Even coaches who have been inducted into seven different halls of fame have their weaknesses. For N.C. State head coach Kay Yow, breast cancer has proven-at least temporarily-to be that stopping force.
When No. 1 Duke (18-0, 3-0 in the ACC) treks east on I-40 to take on the Wolfpack (13-5, 2-1) in Reynolds Coliseum tonight at 7 p.m., Blue Devils head coach Gail Goestenkors will shake hands not with Yow but instead with interim head coach Stephanie Glance, who has gone 10-4 since Yow took an indefinite leave of absence Nov. 23.
Yow, whom N.C. State hired in 1975, has made several significant contributions to the game of women's basketball, including pushing hard for the creation of Title IX in 1972 and helping other schools make women's basketball more prominent.
Goestenkors said she remembered a conversation she had with Yow soon after arriving at Duke.
"I talked to her at that point about marketing because our attendance was really bad and they had much better attendance," Goestenkors said. "Everybody across the nation loves Kay Yow and respects her. She had such an impact on our game."
Yow has been quite productive on the court as well. With 636 wins and five ACC championships on her resume, Yow has the fifth most wins among active NCAA coaches, and in 1998 she took N.C. State to its only Final Four appearance.
Perhaps even more impressive than her collegiate accomplishments are her international achievements. Much like Goestenkors this past summer, Yow led Team USA. to a gold medal at the Olympics in 1988. With her 1984 gold medal as an assistant coach, she became the only coach to have garnered two gold medals in the history of women's basketball.
"I realize that it's a great opportunity for me to work for a legend in the game and a legend in life," Glance told The Raleigh News and Observer. "You don't meet many people like Coach Yow."
At times, however, Yow fell very ill. Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and again in late 2004. But keeping the spotlight away from her, Yow kept everyone-even her own players-in the dark for several weeks. Even when she announced that she needed a leave of absence, she humbly insisted in a statement released Nov. 23 that equal treatment be given to other cancer patients going through similar experiences.
Through all the success and problems, Yow has maintained doing things her way-with class, grace, style and integrity all mixed together, Goestenkors said.
"She's been a tremendous role model to me," Goestenkors said. "She's been someone I want to emulate because of how she coaches and because of who she is."
Even with the absence of such an influential presence, the Wolfpack still has found a way to continue the success Coach Yow brought them. Of N.C. State's four losses since Yow's departure, one came to then-No. 1 Maryland Jan. 3 and one in overtime at Arizona Nov. 24, the day after Yow announced that she would take a leave of absence.
The team bonded and rallied around Yow, Goestenkors said about N.C. State, and the players became stronger.
"Stephanie's been doing an incredible job," Yow told the N&O about N.C. State's new head coach. "She's taken on a yeoman's task."
The resilient Wolfpack enter tonight's matchup riding a two-game ACC win streak. But N.C. State will likely need its best performance of the season if it hopes to stay close with the Blue Devils.
Duke has won all of its contests this season by at least 10 points, including an improbable 19-point victory over Maryland Monday.
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