The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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Yow said of NC State's student-athletes, "Academically we had the largest number of honor roll students that we've ever had." PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS THE STATE OF THE WOLFPACK formation that has led to new achievements athletically and academically and to sub- stantial financial deals. Yow has no intention of coasting on the T early successes however. In June, she sat down for an extensive interview with The Wolfpacker and made it clear why she feels it is important to push even harder entering year three of what she called "coming home." ment financially and competitively? "Financially we paid all our bills a year What is the state of the athletics depart- ago in my first year home, but we cut it close — we only had $9,000 left. This year I have gotten a report from financial officer 20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Director Of Athletics Debbie Yow BY MATT CARTER Q&A With NC State wo full school years into the Deb- bie Yow-era as NC State athletics director, Wolfpack sports have al- ready undergone a noticeable trans- Diane Moose, and Diane said we will be able to pay all our bills and have about half a million dollars left to put into our op- erational reserve. That's primarily because the payout this year that was estimated by the ACC ended up being somewhat higher when the league had a second BCS team. "We will be even better this year, and we're already working on next year's bud- get that starts on July 1. We are trying to provide as best we can for all our teams and coaches, but also, of course, pay all our bills. We have to do that. "At Maryland, I saved a lot of money for a rainy day, and then needed it. We were able to continue paying the bills but only because we were able to save so much money. Having a reserve is important, and we'll continue to build ours. "Competitively we are a little ahead of schedule across the board. We have jumped from No. 89 two years ago to No. 37 this year in the Directors' Cup, and that is the best two-year improvement for any ACC school. I'm happy about that. "Obviously, baseball helped with that. Men's basketball helped tremendously with that. Gymnastics came through, and Mark Stevenson did a great job as he always does. That's all a credit to our coaches and to their staffs and the student-athletes who made that happen. "We are a little bit ahead of schedule, but I think some people would think I have a strange outlook on achievement. I do ap- preciate it, and I don't take it for granted by any stretch of the imagination, but if we need to do anything it is push harder than we did in year one or year two as we go into year three. "We need both soccer programs to go to the tournament this coming year. We need women's basketball in the NCAA. We need football to vie for the championship in the ACC. There are lots of goals for this up- coming year that we've yet to meet." Academically, are you pleased with the progress of the student-athletes? "Academically we had the largest num- ber of honor roll students that we've ever had. Carrie Leger does a tremendous job running the academic support unit. "They don't report to athletics, but we pay for everything. Her budget is $1.3 million, and we pay every penny of it. She reports to