Quote :

" Fowler’s Failures Manifests into a Pearl of a Jewel Published by StateFans on 03/19/2008 in AD, Basketball and NCS Administration. Tags: AD, Billy Gillispie, Bruce Pearl, coaching, Herb Sendek, Lee Fowler. Sit back and get dedicated for a moment. You can’t skim this entry. You can’t loaf through this one. This is one of those to which your mind must be committed to absorbing and investing the time to read the links and the text. In the early part of this decade our blog followed some up-and-coming college basketball coaches that weren’t as well known as they are today. Obviously, the hope was to turn some attention in Raleigh toward movers and shakers that would be great fits for NC State when Herb Sendek finally found a way to bolt town as we knew he would despite Lee Fowler’s wet dreams. In the end, we all know the NC State situation developed as follows: * Lee Fowler ardently supported and retained Herb Sendek in an unprecedented manner after five consecutive seasons of failing to make the NCAA Tournament while simultaneously criticizing and alienating NC State fans and consistently degrading the basketball program and fanbase to the media. * Unlike leaders such as Ron Wellman at Wake Forest (with Dave Odom) and Dave Braine at Georgia Tech (with Bobby Cremmins), Fowler never found a way to control the coaching situation at NC State. He failed to create a graceful move that was in the best interest of NC State’s program AND Herb Sendek. Instead of proactively CREATING a strategically timed transition that could be controlled with a hand-selected new coach ready, Fowler blindly supported Sendek at all costs and therefore failed to position the Wolfpack’s program for the future by placing the selfish needs of Lee Fowler Herb Sendek over what was best for NC State. * Despite five years of contract extensions amid supposed fan pressure after earning 4 of 5 NCAA Tournament berths while placed squarely on the NCAA’s bubble, Sendek ‘coincidently’ chose to leave NC State in the one season where he was losing seven of his eight top players and the program was going to be stocked with inexperience. * Inexperienced at coaching searches because of his status-quo management style and unfamiliar with the college basketball landscape because of his lazy work ethic, Fowler was caught unprepared for the ensuing coaching search. After failing to land two top candidates who had previously expressed extreme interest in the position (Rick Barnes and John Calipari), Fowler was oblivious as to where to turn and was hellbent on landing a ‘name’ for media attention. Instead of turning to a tier of candidates like Gillispie, Sean Miller, Mark Turgeon, John Pelphrey and others after missing on Calipari, Fowler continued to taint the remaining candidate pool with public misses of horrible fits like Steve Lavin and John Belein. From the 1999-2000 season through 2006 when Coach Sendek bailed on NC State, the folks at StateFansNation and the readers that we represented endorsed a Wellman-Braine-like strategic transition where Coach Sendek could/would go get another job (like Dave Odom at South Carolina) while NC State could be positioned to control our next coach. If the obvious top candidate (like Barnes & Calipari) would somehow not fit the time frame then there were plenty ‘next generation coaches’ that would fit the profile well. Unfortunately, this kind of strategic management that comes from corporate America and not the old boys clubs of Tennessee and Eastern North Carolina was far too complicated for a simpleton like Lee Fowler. It represented way too much work that couldn’t be done from a golf course of Fowler’s Lake Gaston retreat. Two specific names that we followed with vigor for years were then little-known coach of UTEP, Billy Gillispie (you know him as Kentucky’s Head Coach today) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Bruce Pearl. (Since we won’t be talking about Gillispie much in this entry then I submit this link for you die-hards. Let’s see…we tagged KENTUCKY’s future head coach five or six years ago; and Lee Fowler was oblivious to the guy just two years ago when he was making national waves at Texas A&M. But…of course….he KNOWS Basketball) Ahhh…but what did we know? Obviously, we don’t know basketball like Lee Fowler. Why control your program and be prepared for transition when you can argue with your fan base and ultimately get left at the alter by ‘your guy’ in a year when the coaching candidate pool wasn’t what it was a few years earlier? "

3/19/2008 12:35:04 PM

Quote :

