Talk:Debbie Yow

Early life
A native of Gibsonville, North Carolina, Yow attended East Carolina University. She had planned to continue playing basketball, as she had in high school, but dropped out of college. 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." Yow visited friends in California, but soon after returned to Gibsonville after she ran out of money. She then attended Elon University, where she played basketball and studied English. 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," and called it the worst mistake of her life. Yow married and later divorced Lynn Nance, a collegiate men's basketball coach. In 1983, Yow was re-married to Dr. William Bowden, a university administrator, while she was coaching at Oral Roberts University.

Saint Louis
After coaching, Yow also served as an associate athletic director at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Saint Louis University hired Yow as its athletic director in August 1990. The media reported a strained relationship between her and the men's basketball coach Rich Grawer, whom she dismissed in March of 1992 after a 5-23 season. She served at Saint Louis University for four years, where she made the signature hire of Charley Spoonhour in March, 1992 who was named National Coach of the Year by ESPN in 1994 after he lead Saint Louis back to the NCAA Tournament. Her tenure was marked by an expansion of the department and notable improvements in athletics facilities. She "engineered Saint Louis' move to the Great Midwest Conference (now Conference USA) for greater visibility, more television revenue, and more competitive schedule." She led in the restructuring and streamlining of the program along with other proactive measures to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and customer service. She was then hired away from Saint Louis to the same position at the University of Maryland in August 1994.

Maryland
At Maryland, Yow became the first female athletic director at any Atlantic Coast Conference school. 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. From 1994 to 2010, the school's athletic teams captured twenty national championships. Seventeen were in women's sports: women's lacrosse (8), field hockey (4), competitive cheer (4), and women's basketball (1). Three championships were claimed by two men's teams. Maryland men's basketball secured the 2002 title and men's soccer captured the 2005 and 2008 College Cups. U.S. News & World Report and Sports Illustrated ranked the Maryland athletics program in the nation's top 20 during Yow's tenure. In 2008, her salary was $365,925.00 according to public records.

Yow reportedly had a rocky relationship with Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams. 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. In February, Yow issued a statement of support for Williams. 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." He added, "Does [Williams] get along with Debbie Yow? No, everyone knows that..."

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." 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." Football coach Ralph Friedgen called Yow's accomplishments as AD at Maryland, "unprecedented."

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..."

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."

North Carolina State
On June 25, 2010, Yow accepted the job as athletic director at North Carolina State University. She was awarded a five-year contract with a $350,000 salary with a supplemental income of $100,000.

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. In early April 2011, Yow hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried as the new coach. MCS Raleigh (talk) 22:26, 14 September 2011 (UTC)


 * You're going to leave out her sabotage accusations? --CutOffTies (talk) 13:19, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

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