- Deborah Yow
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Deborah A. Yow Current position Title Athletic director Team NC State Annual salary $450,000
(including supplemental income)Biographical details Born c. 1951 Place of birth Gibsonville, North Carolina Playing career 1970–1974 Elon Coaching career (HC unless noted) 1976–1980
1980–1983
1983–1985Kentucky
Oral Roberts
FloridaAdministrative career (AD unless noted) 1990–1994
1994–2010
2010–presentSaint Louis
Maryland
NC StateDeborah A. Yow (born circa 1951[1]) is an American college sports administrator and former college basketball coach. She is currently the director of athletics at North Carolina State University,[2] and formerly held the same position at the University of Maryland and Saint Louis University. She previously served as the head coach of the women's basketball teams of the University of Kentucky, Oral Roberts University, and the University of Florida.
Contents
Early life
A native of Gibsonville, North Carolina, Yow attended East Carolina University.[1] She had planned to continue playing basketball, as she had in high school, but dropped out of college.[1] She said, "I spent too much time partying, and my grades reflected it. In those days we lovingly called ourselves flower children. We were very anti-establishment. I did recreational drugs back then like everyone else. To be honest with you, I don't know anybody who didn't."[1] Yow visited friends in California, but soon after returned to Gibsonville after she ran out of money.[1] She then attended Elon University, where she played basketball and studied English.[1] At the age of 22, she had an abortion. She later said it was done "at a time when there was no counseling available. No one ever explained the process or went over any of the options,"[1] and called it the worst mistake of her life.[1] Yow married and later divorced Lynn Nance, a collegiate men's basketball coach.[1] In 1983, Yow was re-married to Dr. William Bowden, a university administrator, while she was coaching at Oral Roberts University.[1]
Women's basketball coach
Yow coached women's basketball at the University of Kentucky and Oral Roberts University, and also served as the women's basketball coach at the University of Florida where she took these three previously unranked teams into the Top 20 national rankings.[1][3] On January 10, 1985, she and the Gators won Yow's 150th career victory.[3] After that season, Yow accepted a promotion in Gator athletics as an administrator and fundraiser. She averaged 20 wins per season over 8 years as a head coach.[3]
Athletic director
Saint Louis
After coaching, Yow also served as an associate athletic director at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.[1] Saint Louis University hired Yow as its athletic director in August 1990.[1] The media reported a strained relationship between her and the men's basketball coach Rich Grawer, which Yow denied.[1] She fired Grawer after a 5–23 season and hired Charlie Spoonhour as his replacement.[4] Spoonhour won the Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award for leading Saint Louis to the NCAA Tournament in the 1993–94 season and received a pay raise and contract extension through 2000.[5] Yow remained at Saint Louis University for four years, until hired to the same position at the University of Maryland in August 1994.[6]
Maryland
At Maryland, Yow became the first female athletic director at any Atlantic Coast Conference school.[7] Under Yow, the Maryland athletics department balanced its annual budgets, which had not been done in the previous decade and the department's debt was reduced from $51 million to $7.6 million.[8] From 1994 to 2010, the school's athletic teams captured twenty national championships.[9] Seventeen were in women's sports: women's lacrosse (8), field hockey (4), competitive cheer (4), and women's basketball (1).[9] Three championships were claimed by two men's teams.[9] Maryland men's basketball secured the 2002 title and men's soccer captured the 2005 and 2008 College Cups.[9] U.S. News & World Report and Sports Illustrated ranked the Maryland athletics program in the nation's top 20 during Yow's tenure.[8][10][11] In 2008, her salary was $365,925.00 according to public records.[12]