"Well…today, ESPN has logged a fantastic biography on (now) Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl. It is fantastic. And, you have to read it. You HAVE to. It gives you a lot of baseline information that you need to know about the guy. Next, you have to go read this article written by Jeff on March 30, 2005. I’m not kidding. You HAVE to read this thing that was written THREE YEARS AGO. You also need to make sure that read the second section that has quotes from a national radio interview with Pearl. As RIGHT as Jeff obviously was back then, he really underestimated Coach Pearl who is now finishing his third year at Tennessee: I’ve been watching Pearl and his program from the periphery over the last couple of years and have been more than just a little impressed with what I have seen. Therefore, I wanted to go on record as recognizing this as a great hire for UT. It will be interesting to watch their program develop. For kicks…I will predict that within four years from today, the Tennessee basketball program will have very strong momentum after appearing in at least two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and will be obviously established at the top of the 2nd tier of SEC Basketball schools just under Kentucky and Florida- a tier currently inhabited by Alabama, Mississippi State, and LSU. Ok…maybe he hedged a little. As convinced as SFN was in Pearl’s ability to succeed, we admit that we cushioned more than was needed in our prediction. Fowler’s UT Irony There is more irony in this 700th chapter of our favorite book - “What could have been at NC State if only most leaders in Raleigh weren’t lazy morons” - than anyone really can handle. * Pearl has a huge connection to NC State as he was once married to a woman related to Norm Sloan (niece? cousin?) He brought is UW-M team to the RBC a few years ago and openly praised the tradition and history of the NC State program. Many close to him and familiar with the situation felt as though he was launching trial balloons and signalling his obvious interest for NC State to be the place where he would take his next step. * Lee Fowler is from Tennessee and played basketball at Vanderbilt. He also was an assistant coach on the Memphis State teams (TN) in the early 1980s that ultimately were put on massive NCAA probation and had their wins forfeited and 1985 Final Four vacated. (Not to mention the time in federal prison that Fowler’s mentor and head coach, Dana Kirk spent) * Today, Memphis and Tennessee have a fantastic basketball rivalry as evidenced by this year’s big #1 vs #2 showdown that included John Calipari. After being spurned by Todd Turner for the NC State job when Les Robinson left, Calipari heavily pursued the NC State job two years ago. Calipari was such a ‘done deal’ that Lee Fowler had literally ordered nameplates for the doors and offices of Calipari and his staff. Ultimately, Fowler and NC State found a away to screw up the hire and Calipari now has a monster of a program at Memphis. * Fower interviewed for the Tennessee Athletics Director position (along with at least a half of a dozen others who have turned him down) while serving as the NC State Athletics Director. * The only reason that Bruce Pearl was available to coach at UT was because UT had the proactive vision to push out their previous coach, Buzz Peterson. * Peterson failed to secure an NCAA Tournament berth in four years of opportunity when the leadership at UT decided it was time to make a change. Peterson was 14-17 in his 4th season. * At NC State, Herb Sendek failed to make an NCAA Tournament for FIVE consecutive season. NC State was 13-16 in fifth season where his squad was obviously all ‘his’. * Tennessee fired Buzz Peterson and hired Bruce Pearl. Lee Fowler’s chose to retain Herb Sendek and NOT hire a litany of coaches like Barnes, Calipari, Pearl, Gillispie and many others that were easily available at various points in time from 2000-2006. Summary I find it hilarious (and scary) that Lee Fowler thinks that the folks at Tennessee (or any school) would WANT to hire an Athletics Director who chooses NOT to take measures to control and improve his athletics programs. If anything, the Peterson-Pearl move is a perfect example of the exact opposite philosophy of ‘leadership’ that Lee Fowler practices. After almost eight years of Fowler’s leadership, NC State’s athletics adminstration has chosen to fire less than three coaches amongst all program that we can recall. In that same time horizon, the University has executed and planned in excess of $150 million of facility upgrades that does NOT include the $166 million RBC Center. Additionally, NC State’s athletic booster club has grown to be one of the five largest clubs in all of America with some of the most rabid support found anywhere. In spite of all of this - after eight years of Lee Fowler’s leadership - NC State is easily the WORST overall athletics program in the entire Atlantic Coast Conference while winning fewer ACC Championships in all sports than any other member institution during Fowler’s tenure. Comparing the results and the management practices of Fowler’s dream job in the Tennessee Athletics Department to the results and the management practices in Raleigh — I wonder if the guy really ever keeps himself up at night wondering why he doesn’t get any of the other jobs for which he interviews? Probably not. We’ve seen the impact of what staying up at night and actually having to work does to the guy. Remember the 30 pounds he lost during the NC State coaching search due to stress caused by his incompetence? How many times have you seen that from other ADs? Well, I guess we can add that to the long list of the differences of our AD and those of other schools. On second thought… …check out the following quote from Bruce Pearl on ESPN’s national morning radio show from the entry I made you read. Pearl commented on Buzz Peterson’s firing. Said that (paraphrase), “Buzz is a SUPER guy, but that he was just over .500 in four years. Face it…if I am just over .500 in four years here then I will be gone, too. You know this going into the profession and when you are hired by a big school. Tennessee has national championships across the board. They are successful in almost ever sport here and there is no reason that we shouldn’t be in basketball.” I take back everything I have said. OBVIOUSLY, Bruce Pearl would not fit in at NC State."

