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Alex Len's tip-in gives Maryland a win for the future --- and maybe the present, too

Students streamed onto the Comcast Center court Wednesday evening, Maryland's lengthy drought against ranked teams over at last.

Mark Turgeon didn't need the history lesson. He invoked the fairly recent past, though, one that felt so close and so far away for the Terrapins as they ponded a 51-50 defeat of No. 14 N.C. State.

"We haven't won a big game since Greivis was here," Turgeon said, and he was spot-on in mentioning Greivis Vasquez.

It really was three years ago --- OK, two years, 10 months and 13 days if you want to be a stickler --- since the Terrapins snagged anything resembling a landmark victory. It didn't happen in Vasquez's final NCAA tournament thanks to one buzzer-beater. It didn't happen in what became former coach Gary Williams' swan song, with close-but-not-quite become that team's signature.

And it certainly didn't happen last year, when a victory over NIT-bound Miami qualified as the Terps' emotional high.

How it was achieved probably doesn't matter for Maryland (14-3, 2-2 ACC), which conquered the 50-point plateau only on Alex Len's tip-in with 0.9 seconds remaining. The game, in and of itself, reinforced two present-day realities.

The Terps can defend the snot out of anyone. And their offense remains downright agonizing to watch against remotely capable opponents, a designation for which N.C. State (14-3, 3-1) more than qualifies.

Turgeon, ever candid, knows this. In a postgame session that at times was befitting a coach on the wrong end of a last-second win, he bemoaned Maryland's inability to run plays out of timeouts, to absorb all of the wrinkles he would like to install and a complete uncertainty whether a revamped starting lineup would work.

But there was no disputing the potential upshot of a victory, which was why he went around the locker room before tha game and asked player after player after player just why they came to College Park in the first place.

"He told us if we want to make it big this year, we have to win this game to bounce back --- which we did," Len said.

Len chuckled knowingly, but Maryland just as easily could have limped out with its third straight loss after squandering a 10-point lead in the second half. Turgeon, as much as anyone, intuited how fortunate the Terps were to survive.

Instead of upscreening on the final play, the Terps downscreened. Pe'Shon Howard drove into the lane, giving Turgeon hope something good would happen. It did, only it required Len to collect Howard's airball and drop it in for the go-ahead score.

"He said it wasn't miss," Len said. "He said it was a pass."

(For what it's worth, the final statistics listed it as a missed jumper for the junior. Box score don't lie).

And so brought an end to Maryland's 17-game losing streak to ranked teams, one that dated back to Vasquez's final appearance as a player in College Park. The length of the drought was, in calendar days, the program's longest against ranked foes since a stretch from 1965 to 1971.

It wasn't difficult to summon the past Wednesday. Maryland, though, would like to believe its victory reflected well on the future.

"I came here to do great things," Turgeon said. "We haven't done a lot of great things since I've been here. This is one great thing and hopefully it's going to lead to many other things and help us in a lot of different areas down the road."

So if the recent past is forgettable and the future is promising, what can be said about the present? That's a far murkier issue, one Maryland has yet to define despite easily its most impressive victory of the season.

Turgeon trotted out two freshmen and three sophomores to start Wednesday, which says plenty about the state of the Terps' program. Maryland played ugly and lost at Miami on Sunday, then played slightly less ugly and beat N.C. State.

Up and down the Terps figure to go, though their latest victory provides at least the start of building a profile certain to face scrutiny exactly two months from now when the NCAA tournament's 68-team field is unveiled.

"This is a great group we have," guard Seth Allen said. "I feel like we could do that. We really want to hang a banner up like everybody else."

Look toward the ceiling at Comcast Center, and the last team to earn a banner was the Terps' 2009-10 edition. They were the last to beat a ranked team, the last to provoke a court-storming.

Only one current player was part of it. Local product Nick Faust, then a college junior, wasn't in attendance as a recruit.

"Pe'Shon was here," Faust said. "He told me. They started rioting."

Then he smiled mischievously.

"I hope they riot," he said jokingly.

Not yet, not after a single mid-January triumph. An escape of the Wolfpack guarantees nothing for Maryland and doesn't solve the team's biggest problems. But it might just be a start --- perhaps of something bigger than the Terps have enjoyed in what feels like quite some time.

