Debbie Yow expected to be named N.C. State athletic director Friday
Washington Post
June 24, 2010

Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow is expected to take the same position at North Carolina State on Friday, according to two sources close to the Maryland athletic department.

Yow said in a text message Thursday night that she will be on N.C. State’s campus in Raleigh on Friday to meet with school officials and discuss the school’s vacant athletic director position.

While Yow stopped short of acknowledging she had taken or been offered the job, an N.C. State source said the school is preparing to host a news conference early Friday afternoon.

Kathleen Worthington, Maryland’s senior associate athletic director, also acknowledged in a phone interview that Yow will interview in Raleigh on Friday.

“Has a contract been signed? Is it a done deal? No,” said Worthington, who spoke with Yow on Thursday. “But if something is going to happen, I anticipate it’s going to get done quickly.”

Comcast SportsNet first reported Thursday night that Yow would leave Maryland for N.C. State.

“I am visiting down there tomorrow, that is all I can say now,” Yow said in a text message. “Gave my word.”

According to a Maryland athletics department official, no news conference will take place at Maryland tomorrow regarding Yow’s standing at the university.

N.C. State has been searching for a new athletic director since May 4 when Lee Fowler announced his resignation. Fowler officially will step down on June 30. N.C. State assembled a 13-member search committee to find his successor.

A native of North Carolina, Yow graduated from Elon University. Her sister, Kay, who died of breast cancer in 2009, served as the women’s basketball coach at N.C. State for 34 years.

Hired by Maryland in 1994 as the first female athletic director in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Yow was the second-longest tenured athletic director in the conference behind only Wake Forest’s Ron Wellman.

The Maryland athletic department expanded to include 27 teams during Yow’s time in College Park, and since 1995 the Terrapins have won 20 national championships in six sports. Yow put an emphasis on balancing the athletic department’s budget, something that had not been accomplished in the decade prior to her arrival.

Yow oversaw the construction of Comcast Center, which opened following the 2002 men’s basketball national championship season and has since served as the athletic department’s headquarters. Other athletics facilities, including Byrd Stadium, have undergone upgrades since Yow’s arrival.

In recent years, tensions rose in the athletic department while the team’s revenue sports experienced turbulent seasons.

Last fall, according to multiple high-ranking Maryland donors, Yow attempted to raise funds necessary to buy out football Coach Ralph Friedgen, who was in the midst of a 2-10 season. After such funds could not be attained, it was announced Friedgen would return for the 2010 season.

Multiple high-ranking Maryland boosters said Yow contacted them during the 2008-09 men’s basketball season to gauge their interest in buying out Coach Gary Williams’s contract.

In January 2009, Williams and Worthington engaged in a public disagreement that garnered significant media attention. Yow called a news conference to issue public support for Williams following the dispute, which stemmed from the handling of a former recruit.

Led by Williams, who Yow nominated earlier this spring for the Hall of Fame, the Terrapins made a dramatic turnaround and finished the 2008-09 season in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Yow’s Maryland contract is set to expire Aug. 31, 2013. A search for Yow’s replacement would be complicated by the fact that Maryland President C.D. Mote Jr. has announced he will retire effective Aug. 31 and no successor has yet been named.

Once source close to the Maryland athletic department said Thursday night that Connecticut Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway could emerge as a potential target to replace Yow. Hathaway, a Maryland alumnus, served in numerous capacities in the Maryland athletic department from 1982 to ’90.

By Steve Yanda and Eric Prisbell  |  June 24, 2010; 10:10 PM ET