3/19/2008 12:35:41 PM

excellent, minus the grammar.


Perfect article.

3/19/2008 12:47:34 PM

I don't presume to know what goes on in the offices of our athletic department, but the results speak for themselves. Nearly every sport, we are in the bottom third of the ACC.

Pisses me off to think of this dude making 200K a year, rubbing elbows with the big donors (you know, people that are actually successful at their jobs) and getting sweet seats for every athletic event.

3/19/2008 12:50:56 PM

Quote :

"In spite of all of this - after eight years of Lee Fowler’s leadership - NC State is easily the WORST overall athletics program in the entire Atlantic Coast Conference while winning fewer ACC Championships in all sports than any other member institution during Fowler’s tenure."

Are we really last in championships the last 8 years?

We have won nearly all the Men's and Women's CC titles, several wrestling titles, and a softball title.

3/19/2008 12:50:58 PM

they could have said that in much less words

but interesting, not the OMG ARE YOU KIDDING I thought it was gonna be

3/19/2008 12:54:53 PM

^^wiki only goes back 2 years and http://www.acc.com is incomplete, only goes back 2 years as well.

3/19/2008 12:56:48 PM

I think TOB and Sid can help us out tremendously in the future. I feel really good about TOB.

I'd like to see what they think about Fowler in 5-6 years....

3/19/2008 12:58:34 PM

^Any success TOB has should NOT be attributed to Lee Fowler. TOB came to him.

If Fowler had to hire a football coach it would have been ugly....

3/19/2008 12:59:41 PM

And after that roasting from Statefans, if you peruse over to GoPack.com we find........

Quote :

"Fowler Tabbed for Chancellor Unit Awards for Excellence"

http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=1415476

3/19/2008 4:02:57 PM

haha

LOSS

3/19/2008 4:08:19 PM

And there you have it. NCSU athletics. Abandon all hope all ye who enter here.

3/19/2008 5:41:14 PM

This is my best thread ever.

Fowler will lead to the destruction of all NCSU athletics.

3/19/2008 6:29:40 PM

"will lead" ????

3/19/2008 6:48:29 PM

Oh yeah, FIRE OBLINGER TOO!!!

3/19/2008 6:55:29 PM

fuck what an abyss of a program. Fuck man. This is worse than <fill in the blank>

3/19/2008 7:07:14 PM

Charlie Motherfucking Cobb

Alumnus. Played football here. Probably wants to move to D-1A. I would be willing to bet he would come. He has already improved ASU athletics 10 times....in just 4 years.

3/19/2008 7:15:51 PM

if you really look at it as shitty as our athletics program is and as much money as we are bringing in, Lee Fowler is a fucking genius. The only AD in the country who doesn't have to do shit and just banks paycheck after paycheck.

3/19/2008 7:22:49 PM

IMAGINE IF WE WERE GOOD AT SOMETHING!

3/19/2008 8:09:54 PM

My first vote would be for Bobby Purcell, but my close second would be Charlie Cobb. Besides improving App, he ingratiates himself with the students and alumni. It was cool seeing him parading around the national championships and allowing the fans to touch the trophies as if they were as much a part of the program as the players and coaches are.

3/19/2008 8:25:23 PM

we must rid ourselves of this cancer

3/19/2008 9:01:00 PM

well, fowler still is able to walk through the student section without anybody yelling at him

make him uncomfortable walking through, and something will change

although it could be your ticket eligibility

3/19/2008 9:04:33 PM

Just want to remind everyone that your tax dollars and tuition fees are being used to cut Fowler a check for $4711.54 every WEEK.

3/19/2008 9:05:05 PM

i want to be the AD here someday

i mean i could sit on my ass for 10 years and retire without doing shit

3/19/2008 9:06:56 PM

It bothers me that everytime I see him he has either a glass of wine (during Chancellor's reception), a cigar (during the women's tourney, not lit), or both (on the plane to Dallas 2 years back)

3/19/2008 9:09:11 PM

Cowher for AD

get this fowlup out tho

wonder what the process would involve

but leave his hot daughters please

3/20/2008 1:38:19 AM

3/21/2008 12:56:12 PM

that video. It is horrible

3/21/2008 2:49:34 PM

Good god that would never fucking work.

Greg Marshall would be a good coach to bring in if needed?