--- Patrick Stevens

ACC schedule quick take: N.C. State

Conference: Home --- Clemson, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina; Road --- Boston College, Florida State, Virginia, Wake Forest

Nonconference: Home --- Central Michigan, Liberty, South Alabama; Road --- Cincinnati

Bye: Week 7

Don’t play: Duke, Miami, Virginia Tech

Must-see: Not sure there's much to get excited about early. The marquee games come back-to-back --- the trip to Tallahassee in late October, followed by a home date with North Carolina. The Wolfpack's season will be heavily included by those two games.

A favorable setup: September. New quarterback Mike Glennon will get to have the training wheels on for a while. Both road games that month --- against Cincinnati and Wake Forest --- come against teams that fell hard in 2010.

And not so much: It's never good to see a pair of Division I-AA teams on the schedule. The Wolfpack will need to win seven games to make a bowl game. More importantly, it's going to be tough to have a good read on Tom O'Brien's team until well into the season --- perhaps even the eighth game of the year.

The full schedule:

Sept. 3: Liberty
Sept. 10: at Wake Forest
Sept. 17: South Alabama
Sept. 22: at Cincinnati, ESPN, 8

Oct. 1: Georgia Tech
Oct. 8: Central Michigan
Oct. 22: at Virginia
Oct. 29: at Florida State

Nov. 5: North Carolina
Nov. 12: at Boston College
Nov. 19: Clemson
Nov. 26: Maryland

Sept. 3 LIBERTY
Sept. 10 at Wake Forest
Sept. 17 SOUTH ALABAMA
Sept. 22 at Cincinnati (Thursday), ESPN, 8 pm
Oct. 1 GEORGIA TECH
Oct. 8 CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Oct. 15 OPEN
Oct. 22 at Virginia
Oct. 29 at Florida State
Nov. 5 NORTH CAROLINA
Nov. 12 at Boston College
Nov. 19 CLEMSON
Nov. 26 MARYLAND

Maryland stats wrap: N.C. State

For the sake of posterity (though obviously not of timeliness), a rundown of Maryland's regular-season finale.

As a note, a lot of this data will get broken down even further once the bowl game is in the books. But for now ...

TOUCHES (RUNS + CATCHES)

Player	NCSU	Season
Da'Rel Scott	4	127
Davin Meggett	6	119
Torrey Smith	14	71
D.J. Adams	7	54
Adrian Cannon	5	37
Ronnie Tyler	---	19
Quintin McCree	4	16
Kevin Dorsey	1	14
Will Yeatman	5	13
Matt Furstenburg	---	10
Mike Salvatico	---	9
Kerry Boykins	1	8
Taylor Watson	---	6
LaQuan Williams	1	5
Dave Stinebaugh	INJ	4
Haroon Brown	---	3
Gary Douglas	INJ	2
Tony Logan	---	2
Devonte Campbell	1	1
Danny O'Brien	---	1

Reviewing the N.C. State game day predictions

The first of many posts now that I'm home and situated after Maryland's wild 38-31 defeat of N.C. State. Let's look back on the pregame picks and see how they worked out. ...

1. Danny O'Brien will account for at least one touchdown.

CORRECT. O'Brien accounted for four, and with 23 on the season now ranks third in school history for a single year behind Scott Milanovich (29 in 1993) and Scott McBrien (25 in 2003). And to think: O'Brien has three more seasons.

2. Torrey Smith will at least tie Maryland's school record for receiving touchdowns in a season.

CORRECT. Actually, Smith obliterated it. He has a dozen touchdown catches after scoring four times against N.C. State, three more than any receiver in school history. Simply an amazing season for the junior.

3. It will be close.

CORRECT. For the 10th time in 11 games, Maryland-N.C. State was decided by 10 points or less.

4. Maryland will intercept Russell Wilson at least twice.

INCORRECT. The Terps picked off Wilson just once, but it set up a touchdown in the second quarter that helped turn things for the Terps. Nonetheless, for 60 pass attempts, only throwing one pick was good for Wilson.

5. Maryland will win.

CORRECT. The Terps scored 38 of 41 points at one stage to secure only their second victory in a regular season finale in the last six years.