Yow reportedly had a rocky relationship with Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams.[13] In January 2009, the basketball team struggled early in its season, which led to Williams publicly trading barbs about recruiting with associate athletic director Kathy Worthington.[14][15] In February, Yow issued a statement of support for Williams.[16] During the 2009 row, Feinstein wrote in The Washington Post, "Debbie Yow didn't hire Gary Williams. She can't take any credit for the program he built nor should she take any of the blame for its recent struggles."[17] He added, "Does [Williams] get along with Debbie Yow? No, everyone knows that..."[18]
Barry Gossett, the number one donor to Maryland athletics summarized the progress in Maryland athletics during Yow's tenure, "She inherited a difficult situation when she came in as far the debt and a lot of programs that were under-performing. She was able to make some necessary changes in staff, and she has really put a new face on the athletic department. She accepted the challenge as the school improved it's rankings across the board... She has done a great job."[19] Head women's basketball coach Brenda Frese [National Championship coach in 2006] said, "I think the biggest strength for Debbie is that from top to bottom, she knows how to run a department and allows every unit and every coaching staff member to be successful."[19] Football coach Ralph Friedgen called Yow's accomplishments as AD at Maryland, "unprecedented."[19]
Yow said, "There are several things that I was really glad to get done toward the end of my tenture, and one of those was nominating coach [Gary] Williams for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame..."[19]
Mike Ashley observed, "Yow's sixteen years at the helm of the program represented the longest tenure for a Maryland athletic director since legendary Curley Byrd ran the program from 1915-1935 before coming university president."[19]
North Carolina State
On June 25, 2010, Yow accepted the job as athletic director at North Carolina State University.[20] She was awarded a five-year contract with a $350,000 salary with a supplemental income of $100,000.[21]
After the 2010-2011 basketball season, Sidney Lowe resigned as Wolfpack coach after failing to make the NCAA tournament in his five seasons as coach.[22] In early April 2011, Yow hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried as the new coach.[23]
Personal life
Her two sisters also have been employed in athletics. Kay Yow was head coach of the NC State women's basketball team,[24] and Susan Yow is the current head coach of the Belmont Abbey Crusaders women's basketball team.[25] Her cousin,[1] Virgil Yow, served as head basketball coach at High Point University, where he allowed the first female to play on the men's team.[26]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Debbie Yow Is Stirring St. Louis University, The Seattle Times, June 16, 1991, retrieved June 26, 2010.
- ^ News & Observer: Yow confirms she will be new Pack AD
- ^ a b c History (PDF), 2007-2008 Women's Basketball Media Guide, p. 94–95, University of Florida, 2007.
- ^ UM's Yow knows how to pick winner; Hiring of Spoonhour at Saint Louis proved to be inspired move, The Sun, December 1, 1996.
- ^ SLU OFFERS SPOONHOUR CONTRACT THROUGH 2000, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 27, 1994.
- ^ DEBBIE YOW PARTS ON BITTERSWEET NOTE, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 16, 1994.
- ^ YOW IS 1ST WOMAN AD IN THE ACC DEBBIE YOW AGREED TO A 5-YEAR DEAL TO BE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR AT MARYLAND., Orlando Sentinel, August 16, 1994.
- ^ a b On Campus - Deborah A. Yow - Director of Athletics, University of Maryland Terrapins Athletics official website, accessed 6 December 2008.
- ^ a b c d National Championships, University of Maryland, retrieved June 25, 2010.
- ^ Deborah A. Yow, Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, Maryland State Archives, 2003, retrieved 24 January 2009.
- ^ Biographical Series: Deborah A. Yow, Archives of Maryland, February 16, 2010, retrieved June 25, 2010.
- ^ Salary Guide 2008 (PDF), The Diamondback, 5 January 2008, retrieved 24 January 2009.
- ^ Mike Wise, Two Sides To One Program, The Washington Post, p. E1, March 21, 2009.
- ^ U-Md. Officials Rebut Williams on Recruits, The Washington Post, January 22, 2009. Accessed 2009-07-18. Archived 2009-07-23.
- ^ Terps fans thankful for Gary Williams' past, concerned about present, The Baltimore Sun, March 12, 2009.
- ^ Yow: Williams in no danger, The Washington Post, February 2, 2009.
- ^ John Feinstein, The Turtle Has Itself to Fear, The Washington Post, January 29, 2009.