[Edited on March 21, 2008 at 3:01 PM. Reason : df]

3/21/2008 2:55:43 PM

i like how they use "advanced to the postseason".

TYPICAL HERB PROPAGANDA, AMIRITE?!

(for real though, i hate herb sendek)

3/21/2008 3:03:02 PM

If you are in the ACC, you pretty much have to finish dead last to not "advance to the postseason"

3/21/2008 3:12:07 PM

i figured you guys would get a kick out of that
i found it via packpride ... they found it on the Wake boards

3/21/2008 3:45:11 PM

(13) San Diego 70, (4) Connecticut 69 (FINAL)

can we bring back marye anne fox too

[Edited on March 21, 2008 at 5:11 PM. Reason : e]

3/21/2008 5:11:14 PM

Quote :

"..except, of course, that Fowler played no role in the hiring of Tom O'Brien who approached our University through a consultant that we had to hire to run the process because nobody in power believed that Fowler could execute the search. ...and, that Wendell Murphy actually stated publicly that "The consultant did the work, Lee (Fowler) kept it quiet..." And, in fact, Fowler presented a contract EXTENSION for Chuck Amato to the Board of Trustees about a month before the Board fired Amato. So, Fowler didn't even want to fire the guy that TOB replaced, yet he gets credit for hiring TOB? Only at NC State."

From packpride. They got a good thread humming along

3/25/2008 11:34:09 AM

Quote :

" Feel free to throw that out as relevant if you want. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that there are very few administrations getting less out of more than NC State's. Here is part of an email I sent to the N&O: 1. Membership #s -5th nationally (20,000~) http://www.newsobserver.com /734/story/947976.html 2. Donations NC State 2006 donations - $27,254,723 ACC rank - 4th(UNC, UVA, FSU ahead of us) BCS rank - 14th Amount raised in capital funds last 5 years - $125,625,000 ACC rank - 5th BCS rank - 10th http://vcafo.org/support _bulletin/2007/2007-19.pdf 3. Attendance Basketball - 18th nationally 2007, might have moved up in 2008 as we averaged about 1000 more fans per game Football - 36th nationally for 2008, 98.73% capacity Football - seven consecutive sellouts http://www.gopack.com/ViewArtic le.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID =1147334 NC State administration rankings/performance measures: 1. Conference titles in four biggest sports Last ACC titles: Football - 1979 Men's Basketball - 1987 Women's Basketball - 1991 Baseball - 1992 -NC State is one of 5 BCS schools not to win a conference title in Football, Men's or Women's Basketball, or Baseball since AD Lee Fowler was hired in 2000. 2. Current Sears Cup Standings: 6. Wake Forest 12. Florida State 14. Virginia 20. Duke 22. UNC 32. Boston College 33(T). Clemson 33(T). Virginia Tech 36. Maryland 83. Middle Tenn. State 89. NC State 118. Georgia Tech 118(T). Miami -Middle Tenn. St included because that is where we hired Lee Fowler from -Only ACC schools below NC State have new ADs in the last two years 3. NC State's Sears Cup finishes - Fowler hired in 2000-2001 athletic year 1994 - 59 (9th in conference) 1995 - 32 (5th in conference) 1996 - 34 (5th in conference) 1997 - 57 (8th in conference) 1998 - 43 (6th in conference) 1999 - 63 (6th in conference) 2000 - 40 (5th in conference) 2001 - 56 (8th in conference) 2002 - 46 (8th in conference) 2003 - 43 (7th in conference) 2004 - 39 (7th in conference) 2005 - 51 (9th in conference) 2006 - 34 (6th in conference) 2007 - 44 (8th in conference) 2008 - 89 (10th in conference) Average finish pre-Lee Fowler - 46.85 Average finish in Lee Fowler era not including 2008 since year isn't finished - 44.71 Average finish including current 2008 ranking - 50.25 Best year pre-Fowler - 32 (1995) Best year Fowler - 39 (2004) http://nacda.cstv.com/directors cup/nacda-directorscup-previous -scoring.html Important to remember that $150,000,000 million + has been invested in the facilities since Lee Fowler arrived on campus. Sears Cup ratings pre-Fowler had almost no updated facilities and no help from basketball as we were in the Les Robinson and early Herb Sendek era. Among NC State fans, the fact that we now have updated facilities is used to defend Lee Fowler, but in reality those facilities woudn't have been built without the members of the WPC. Even if he deserves some amount of credit for the buildings themselves, then why are our results essentially equal to those results achieved by Les Robinson and Todd Turner who didn't have the updated facilities? 5. Football and Basketball performance with new facilities Football(W = 1 win): WWWWWWWW WWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWW (Rivers last year) WWWWW WWWWWWW WWW WWWWW Wins in first four years - 34 Wins in 2nd four years - 20 Overall trend - negative Basketball(W = 1 ACC win) WWWWW WWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWW (Hodge's last year) WWWWWWWWWW WWWWW WWWW Wins in first four years - 34 Wins in 2nd four yeasr - 26 Overall trend - negative Fowler has told us for years that facilities would make a difference, but in reality we aren't any better(might be worse actually) with the new facilities than we were before the RBC and basketball facility were completed and before CF was completely redone. Even though there were coaching changes in both programs, there are plenty of examples in the conference and nationally where programs change coaches and don't hit rock bottom(Wake with Grobe, Maryland with Fridgen, UNC with Roy, W. Va with their new basketball coach). In looking at these charts, it appears that Philip Rivers and Julius Hodge had a whole lot more to do with our success than the shiny new buildings we have erected in Raleigh. By the numbers alone, NC State supporters have out-performed our administration and it really isn't close. NC State fans are top 20 by almost every reasonable measure (except for overall football attendance which can't go any higher, but has seven consecutive sellouts), yet our athletic department isn't close to the top 20 by any measure. In fact, the only consistent top 20 programs at NC State are men's and women's cross country. So are NC State fans really getting what they deserve? "