N.C. State: 4-for-5
Season: 35.5-for-60

Five game-day predictions: Maryland-N.C. State

It's time for the regular-season finale. Time flies, doesn't it? Tough to believe that between tomorrow and the first weekend of September, the only football that will be seen at Byrd Stadium is the spring game.

(I've got some lacrosse to tide me over as well, but as I've been reminded countless times, that only excites a niche audience).

Anyway, just two hours or so to kickoff, and that means it's time to trot out the regular season's final set of predictions.

1. Danny O'Brien will account for at least one touchdown. In doing so, the redshirt freshman will become only the sixth different Maryland player to figure into 20 touchdowns or more in a season. The last? Scott McBrien in 2003.

2. Torrey Smith will at least tie Maryland's school record for receiving touchdowns in a season. Smith has eight touchdown catches, one shy of the mark set by Marcus Badgett in 1992 and matched by Jermaine Lewis in 1994. Smith's had a ridiculously consistent season, and that will continue with another strong day in what could be his last game at Byrd.

3. It will be close. Nine of the last 10 meetings between the teams were decided by 10 points or less. Granted, the 13-3 game in 2004 never felt that close, and N.C. State closed in garbage time in the '06 game to make it a respectable 37-0. But don't expect a blowout. Not today.

4. Maryland will intercept Russell Wilson at least twice. The Terps picked off Wilson three times last year, which was a nearly unthinkable prospect at the time. Maryland has 16 interceptions this season --- four returned for scores --- and it will set up the offense with decent field position a couple times this afternoon.

5. Maryland will win. The Terps are 1-10 in the final two games of the regular season dating back to 2005. The lone victory came in the 2007 season finale against N.C. State. But more than that, the Terps have not lost consecutive games all season and don't seem to be dealing with the issues that have plagued past Maryland teams. The Terps won't make this easy, and it might not even be all that watchable. But the Terps should pull out a victory to earn their first eight-win regular season in four years.

Miami: 2.5-for-5
Virginia: 3-for-5
Florida State: 2-for-5
Season: 31.5-for-55

All 128 ACC Atlantic Division scenarios in one place

With four teams and seven games still relevant to the ACC's Atlantic Division race, there are 128 scenarios that could come out of the division.

(For those without much of a stats background, that number comes from taking two --- the number of outcomes possible --- to the seventh power, i.e. 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2).

Anyway, this was a quirky project for a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Baltimore on the way back from the Maryland-Miami game. Needless to say, three pages of my notebook now look like Kryptonian symbols.

Of the 128 scenarios, Florida State wins in 38 of them, N.C. State in 33, Maryland in 31 and Clemson in 25.

And then there's the trainwreck scenario. That's the fun one.

Suppose Florida State loses to Clemson but beats Maryland. And the Terrapins upend Virginia and N.C. State. Oh, and the Wolfpack has to beat Wake Forest and North Carolina. Finally --- and perhaps least likely --- Clemson has to lose at Wake Forest. Then again, it's Clemson, so nothing should be counted out.

That creates a three-way tie at 5-3 between Florida State, Maryland and N.C. State. The group would be 1-1 against each other, and all three teams would have the same division record, losses to Clemson, wins against Boston College and Wake Forest and no common games against non-division teams.

That takes things down to step No. 7 on the eight-step tiebreaker list, which is the team with the highest ranking in the BCS standings at the end of the conference regular season --- unless the teams are within five spots of each other. Seeing as how none of the three are in the top 25 of this week's BCS standings, hilarity could ensue.

Step No. 8, by the way, is "the representative shall be chosen by a draw." Fun times.

So one of the 128 scenarios falls under "unknown" --- an amusing potential outcome to say the least. As for the other 127. Read on after the jump.

A theoretical question for Maryland and N.C. State fans

Here's a completely random puzzler for both Maryland and N.C. State fans: Will there be more pictures of Lee Fowler displayed in Comcast Center for the long term than anywhere at N.C. State?

Why does this question come up? Well, I noticed this in the halls of Comcast while in College Park the other day:

It's not a great photo on my part, but that is Fowler (right) congratulating Gary Williams for winning the national championship in 2002.

Fowler was the NCAA basketball committee chairman that year, so that explains his presence in that image. And no, that photo won't be taken down anytime soon.

So the score is College Park 1, Raleigh ??. Something tells me a few loyal readers who root for the Wolfpack would like to have their say in what that final score ultimately is.

