North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler is resigning next
month, ending a 10-year run with the school.
Fowler will step down June 30.
In a release from the school, chancellor Randy Woodson said
he spoke with Fowler on Monday and the two "agreed that now is the
appropriate time to make a change." Woodson will name an interim
director before Fowler's last day to lead the department until a
national search finds a replacement.
N.C. State said it will honor Fowler's contract, which
expires Sept. 20, 2013, and pays him $280,000 per year.
"Naturally I am disappointed that I will not see firsthand
the fruits of 10 years' work," Fowler said in a statement, "but I
have the greatest confidence that with the caliber of facilities
and coaches we now have, along with a talented and dedicated
administrative staff, the athletics program is poised for great
success going forward."
Fowler, 58, directed the drive to upgrade facilities for the
23-sport athletic department, most notably with the $98 million
worth of work to bowl in Carter-Finley Stadium as well as building
the Murphy Center to house the football program and Vaughn Towers
with luxury suites and club seats.
He also had to make a coaching move in football and men's
basketball, the Wolfpack's two major sports programs. After Herb
Sendek left to take over Arizona State's basketball program in
2006, Fowler conducted a monthlong search that missed on big names
like Rick Barnes and John Calipari before settling on former
Wolfpack player Sidney Lowe.
Later that year, Fowler fired Chuck Amato and lured Tom
O'Brien away from Boston College to lead the football program.
Last year, Fowler also hired Kellie Harper to lead the
women's basketball program after the death of Hall of Famer Kay
Yow.
Wolfpack fans have been particularly frustrated with Lowe,
who inherited a program that had been to the NCAA tournament five
straight years but has yet to go as he heads into his fifth year.
O'Brien, meanwhile, has had a slow and injury-plagued start in
three seasons. Harper's first team had a surprise run to the
Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship game and reached
the NCAAs.
