Personally, I’ve never been really keen on anything made by Adidas short of cleats and selected other footwear.  For that matter, some have gone as far as to blame Adidas cleats for injuries to some of their customers.  Regardless, when you consider that Adidas is one of the top 2 collegiate athletics apparel manufacturers in the country and that they have the ability to manufacturer products for a variety of sports programs within NC State, you have to be thrilled with the $7 million deal Yow just signed.  I’m sure many on Twitter and various NC State forums will be praising and bashing the name of Adidas, but let’s look at how this looks compared to our peers.

PEER COMPARISON

First of all, this puts NC State in the company of several well-known athletic programs around the nation…

NC State joins an elite group of institutions including Notre Dame, Tennessee, Kansas, Wisconsin, Louisville, Michigan, Indiana, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, UCLA, Mississippi State and Nebraska who have such agreements with Adidas. (link)

Ever since a Tar Heel player unwittingly boasted about his school “being in the same conversation” as other big-name programs when discussing NCAA infractions, I have never been ab;e to take the “company you keep” argument with a lot of sincerity.  Still, it does show that NC State’s exclusive agreement is by no means an amateur move on Yow’s part.

What is perhaps more impressive than who else has exclusive Adidas deals is who has Nike deals and what kind of benefits that reaps.  Boise State signed a six-year, $6.24 million agreement with Nike just over a week ago.  With all benefits, it’s guaranteed just under $7 million with a possibility to reach just over that mark given specific achievements are met.  Compare that to NC State’s $7 million agreement in just four years, and you can begin to understand the scale of this contract.

IMPORTANCE OF THESE FUNDS

One of the bigger problems with Lee Fowler was his inability to use his financial resources effectively.  One example of this can be found in Rick Barnes who reportedly warned NC State to ‘make him a good offer’ back in the 2006 coaching search.  Fowler low-balled Barnes and ended up missing out on a willing hire.  Yow has taken a different approach of using our financial means to attract (and keep) top coaches and trust that with success, the increasing funds will flow.  This contract goes a long way into funding coaching contracts and incentives.  In fact, this contract will give $425,000 annually which will partially fund coaching incentives already built into their contracts.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Love it or hate it, Adidas is going to be here for a while.  In fact, this contract isn’t anything ground breaking; it’s an extension of an existing contract that was previously signed for football and basketball.  The one undebatable fact surrounding this headline is that Debbie Yow really hit a home run landing a deal that many top-programs don’t even get.  As fans focus on NC State getting back to where they should be on the scoreboard, Yow is focusing on making sure NC State is financially where it should be.

Anyone still not sure about Yow?