The fact that Gary Williams and Debbie Yow do not get along is no mystery. Yow, who is now the athletic director at N.C. State, spent 16 seasons in the same capacity at Maryland. She was once Williams’ boss, but there is no love lost between the two. That became fully evident on Tuesday, when Yow accused Williams of trying to interfere with N.C. State’s search for its next men’s basketball coach.
“I don’t have a reputation across all men’s basketball of being difficult to work with,” Yow said Tuesday when asked about her reputation of being difficult to work with. “I have a reputation of not getting along with Gary Williams, who has tried to sabotage the search. Come on, we all know that. OK, so whatever.
“It’s not a reputation. It’s Gary Williams out there doing his thing. Whatever”
Talk of tension between the two began in 2008, when Maryland lost two high-profile recruits at the last second. However, neither has ever been this candid about disliking the other. Here’s what Williams said in response.
“I don’t have any interest in the N.C. State search, since I’m coaching at Maryland and working hard to run our program. Anyone who says I’ve had contact with a prospective coach or athletic director regarding this search isn’t being truthful.”
The question now becomes whether or not the NCAA has to look into this. Is this just a case of sour grapes from Yow, or does she actually have evidence to support her claim that Williams tried to sabotage her head coaching search? The NCAA supposedly looks into all allegations, so it will be interesting to see if anything is done about it.
