Debbie Yow Introduced As New AD -- Excerpts From The Press Conference

NC State officially introduced Debbie Yow as the school's new athletic director at a press conference earlier this afternoon.  Yow talked about the challenges ahead, her vision for meeting them, and laid out some general requirements for success on the program level.

She also said that she is going to make an email address available to fans who want to ask questions or voice there concerns, and that a person within the department will have to authority to respond to those inquiries.  That should be interesting.

Below is a partial transcript from the press conference.  Please pardon the roughness, as I was typing in a hurry.

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"First thing we do is build on our strengths...we need to build on our strengths. what i know at least to this point looking from outside in, is that there has been a history of balanced budgets. Good facilities in several sports although I think there is room for improvement.

There are a lot of folks still on board for football thorugh thick and thin...trust me, that doesn't happen most places.

We will build with every team that's fully scholarshipped we will expect a national top 25 team moving toward top 10 status and competing for national titles. I'm not Mary Poppins...I'm not naive. I know what it takes, and we will do that.

No reason I can see that can't happen. We need to provide athletes with experience that's second to none. Excellent customer service to fans. Build on collegial working relationship with campus that's already in place. Best ensure that NCAA rules are followed...that we have strong NCAA compliance unit. Continue fiscal responsibility. No way around fact that budgets have to be balanced if people are to take you seriously. Please understand achieving goals will be a process.

Make sure coaches have what they need. Always match resources to expectations.

New email address set up Aug 1 for fans to share issues/concerns. Parking, tickets, any other concern. Someone on staff will be managing the account and have the authority to respond.

My energy level is high and I'm focused on this special assignment. I do believe we have strengths to build on. We will have to be wired for 220 voltage every day and in every way. Every day is game day for an administrator. No one is going to step aside and allow us to easily meet our goals. We'll have to work hard but we'll also have to work smart. Working hard just isn't enough anymore. I'll have to listen, I'll have to learn. We can become what we believe we can become. If we rally the Wolfpack family, and lock arms as a collective force, and move forward...only way we can reach these challenging goals. Wolfpack Unlimited. There will be bumps along the way that we don't expect. We'll need to stay focused, we'll need to be persistent. Refusing to accept the status quo.

I'd rather win than be popular.

"eight of the men's sports had been gutted from a scholarship perspective. Set about developing a plan to restore all of those scholarships; wrestling, golf, tennis, swimming. It's taken a very long time to get that done. Part of the willingness of the campus to allow that to occur was to add two other women's sports. Adding those two sports added about 1.2 mil to budget. Trying to restore 34 scholarships to men's side while adding 1.2 mil to budget, but it was worth it. Last year, the Maryland wrestling team finished #10 in the country. When sports were added, determination was made we're not adding them in name only. We want them to be excellent at what they do.

Debt down to 5.5 mil as of July 1. (From $51 million.)

It isn't so much about comparing to another institution, it's about how we can become the best we can be. If you can maintain that focus and that drive, everything else takes care of itself in the long run.