Yow says her future is not a factor in NC State coaching search

N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow finds herself in a search for a basketball coach for the second time in six years and this time with an end date to her tenure at the school.

Yow is confident her pending retirement, planned for July 2019, will not affect the search for Mark Gottfried’s replacement.

“I could be wrong but I don’t think it complicates the hiring process,” Yow said. “Two and a half years is a long time in intercollegiate athletics. It’s like how they count dog years. So much happens in one year, it feels like seven.”

Yow made the decision to fire Gottfried on Thursday. He will coach the remainder of the season as Yow begins her search.

Yow said she will hire a search firm to help her. She anticipates there will be questions about her future. Yow’s contract runs through the end of the 2018-19 academic year. At 66, she has said she will retire when her contract is up.

Stability in leadership is an important factor for most coaches, particularly in the high-profile revenue sports. Yow doesn’t deny that but said the school chancellor is also an important part of the equation. Randy Woodson, who will turn 60 in April, is also under contract through June 2019.

Woodson, the school’s chancellor since 2010, and his wife set up a $1.15 million scholarship fund to help pay tuition for the children of N.C. State employees in 2016.

“Randy is not going anywhere,” Yow said. “Randy is going to be here.”

Yow said the addition of a new $15 million dorm for both basketball teams, like ones at Kentucky and Kansas, will help in the hiring process.

“We have everything we need here to be successful,” Yow said.

Yow also said that Gottfried’s success, with four NCAA tournament appearances in six years, puts her in a better position than the last time she had to hire a coach. Yow fired Sidney Lowe after the 2010-11 season when the Wolfpack was in the middle of a five-year NCAA drought.

“Mark has elevated the program,” Yow said. “We can take the next step at this point.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Yow says her future is not a factor in NC State coaching search."