Deborah A. Yow has been named director of athletics at North Carolina

State University. Chancellor Randy Woodson made the announcement at a

Friday afternoon press conference at Vaughn Towers.

Yow, 58, younger sister of the late Kay Yow who coached NC State

women’s basketball for 34 years, comes to NC State after 16 years

as director of athletics at the University of Maryland. Under Yow’s

leadership, Maryland teams have won 20 national championships and

consistently graduated student-athletes -- with the upcoming Federal

graduation rate report reflecting an all-time high of 80 percent.

“We could not have hired a better person and better administrator

than Debbie Yow,” Woodson said. “At an academically challenging

institution, she has led a program that has won on the field of

competition and met strong academic standards.

“At NC State, we have the foundation of great facilities and a

passionate fan base. Debbie Yow will build on that foundation and take

our athletics program to a higher level. We welcome her to the Wolfpack

family.”

At NC State, Yow will lead a program that includes 23 teams, revenue of

about $40 million and 172 full-time employees. She will officially

begin the job on July 15 at an annual base salary of $350,000.

“I am greatly honored to be the athletic director at North Carolina

State and look forward to working with Chancellor Woodson. We will build

on the strengths of this athletics program and this university and move

forward. My family has been part of the Wolfpack Family for many years.

I am glad to be home.”

Yow has served as president of the National Association of Collegiate

Directors of Athletics and the national Division I-A Athletic Directors

Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National

Football Foundation, as well as the Board of Directors of USA Football

and has served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Academic

Enhancement Committee, as well as having represented the ACC on the NCAA

Management Council.

Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal and the Chronicle of Higher

Education have cited Yow as being among the 20 most influential people

in college athletics. She was selected to serve on the President’s

U.S. Department of Education's Commission on Opportunities in Athletics

to review the status of Federal Title IX regulations. She earlier served

as the chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference Committee on Television,

which is charged with overseeing the league's TV contracts and other

related broadcast issues.

Yow is the first woman to lead NC State’s athletic program. She was

also the ACC’s and Maryland’s first female athletic director, as

well as the only woman to serve as President of the Division IA

Athletics Directors Association. She succeeds Lee Fowler, who is

stepping down on June 30 after 10 years as the NC State athletics

director.

After taking over as athletics director at Maryland in 1994, she and

her senior staff led efforts to enhance the academic support services

for student-athletes, leading to an improved graduation rate (Exhausted

Eligibility Graduation Rate (EEGR) is 85 percent); expanded marketing

and fund-raising efforts, yielding a more than 300 percent increase in

private gifts and corporate sponsorships; and led a $180 million upgrade

of athletic facilities, including the building of the 440,000 square

foot Comcast Center as the new home for intercollegiate athletics and

the expansion of Byrd Stadium, the home to Maryland football.

When she took over the program, it carried an unfunded debt of $51

million, which has since been paid down to $5.5 million, while

consistently balancing the annual operating budgets, funding the

facility improvements and winning national championships.

In 2009, the NCAA News named Maryland as one of the Top 10 athletics

programs in the nation.

Yow is known as an excellent administrator and leader with a

goal-oriented and proactive management style. Originally from

Gibsonville, N.C., Yow began her career as a high school basketball

coach (at Walter Williams High School in Burlington and Eastern Guilford

High School in Gibsonville) and also coached at the University of

Florida, Oral Roberts University and the University of Kentucky before

moving into athletics administration at Florida and the University of

North Carolina at Greensboro. She served as athletics director at St.

Louis University for four years before accepting the Maryland position.

She has written numerous articles and books on athletics management and

human behavior. She holds a bachelor's degree from Elon University and

a master’s degree from Liberty University.