating at a high efficiency level. Same thing with Clemson. They have their guy. I believe we've found our guy, but we are not catching anyone off guard. "The schedule is very attractive, and it's going to be from now on. I think our fans appreciate that and enjoy thinking about us playing top-level competition. I still maintain that the most satisfying thing is winning the games, so we do have our work cut out for us. "I believe that Coach Doeren and his staff are up for the challenge." The University of Texas just announced it would join the growing number of col- leges allowing alcohol sales at football games. What are your thoughts on this? "We are going to be serving for the first time, in a restricted area of the Dail Club, beer and wine. That's in Vaughn Towers. It's a change for us, and we'll see how that goes. "We'll be very cautious about this. I know there have been people who have wanted to serve alcohol who have commissioned stud- ies that said it's helpful. I really don't know what to think about that. I really have to take an in-depth look at the survey and who paid for it. "We're not there yet, but we are expanding into the Dail Club section." It appears that the nine-game ACC schedule for football might be back on the table. Could that happen and where do you stand on it? "I think nine games is a legitimate pos- sibility, but I would much prefer doing that with no divisions; just do an equitable ro- tation with one partner, and for us that would always be UNC-CH." What are your thoughts on the plethora of transfers in college basketball? "It appears to me that the transfer rate in college basketball is at an all-time high, pos- sibility over 900 coming out of 351 Division I schools. We are close to getting an average of three per school. I hate that, but I don't think it's going to change. "I actually believe that the day will come, sooner than we possibly realize, when student-athletes can transfer and play immediately. "Nine hundred is an extraordinary amount of transfers, but we could double that when we get to the point where they can leave without sitting out a year. "The concept is alive right now be- cause of the extraordinary interest in what's good for the student-athletes' welfare. "That's how we ended up being able to include the cost of attendance in a scholarship, which we've never been able to pay for before. It's how we ended up with the food legislation where we can feed them basically 24/7 and include all the walk-ons as well in every sport. "The ultimate example is going to be what happens with the trust fund payments [the NCAA appealed a rul- ing that schools put as much as $5,000 into a trust for each student-athlete per year of eligibility for name and image licensing]. It bears watching because that is a big deal." Why has there been such an escalation in transfers? "I think there are different reasons for different athletes, but in general Mark Gottfried has enjoyed one of the most successful starts in NC State history. He led his squad to four NCAA Tournaments, including two Sweet 16s, in his first five years. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN "Next year is a huge year for us. It's the year as a program we need to reach top-25 status." ■ Yow