Some ideas for N.C. State athletic director

Members of N.C. State's search committee for a new athletic director want commercials to be less disruptive during sporting events.

They want the new athletic director to be visible and savvy with marketing. And they want the next AD to come in with a full understanding (and perhaps a forewarning) of just how passionate N.C. State's fans are.

One by one, members of the seach committee articulated what they want in an athletic director Monday. Some of the responses were fascinating.

Dan Parker, the Parker Executive Search president whose advice is costing N.C. State $75,000 as it seeks to replace Lee Fowler, asked the 13 members to spend two or three minutes each during Monday’s open meeting describing their criteria for an athletic director.

If you closed your eyes, you would have thought somebody was reading posts from one of the Internet message boards devoted to N.C. State. The answers of these high-ranking officials in many ways mirrored the sentiments of average fans.

They want to win more on the field. They want higher graduation rates. They want somebody who is an excellent fund raiser, and somebody with experience hiring and developing coaches.

But some of the more original and thoughtful responses are worth passing along:

- Committee members seem united in the idea that they want somebody who can market the university and its athletic department.

This extends in particular to the gameday experience at N.C. State events. Trustee Steve Warren wants advertisements at games to be less intrusive and more sophisticated.

Wolfpack Club president Ray Rouse seconded that notion, saying he doesn’t think the guy that runs the scoreboard is watching the same game Rouse is watching as a fan.

"To have a Jiffy Lube commercial when it’s first-and-goal at the 2 is ridiculous,” Rouse said.

- Senior associate athletic director David Horning said it’s important to have an athletic director who makes himself visible to athletes and employees.

Horning said athletes in exit interviews say they would like to see the athletic director at more of their games. He also said the expansion of facilities, with separate coaches in different buildings as far away as the Murphy Center for football, an athletic director will have to work hard to see everybody.

"We’re so decentralized now that it’s hard to be visible,” Horning said.

- Student body president Kelly Hook added to the discussion about marketing when she mentioned that the new athletic director will need to take a serious look at the university’s apparel contract with Adidas, which expires soon.

She said students want the university to be affiliated with brands that help recruiting. With that mature and well researched suggestion, Hook demonstrated the sophistication as a student that would make her peers and N.C. State alumni proud.

- Faculty athletics representative Sam Pardue would like to see an athletic director implement a standard policy across the department for discipline when an athlete misses class.

Instead, Pardue said, that discipline is left up to individual coaches.

"I’d like to see some leadership in that regard,” Pardue said.

- Finally, women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper addressed perhaps the most controversial subject of all.

The ire some fans had developed for Fowler was one of the reasons he was asked to step down. Harper said the new athletic director needs to understand how passionate the fans are at N.C. State and use it as a positive, even as new technology makes it easier for dissenters to vent.

"It’s important [for the new AD] to know that we’re operating with a different group [of fans],” Harper said.

Harper, who’s just a year removed from being hired out of Western Carolina, also offered perhaps the best recruiting pitch to prospective candidates when Parker asked her what the biggest surprise was about her job.

"This is a great university,” Harper said. “I didn’t realize how good it was until I got here.”

There were knowing nods among the committee members. They were obviously eager for the next athletic director to come to the same realization as Harper.

Ken Tysiac