Deborah A. Yow-Bowden ’74, a member of the Elon University Board of Trustees and one of the nation’s most respected figures in collegiate sports, has been named the new director of athletics at North Carolina State University. She becomes the first woman in N.C. State’s history to head the Wolfpack athletics program.
N.C. State leaders announced Yow’s appointment at a Friday afternoon news conference in Raleigh.
Yow-Bowden has served as director of athletics at the University of Maryland in College Park since 1994, during which time the Terrapins won 20 national titles in various sports. She has served as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and on the NCAA Management Council and the NCAA Division I budget committee.
In 2007, the Chronicle of Higher Education named Yow one of “The 10 Most Powerful People in College Sports.” According to the formal announcement from N.C. State, she will lead a program that includes 23 teams, revenue of about $40 million and 172 full-time employees.
Yow-Bowden was honored in 2004 by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal as one of the 20 most influential people in intercollegiate athletics. Previously, Yow-Bowden served as athletics director at St. Louis University and held administrative posts at the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
She received Elon’s Young Alumnus of the Year Award in 1985, the Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award in 2009, and she gave the address at Elon’s 2003 commencement.
Yow-Bowden is the younger sister of the late Kay Yow, N.C. State’s longtime women’s basketball coach and the first coach to lead Elon’s women’s basketball program when it debuted in the 1970s.