Tom O’Brien has never gone through a make-or-break season, and he doesn’t think he’s facing one this year at N.C. State.
In fact, he doesn’t even buy into the make-or-break concept.
All that said, the fourth-year Wolfpack football coach understands that a new dynamic is in place that will have an impact on athletics across the board at the school.
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics officially announced its 29 winners of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award today.
On the list: outgoing N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler, who agreed last month to step down from his position. His last day will be June 30.
The news release:
N.C. State has selected Parker Executive Search to assist in the university's search for a new athletics director.
University spokesman Keith Nichols said this morning that N.C. State will pay the
Atlanta firm $75,000 to help oversee a national search for a successor to outgoing AD Lee Fowler.
Lee Fowler shouldn't have been fired.
That's the stance of the News & Observer's lead editorial today, which argues in part that Fowler did plenty of good things in his time as N.C. State's athletic director.
(Fowler was let go earlier this week)
It reads in part: "The university doesn't cover itself in glory when it dismisses someone like Lee Fowler, who worked hard to unite all the members of the university community and alums, who had the respect of the faculty, who did by all accounts (even those of his critics) a terrific job in overseeing some facilities upgrades that have given NCSU a showplace for football, and in partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes (and taxpayers) also a palace for basketball."
It's too early to tell whether Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO Gary Stokan, who's a former N.C. State basketball player, will be a target of the school's search to replace departing athletic director Lee Fowler.
But Stokan did lay out one intriguing and perhaps controversial idea Tuesday when asked whether he is interested in the job.
Will Lee Fowler one day be remembered as the athletic director who made two of the best coaching hires in N.C. State history?
That development is every bit as possible as it would be ironic.
Statement from Lee Fowler regarding announcement from university that he will step down as Director of Athletics:
"Naturally I am disappointed that I will not see firsthand the fruits of 10 years work, but I have the greatest confidence that with the caliber of facilities and coaches we now have, along with a talented and dedicated administrative staff, the athletics program is poised for great success going forward."
N.C. State agreed to end its working relationship of almost 10 years with athletic director Lee Fowler today.
Fowler, 58, will continue to work through June 30 and will be paid through the remainder of his contract, which is worth $280,000 annually until Sept. 2013.
Despite a last-place standing in the ACC, N.C. State athletic director
Lee Fowler said he has been impressed with the Wolfpack's work ethic
and attitude in coach Sidney Lowe's fourth season.
"We're disappointed to be 2-8," Fowler said Friday. "We want to be 8-2,
but we're encouraged by how this group is playing and the group of
players we're adding next season."
After receiving negative feedback from fans, N.C. State has scrapped a new design for its men's basketball jerseys, athletics director Lee Fowler said Tuesday morning.
Last week, N.C. State displayed its new jersey design on its Twitter page. The jersey featured a small "NC" on the front and a much larger "STATE" underneath.