- ^ John Feinstein, Maryland Men's Basketball, The Washington Post, February 4, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Ashley, Mike (July, 2010). "Tarrapin Times: With Carolina on her mind, Debbie Yow heads home after 16 years".
- ^ Jeff Barker, It's Official: Yow is leaving, The Baltimore Sun, June 25, 2010.
- ^ Patrick Stevens, Yow signs five-year deal at NC State, D1Scourse, June 25, 2010.
- ^ "Lowe resigns as NC State basketball coach". Los Angeles Times. 16 March 2011. http://www.latimes.com/sports/sns-sn-ncaa-nc-lowe-resigns-031511,0,518672.story. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ Wiseman, Steve (6 April 2011). "Gottfried will be leader of the Pack". The Herald-Sun. http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12643470/article-Gottfried-will-be-leader-of-the-Pack?instance=homefifthleft. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ NCSU's Yow dies after long cancer fight, Triangle Business Journal, 24 January 2009.
- ^ Player Bio: Susan Yow, Providence College Friars athletics official website, accessed 6 December 2008.
- ^ HOOPS PIONEER GAVE HIGHPOINT A BOOST ISENHOUR MADE HER MARK AT HIGH POINT, The News & Record, March 31, 1995.
Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball head coaches Jane Todd Watson (1903) • C. P. St. John (1904) • Thomson Bryant (1906) • C. W. Leaphart (1908) • Walter Fox (1908–1909) • Bessie Hayden (1909–1910) • J. J. Tigert (1911–1915) • William Tuttle (1915–1916) • J. J. Tigert (1916–1917) • Jim Park (1917–1918) • Andrew Gill (1918–1919) • Sarah Gibson Blanding (1919–1922) • Happy Chandler (1922–1923) • Bart Peak (1923–1924) • No team (1924–1974) • Sue Feamster (1974–1976) • Deborah Yow (1976–1980) • Terry Hall (1980–1987) • Sharon Fanning (1987–1995) • Bernadette Locke-Mattox (1995–2003) • Mickie DeMoss (2003–2007) • Matthew Mitchell (2007– )
Florida Gators women's basketball head coaches Paula Welch (1974–1976) • Cathy Davis (1976–1979) • Mickie DeMoss (1979–1983) • Deborah Yow (1983–1985) • Carol Whitmire Higginbottom (1985–1990) • Lea Henry # (1990) • Carol Ross (1990–2002) • Carolyn Peck (2002–2007) • Amanda Butler (2007– )
Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.Maryland Terrapins athletic directors Charles S. Richardson (1890s) • H. A. Harrison (1899–1900s) • Curley Byrd (1915–1935) • L. B. Broughton (1936) • Geary Eppley (1937–1947) • Walter Driskill (1947–1948) • Jim Tatum (1948–1956) • William W. Cobey (1956–1969) • Jim Kehoe (1969–1978) • Carl C. James (1978–1980) • Jim Kehoe (1980–1981) • Dick Dull (1981–1986) • Lew Perkins (1987–1990) • Sue Tyler (1990) • Andy Geiger (1990–1994) • Bud Thomas (1994) • Deborah Yow (1994–2010) • Randy Eaton (2010) • Kevin Anderson (2010–)
NC State Wolfpack athletic directors Harry Hartsell (1916–1918) • Tal Stafford (1918–1920) • John F. Miller (1921–1930) • R. R. Sermon (1931–1937) • John F. Miller (1937–1947) • J. L. Von Glahn (1947–1948) • Rog Clogston (1948–1969) • Willis Casey (1969–1986) • Jim Valvano (1986–1989) • Harold Hopfenberg (1989–1990) • Todd Turner (1990–1996) • Les Robinson (1996–2000) • Lee Fowler (2000–2010) • Deborah Yow (2010–)
Categories:- Living people
- East Carolina University alumni
- Elon University alumni
- Florida Gators women's basketball coaches
- Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball coaches
- Maryland Terrapins athletic directors
- NC State Wolfpack athletic directors
- People from Guilford County, North Carolina
- Saint Louis Billikens athletic directors
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