Eve of the season ACC primer: N.C. State

(The seventh of 12 ACC team previews)

Tom O'Brien came to N.C. State for one last challenge in his career while ditching a gig where, despite being successful, a series of 8-4ish seasons had become dull at best and stale at worst.

He banked on taking over a program in Raleigh. Instead, he got a medical ward.

O'Brien's three Wolfpack teams, in general, haven't been a complete embarrassment, given the plethora of injuries suffered on an annual basis. N.C. State is no longer a completely boneheaded and bumbling bunch, and it has one of the most exciting quarterbacks to enter the ACC (Russell Wilson) in the last decade or so.

But the Wolfpack hasn't been particularly scary, either, at least not on a regular basis to anyone other than Butch Davis.

O''Brien is fond of pointing out his first three Boston College teams combined for just as many wins (16) as his first three N.C. State outfits. The Eagles had a 4-4-8 sequence as O'Brien worked to overcome Dan Henning's disastrous run, while his 5-6-5 run of wins with the Wolfpack (a) Is a victory in 2008 shy of a haiku (look what Wilson's injury in the Pizza Bowl did!) and (b) Does nothing to instill belief a breakout season is on the way.

The best argument something good could be coming down the pike is the Wolfpack actually has some depth. Maybe it isn't at running back, where a cornerback converted to offense during camp won the opening game starting job. But assuming Wilson and a posse of receiving options are let loose, the Wolfpack might resemble the sort of reckless team a college freshman would utilize in a video game more than anyone else in the ACC.

When we last saw them ...:The Wolfpack had to rank among the happiest 5-7 teams out there, holding North Carolina to 27 points in a one-point victory to close out the regular season.

OK, the season featured no bowl game and virtually no defense (North Carolina was the first major-college opponent the Wolfpack held to less than 30 points since a 7-3 loss to South Carolina in the season opener). But Wilson threw for 31 touchdowns and alleviated concerns about his fragility.

It was, to be truthful, a fairly forgettable run that started with promise --- or at least as much promise as can be had with a pair of Division I-AA wins and a defeat of a ranked team coached by Dave Wannstedt. Unlike O'Brien's first two years, State didn't go into its finale with a prayer of extending its season. But it did knock off North Carolina (again), and that has a way of softening the blow of watching a defense shredded on a weekly basis.

Biggest question: A rushing game. It's tempting to point to the defense, but statistically N.C. State shouldn't have been quite so bad last year. Chalk some of it up to injuries (linebacker Nate Irving) and some to depth and a whole lot to turnovers (season margin: minus-11). Factor out the defeats of Murray State and Gardner-Webb, and N.C. State probably should have had a losing record --- but not given up as many points in the process.

Instead, it's worth looking at the tailbacks and the line that will be blocking for them. The Wolfpack's listed starters for Saturday's opener include three sophomores on the offensive line, and two freshmen (Dean Haynes and Mustafa Greene) as the top options at tailback.

If N.C. State doesn't make a bowl game, the first reason will be the absence of a credible ground game. The Wolfpack might just be able to score with anyone. Whether they're capable of the soul-crushing six-minute drive while nursing a three-point lead in the fourth quarter is another matter altogether.

Biggest asset: Wilson. Granted, the junior is blessed with plenty of targets, including Jarvis Williams, Owen Spencer and tight end George Bryan. But even if Christian Ponder and Jacory Harris receive some Heisman buzz, Wilson is the ACC's most exciting player.

A year older and wiser (and with the baseball question resolved now that he's opted to sign with Colorado and continue his football career, which all the cool QBs in the ACC seem to be doing), Wilson is well-positioned to continue the gains the Wolfpack has made on offense. In the absence of a credible rushing game, he'll have to.

Best case: N.C. State starts with three straight wins, closes with three consecutive victories and poaches a couple more games during a difficult middle stretch. An 8-4 season would constitute progress, would surely ticket the Wolfpack for a middle-tier bowl (hello, Charlotte!) and earn them chic ACC title sleeper status for 2011.

In the process, Wilson would become a full-fledged star worthy of a bit of national attention and the Irving-anchored defense would show vast improvement. Fixing the turnover problem must happen if the Wolfpack is to make such a push, and the emergence of a rushing attack (Greene's as likely a candidate as any to make it happen) would be helpful.

