WRAL.comWell, Lee Fowler certainly isn't afraid of some negative attention.
In the same week he had to deflect rumors that he was on the verge of being fired, news has come down the pipe that longtime assistant to Kay Yow, Stephanie Glance, is no longer in the running for the vacant women's basketball job. Glance was Yow's choice to succeed her when she passed.
Talk about going out on a limb. To go against the dying wishes of one of the most beloved figures in N.C. State and women's basketball history is either incredibly gutsy or incredibly stupid. Probably a good bit of both.
In all fairness to a man who probably doesn't deserve it, Fowler was in a lose-lose situation here from the get go.
If he hires Glance, who struggled filling in for Yow over the last few years, he ran the risk of her struggling mightily and then subsequently having to fire her. By going a different direction (as he's apparently done), anything short of a name hire that brings about dramatic improvement in the program will be viewed as snubbing Yow's choice for a candidate of equal or lesser value.
At this point Fowler is already catching flak from this decision, based on the 75 comments on the WRAL story linked above. It seems hard to imagine that he can "win the press conference" from this point forward unless he lands a big name...something that seems highly unlikely given the relative anonymity most women's basketball coaches operate in relative to men's athletics.
The conclusion of this search is already off to an intriguing start.
I don't feel sorry for Fowler though - he's the one who came out and announced that Yow wanted Glance to succeed her, and as far as I can tell, he did this voluntarily. Why would any one announce that and put themselves in a lose-lose situation? The information didn't have to be made public, but Fowler put it out there. I can't fathom what runs through his mind.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first times I agree with Fowler,Glance was not an good coach an would sadly run this program into the ground.
ReplyDeleteat this point, the more things that make fowler look bad, the better.
ReplyDeleteits not really clear how well Glance would do as head coach even though she, according to some Wolfpack women close to the program i talked to at a recent baseball game, has been the head coach de facto for the last three years. first, according to my sources, Glance has had a difficult time recruiting because of Coach Yow illness (on a side note, my sources stated that is was verified by Debbie Ryan), and the pressure on the team has been tremendous. it is hard to go to the emotional well time after time to win one for the coach. i would support Glance for head coach absent a really good hire. A good hire would not be an assistant from another program nor a head coach from a mid major school. The hire would have to be from a major school and would have to have on her resume success in the ncaa tournament. Sbas2
ReplyDeletei might add that it dosen't matter how i feel about Glance now-the decision not to hire her has been made. sbas2
ReplyDeleteFowler has a poor track record when it comes to personnel selection! Why should he change now?
ReplyDeleteWe need to replace him with someone who has more insight into to the world of college sports.
We need coaches who are able to recruit, better manage players and react wisely to game time demands.
This applies to all the sports.