The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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34 ■ THE WOLFPACKER with one permanent partner, for us that would be UNC, and it would be fair. "Then our student-athletes would know Duke is in the ACC because they would actually play them. Right now, our athletes come and go and never compete against Duke, 30 miles away." You could argue the only shift in the ACC that has occurred is by adding Louisville, creating even more of an imbalance with the Atlantic Division. "Louisville should have been added to the Coastal, and that didn't happen either. For some people it was as simple as saying Maryland was in the Atlantic, Maryland's gone, so plug Louisville in there. That, of course, is not wise if you are interested in equitable competition. "We continue to have an extraordinary mountain to climb every year playing Clemson, FSU and Louisville, and then add this year Notre Dame and South Carolina out of conference." What is the overall state of the athletic department financially? "Our operations are good. We stretch every dollar spent. We will use $1.5 mil- lion of our reserves for the transition of the men's basketball staffs made back in March. That is why the reserve exists, for normal business practices like that and for capital projects and maintenance." That speaks to how crucial the ACC Net- work will be. "It's pivotal. It must be successful. We finished the year fifth out of the five Power Five leagues with the least payout per school. We cannot remain in that position and sustain the level of success that we cur- rently have across the league." What updates have you received from the league on the status of the ACC Network, given the recent ESPN layoffs? "The latest update is from the chief fi- nancial officer of Disney, who spoke about two months ago at a conference, as did John Skipper, president of ESPN. "She said when people cut the cord and go to another means of distribution that ESPN is getting their fair share. "She didn't specify exactly what it would cost to get ESPN in a cord-cutting model, but it is likely disproportionate, compared to other channels. "That made me feel better than anything anybody else had said. She pretty much was putting a stake in the ground and saying, 'It's ESPN folks. Whether we're in a skinny bun- dle where you can get 40 channels instead of 120 or not, we're getting our fair share.' "That's what really matters, how much they get out of that skinny bundle cost." When is it on track to launch? "August of 2019." How are NC State's student-athletes per- forming academically? "Our graduation success rate was 83 per- cent, and that matches our highest gradua- tion success rate ever. These rates are now measuring a class that entered here seven years ago, in 2010. "It's fascinating when you really under- stand how it works that it has nothing to do with what is happening right now. "You compute a six-year graduation rate, and then you add one year for the NCAA to confirm the data so that it is accurate. By the time it's published, it's been seven years since that class entered college." What are your thoughts on the Wolf- pack's Directors' Cup performance? "There are a number of good things. Thirteen teams reached postseason com- petition, and we have a chance to reach the top 30 this year in the Directors' Cup. "We had a meeting with the sport super- visors to talk one more time about getting into the top 25. We are getting closer and closer, but we have not done it yet. What we realized is we have 13 teams score out of 23, so that means 10 teams didn't bring any points to the table. "The highest number of teams to ever score in a single year is 14, and until we get to the point where we have at least another five sports scoring, we cannot get to the top 25. When you are at this level, everybody we are competing against also has good coaches, and a number of them have larger budgets." You had a couple of sports like rifle that were so close. "In rifle, we finished ninth nationally, and you have to finish eighth to earn points. We missed going to the next round of men's golf by two strokes, and women's golf was close too. But we're not there. "We do talk like everybody else does, es- pecially when you are invested in it. We sit there and say how close we are, two strokes here, one stroke there. "I participate in that, and pretty quickly I turn to the group and say, 'Whatever the rea- Golf coach Richard Sykes (pictured) won ACC Coach of the Year honors in his 46th and final season at the helm, and then Yow tabbed former NCSU co-captain Press McPhaul to take over for his former coach. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN