Backing The Pack, a N.C. State Wolfpack community

Reporter: "Have you talked to Tom O’Brien at all and given him a scouting report on Debbie?"

Friedgen: "No comment."

Reporter: "Do you have any kind of advice for him or any kind of thoughts as to what it’s like working for her? Does he got his work cut out for him?"

Friedgen: "He’ll have to see. [pause] I will say this, and I’ve said it before, I feel very indebted to Debbie for hiring me, and I think she did things at Maryland that are unprecedented."

Reporter: "That’s all you’re going to say about that?"

Friedgen: "That’s all I’m going to say about that."

At that point, Friedgen's wife, Gloria, who sat across the table from the coach throughout his 75-minute media session, chimed in.

"That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it," she said with a grin.

I was on board when NC State hired Tom O'Brien thinking he would be able to exceed what he did at BC. Now I am seeing BC fans are right. O'Brien is what he is -- he will beat the rival but lose plenty to the Dukes and Wakes on the schedule. Do you think new AD Debbie Yow will make a move if TOB doesn't win this season?
-- Mike, Charlotte

Count me among those disappointed with O'Brien's Wolfpack tenure to date. Even with one of the most exciting dual-threat quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, NC State was all over the map last season, beating Pittsburgh and North Carolina but finishing 2-6 in the ACC. As a result, the Wolfpack posted their third straight seven-loss season (with a 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl appearance wedged in there). Meanwhile, the BC fans Mike mentions who grew dissatisfied with O'Brien's perceived ceiling -- whom I considered to be spoiled at the time -- have been validated by the Eagles' continued success under Jeff Jagodzinski and Frank Spaziani.

Maryland athletics director Debbie Yow confirmed this morning that she has accepted the AD job at N.C. State.

In a phone interview this morning, Yow talked about how she was won over by Randy Woodson, N.C. State's new chancellor. Yow, the sister of Kay Yow, the Wolfpack's Hall of Fame women's basketball coach who died last year after a long, public battle with cancer, and of Susan Yow, N.C. State's first women's All-American basketball player, also said her family's connections to State played a role in her decision to leave College Park, Md. for Raleigh.

"Probably the single most important thing was meeting the new chancellor and the shared values we have, and just the synergy of the meeting," Yow said. "I really just enjoyed talking to him. After having done that, my level of interest changed. It was heightened, but it has always been there because of my family's history at N.C. State."

6/25 at 11:54 am: sunjeffbarker: Maryland said it confirmed Yow's hiring with N.C. State. Yow will be made available to the media in a conference call late this afternoon.

North Carolina State University got a step closer Friday morning to naming a new athletic director. Sources told WRAL News that the university approved a contract for Debbie Yow, sister of the late, legendary women's basketball coach Kay Yow.

N.C. State will hold a press conference at Carter-Finley Stadium at 2 p.m. Friday to name the replacement for Lee Fowler, who will step down as athletic director June 30.

Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow says she hasn't interviewed with a committee selecting the next athletic director at North Carolina State.

N.C. State said last month that Lee Fowler would soon depart after 10 years. A 13-member search committee was named to find his successor.

Yow's name has come up in the North Carolina media. An "ACC Insider" blog item last month in the Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News included Yow on a list of four people it said were "among the most prominent names already mentioned for the job."

There was no confirmation that Yow is a candidate.