Deborah A. Yow
MSA SC 3520-14067
Brief Biography:
B.A., Elon College (English).
High school English teacher and basketball coach. Women's
basketball coach, University of Kentucky, Oral Roberts University,
University of Florida. Associate Athletic Director,
University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Director of
athletics, Saint Louis University. Athletic Director,
University of Maryland College Park, 1994-, overseeing 25 teams, 600
student
athletes and a 43 million dollar budget. Elected President,
National
Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, 2001. Named to Street
& Smith's Sports Business Journal sports executive "dream
team." Recipient, Carol Maddox Sport Management Award, presented
by the United States Sports Academy for excellence in athletics
administration. Chosen to serve on the federal government
commission reviewing the operation of Title IX anti-discrimination law
in college athletics. One of 15 commissioners appointed to the
U.S. Department of Education's new commission on Opportunity in
Athletics. Author of numerous articles and books on athletics
management and human behavior. Inductee, Maryland Women's Hall of
Fame, 2003.
Extended Biography:
In a field dominated by men, Deborah A. Yow has broken new ground
for women.
Her success story demonstrates what can be accomplished with hard
work
and an open mind. As the first female Athletic Director at the
University
of Maryland College Park, Yow has taken a struggling department mired
in
disappointment and transformed it into a top-notch athletic machine
with
twenty-five teams, hundreds of student athletes and a balanced budget
of
$43 million. During her ten years in this position, the Maryland
Terps
have won nine national championships, including one by the Men's
Basketball team in 2002.1 One
of only four
women athletic directors at NCAA Division-I schools, Yow is a leader in
her
field and an inspiration to young women.
Deborah A. Yow is best known for her many accomplishments at the
University of Maryland, College Park. Her hard work and direct
manner have earned her a reputation as one of the finest athletic
directors in the country. Her
many achievements include a balanced budget, better graduation rates, a
loyal
coaching staff, more private gifts, and a new state-of-the-art athletic
center.
With her contract extended through 2008, Ms. Yow is committed to
even
more improvements in the future. Her first priority when she
began
in 1994 was to balance the budget for the athletic department.
Maryland's athletic departments do not receive any income from
state taxes and are required by law to run a balanced budget.
When Yow took over, the department was millions of dollars in
debt. She decided to cut costs and look for
more revenue to balance the budget and start paying down the debt she
inherited.
Yow's first move was to cut costs by looking for the fat in the
department,
like cleaning services. She discovered that the athletic
department
spent more on its janitorial crew than the President's office did, so
she
reduced service from five days a week to two and told employees where
to
find cleaning supplies if it bothered them.2
Her direct manner may have irritated some, but her actions led to
a
balanced budget.
Another of Yow's top priorities was to increase graduation rates
among student athletes. Since 1998, almost 86% of all student
athletes who stayed at Maryland for their full careers graduated.
That was a 10% increase in five years.3 Recently,
the athletic department moved into the new $125 million Comcast Center,
which
includes a $1 million academic support unit. Yow is incredibly
proud
of this facility, saying "I want it to be that if you compete at
Maryland
and stay at Maryland, you graduate."4
Long
known as a "coaches' director," Yow has paid careful attention to
Maryland's
marquee sports -- men's basketball and football. She took a risk
and
hired Maryland alumni Ralph Friedgen in 2001. Friedgen had never
had
the chance to run a major football team; his success with three
straight
bowl games has put Maryland football back on the map. Yow was
able
to secure both coach Friedgen and basketball coach Gary Williams in
long-term
contracts. Their winning seasons have helped Yow direct
fundraising
as well. Private gifts are up 240% and corporate revenues are up
275%.5 The 2001-2002 school
year was one
of the finest in the University of Maryland's history. The field
hockey
team advanced to the NCAA championship game, the football team won the
ACC
title and played in the Orange Bowl and the men's basketball team won
the
NCAA championship. Soon, the athletic program as a whole broke
into
the top 20 in the nation according to U. S. News and World Report;
after ten years, Deborah Yow had a lot to be proud of.6
Yow was raised in an athletic family and took to sports from a young
age: "My mother, Elizabeth, played basketball, and I think that's where
I got it
from." The athletic talent that she inherited from her mother
has served
her well, starting with high school basketball and softball in her
hometown
of Gibonsville, North Carolina.7
After
high school, Yow went to Elon College and majored in English.
While
she was there she played basketball with her sister, Kay, as her coach.
Yow left college for a while, but returned and graduated with honors in
1974.8 Then, she landed her
first job as
a high school English teacher and coached the school's women's
basketball
team. While she started her career, her family continued its'
athletic
spirit. Kay went on to coach the gold-medal women's basketball
team
in the 1988 Olympics. Yow's other sister, Susan first became an
assistant
coach for the Cleveland Rockets, a WNBA team and now coaches at
Providence
and her brother, Pete, was a scholarship football player at Clemson
University.9
Debbie Yow made a daring career move in 1976 by taking over as head
coach
for the women's basketball program at the University of Kentucky.
After
success there, she then moved on to Oral Roberts University in 1980.
During
her last season there, the team finished with an impressive 26-1
record.
Yow finished her coaching career with the Lady Gators at the
University
of Florida and retired from coaching with a winning percentage of .700
and
a career average of twenty wins a season.10
Yow was the first coach, male or female, to put three teams in
the
Top 20 who had never been there before she coached them.11 After coaching, Yow moved to the
administrative
side of things by joining the University of Florida Gator Booster, the
most
successful fund-raising group in the country at the time. She was
thirty-three
and raised $6.5 million in her first year. From there, she moved
up
to the athletic director position, first at the University of North
Carolina
in Greensboro and then at Saint Louis University. While her
career
was busily on track, she married her second husband, William Bowden.