[Edited on March 25, 2008 at 11:48 AM. Reason : bottom 10 nationally]

3/25/2008 11:42:16 AM

Quote :

" Football(W = 1 win): WWWWWWWW WWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWW (Rivers last year) WWWWW WWWWWWW WWW WWWWW Wins in first four years - 34 Wins in 2nd four years - 20 Overall trend - negative Basketball(W = 1 ACC win) WWWWW WWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWW (Hodge's last year) WWWWWWWWWW WWWWW WWWW Wins in first four years - 34 Wins in 2nd four yeasr - 26 Overall trend - negative "

I thought it was just about beating carolina and duke?

3/25/2008 12:02:35 PM

This one is dropping a bit....

This is pretty much one thing that we all can agree on.

Get this fucker out.

3/26/2008 6:15:47 PM

i don't understand how he has a job. there is no way that the wolfpack club is happy with him. they need to push him out, and now.

3/26/2008 6:19:51 PM

Quote :

"(13) San Diego 70, (4) Connecticut 69 (FINAL) can we bring back marye anne fox too"

that isnt where she left for.......

3/26/2008 10:02:49 PM

http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=1420034

3/27/2008 1:49:14 PM

http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2008/03/27/a-view-from-the-cheap-seats-12/

3/27/2008 2:56:06 PM

^^^ haha I posted this yesterday...

Quote :

"Only other schools I've really seen get confused are USD (made tourney this year), UCSD (Mary Anne Fox is Chancellor), and SDSU (sux as of late). A couple years back every NCAA bracket had UCSD when USD was the actual team that made it."

3/27/2008 3:00:47 PM

Honestly who has the power to fire Fowler? Serious question. Are there like Tar Heel alumni in high places within the UNC system that are helping to keep him as our AD or something?

He has accomplished less in his 10 years as an AD than Jon Koncak did in his 10 years in the NBA.

3/28/2008 5:26:26 PM

well we definitely need a website first

3/28/2008 7:36:19 PM

Quote :

"Are there like Tar Heel alumni in high places within the UNC system "

haha well the acc commissioner himself is a tar heel alum, that should tell you something

3/28/2008 9:25:23 PM

Lee Fowler is a tar-heel spy.

3/28/2008 10:10:42 PM

^^The President of the UNC system, Foreskin Bowl, is a UNC cocksucker, I mean alumnus.

I heard that if you tell Erskine that your cock tastes like Ram, he will suck it at any time and at any place all while never taking off his goddamn coffee saucer glasses.



Oh, and I also heard that Lee Fowler like to dress up like a woman and do faggy art.

http://www.leefowler.com/

[Edited on March 30, 2008 at 3:07 PM. Reason : saDf]

3/30/2008 2:58:45 PM

Lee Fowler is a tar-heel spy.

3/30/2008 3:26:27 PM

Lee Fowler is a tar-heel spy.

3/30/2008 3:27:58 PM

Yea dude I'm sure they all conspire to keep NC State at the bottom of athletics

Except that makes no sense at all.

The fact that we're all idiots and keep going to games despite having shitty programs is what keeps an AD like fowler with a job.

3/30/2008 3:49:39 PM