Bowden
moved to Maryland with Yow and works as an accreditation consultant.
Yow
routinely works 65 to70 hours a week, but the couple still finds time
for
fun, like eating out or seeing a movie. The couple does not have
children,
but Yow jokes "all the students I have coached and worked with are like
children
to me. They call up all the time, with all sorts of problems -
even
to ask for money."12
While the athletic teams at the University of Maryland have thrived
under
Deborah Yow's leadership, she has also garnered important professional
accolades.
In 1998, her department ranked 19th out of 306 Division I schools
for
the Sears Directors' Cup. This is the only award to honor an
athletic
department as a whole.13 Yow is
also featured in the 1999 book, Cool Careers for Girls in Sports
by
Ceel Paternak and Linda Thornburg. The book is one of a series
aimed
at girls aged 11 to 14 that encourages girls to aim high and examine
unexpected
career choices.14 Yow
received
one of her most prestigious honors in 2000 when she was named "Female
Sports
Executive of the Year" by the editors of Street and Smith's Sports
Business
Journal. In 2001, Yow was elected president of the National
Association
of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, an organization with over 6100
members
representing 1600 colleges and universities. She has also been an
member
of the NCAA management council and the NCAA Division I budget committee.15 Also in 2001, Yow was
awarded
the Carl Maddox Sport Management Award which is presented each year by
the
U. S. Sports Academy "to a sport professional for his or her
contributions
to growth and development of sport through effective management
practices."16 Yow served on
the commission on
Opportunity in Athletics, formed by U. S. Education Secretary Rod Paige
to
examine Title IX in 2002. That year, she was also named one of Washingtonian
Magazine's "People of the Year." Then, in 2003, Yow was one
of three
recipients of the "Woman of the Year" award by Women in Sports and
Events,
and she was inducted into the Maryland Women's
Hall
of Fame that year.
Deborah Yow has accomplished more than most do in an entire career,
yet
she is still strives to imporve. Yow aims to place University of
Maryland
athletics in the Top 10 consistently because she believes that
"athletics
are important to any university because they are like the front porch
of
a university. Outsiders see them first."17 The university is thankful to have such a fine
leader
on the "front porch" and women everywhere can be inspired by her
dedication
and professionalism.
Footnotes:
1. University of Maryland. "Deborah A.
Yow, Athletic Director, 10th Year." Maryland: The Official
Site of Terrapin Athletics. 2004. http://umterps.collegesports.com/school-bio/md-athdir.html.
return to text
2. Millar, Evan. "Forging a Dynasty:
Athletics Director Debbie Yow on her 10 Years as a Terp." The
Diamondback, 5 May 2004. return to text
3. Preston, Mike. "Yow at Work, Helping
UM Rise Toward Top." The Washington Post, 16 August 2003.
return to text
4. Washington Magazine. "Washingtonians
of the Year 2002." Washingtonian Online. January
2003. http://www.washingtonian.com/people/woy/washoftheyear.html.
return to text
5. Ibid. return to text
6. University of Maryland.
"Deborah A.
Yow, Athletic Director, 10th Year." Maryland: The Official
Site of
Terrapin Athletics. 2004. http://umterps.collegesports.com/school-bio/md-athdir.html.
return to text
7. University of Maryland. "Top of the
Terp Ladder: Athletic Director Debbie Yow Credits Family, University
for Her Success." UMD Outlook Online. March 16,
1999. http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/InstAdv/UnivRel/outlook/1999-03-16/mar-16-99/yow.html.
return to text
8. McMullen, Paul. "Steward of the
Terps' Success;
Turnaround Raises Debbie Yow's Profile Beyond Gender." The
Baltimore
Sun, 30 December 2001. return to text
9. Ibid. return to text
10. Hoyer. return to text
11. McMullen, Paul. "Steward of the
Terps' Success; Turnaround Raises Debbie Yow's Profile Beyond Gender."
The Baltimore Sun, 30 December 2001. return
to text
12. University of Maryland. "Top of the
Terp Ladder: Athletic Director Debbie Yow Credits Family, University
for Her Success." UMD Outlook Online. March 16,
1999. http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/InstAdv/UnivRel/outlook/1999-03-16/mar-16-99/yow.html.
return to text
13. Hensley, Jamison. "Terps Crack Top 25 in
Athletic
Excellence." The Baltimore Sun, 17 June 1998. return to text
14. Holmes. return to
text
15. University of Maryland. "Deborah A.
Yow,
Athletic Director, 10th Year." Maryland: The Official Site of
Terrapin
Athletics. 2004. http://umterps.collegesports.com/school-bio/md-athdir.html.
return to text
16. University of Maryland. "Top of the
Terp Ladder: Athletic Director Debbie Yow Credits Family, University
for Her Success." UMD Outlook Online. March 16,
1999. http://www.inform.umd.edu/CampusInfo/Departments/InstAdv/UnivRel/outlook/1999-03-16/mar-16-99/yow.html.
return to text
17. Washington Magazine. "Washingtonians of the Year 2002." Washingtonian Online. January 2003. http://www.washingtonian.com/people/woy/washoftheyear.html. return to text
Extended Biography by 2004 summer intern Amy Hobbs
Return to Deborah A. Yow's Introductory Page
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