Worst case: The Wolfpack lose once or twice before conference play begins, can't poach a home victory against Virginia Tech, Boston College or Florida State and they're stuck playing for their postseason lives in the final month of the season.

Toss in some injuries, an unproductive defense and an offensive line that has its inexperience exposed, and the Wolfpack could take a step back as far as 4-8.

Where we'll see them in three months: Set to appear LIVE in the nation's capital between Christmas and New Year's!

It's not asking too much of N.C. State to win an extra game this season, even if there's one less I-AA foe to deflect with ease. A healthier and deeper defense will help, and Wilson might just be even better at dissecting ACC offenses when he gets a second or even third look at them.

That said, this isn't a team likely to charge into the top half of the conference this season. There's too many questions with a major component of the offense (i.e. the rush) to believe there won't be a game or two frittered away simply because the Wolfpack doesn't have the personnel to effectively close an opponent out.

From a storyline perspective, there couldn't be a more compelling possibility than 5-6 N.C. State visiting 5-6 Maryland on Thanksgiving weekend in a de-facto Yow Bowl --- the winning coach heads to RFK Stadium for the EagleBank Bowl, the loser gets to endure a press conference that could have funereal overtones.

Of course, N.C. State could already have six wins by then. That seems like an appropriate ballpark to expect. Maybe the Wolfpack gets to seven, perhaps they fall short with five. They'll be a middle-of-the-road team, a nuisance on a few occasions but eminently beatable on others.

That's probably not what O'Brien signed up for. Yet until the Wolfpack breaks out of its post-Philip Rivers rut of mediocrity (a win sequence of 5-7-3-5-6-5), there's no reason to expect things to veer far off course.

College football countdown: Nos. 51-55

There's still 55 teams to go on the countdown.

All but 10 are from BCS automatic qualifying conferences. One of those is Notre Dame.

Of the remaining nine, one is in today's interval. And so are four borderline bowl teams from power conferences.

55. N.C. STATE

There's scads of interesting subplots with the Wolfpack (or is it Wolpfack?), all worth mentioning in some form or another.

Quarterback Russell Wilson returns after a 31-touchdown season and getting drafted early by the Colorado Rockies.

Linebacker Nate Irving resumes his career with a porous N.C. State defense after missing last season with injuries suffered in a serious car wreck.

Tom O'Brien begins Year No. 4 in Raleigh, and he'll have a new boss (Debbie Yow) who promised accountability throughout the N.C. State athletic department upon her hire last week.

For a middle-of-the-road program, it has a chance to be among the most interesting in the ACC.

One step toward good interest would be beating Western Carolina on Sept. 4. It would be the Wolfpack's first win in an opener since 2006 --- ending one of the longer season-opening skids among BCS conference teams.

The longest active opening-game droughts in major college football:

12: Utah State

7: Tulane

6: Northern Illinois
6: Syracuse

5: Florida International
5: Memphis
5: San Diego State
5: Western Michigan

4: New Mexico
4: Toledo
4: Virginia
4: Washington State
4: Western Kentucky

3: Illinois
3: Louisiana-Monroe
3: Middle Tennessee
3: N.C. State

54. KANSAS

The the conference expansion/obliteration wheel spun and spun last month, there was one coach who it was pretty easy to sympathize with.

A lot of people would say Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, even though he either (a) Could have gotten another really good job in a year or two or (b) Turned the Jayhawks into a Memphis-type overlord in a new league and simply scheduled like mad in nonconference play.

No, the potential loser was Turner Gill, who had escaped Buffalo with his good name intact (and actually enhanced) and got a power conference job of his own. Moreover, he stepped into a situation where a smile and a kind word was sure to ingratiate him with his new players and fans.

Fortunately for Gill, the Big 12 (Minus Two) will exist a while longer. Unfortunately for Gill, he inherits a terrible defense and an inexperienced quarterback after Todd Reesing's never-ending career actually ended.

The Jayhawks also get Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech off the schedule --- much like in 2007 --- and that will buy Gill some time. There are seven home games, a neutral-site date with Missouri and trips to Baylor and Iowa State. Don't expect a miracle run in Gill's first season, but 7-5 and a lower-tier bowl appearance could be in the cards.

53. FRESNO STATE

What you see is what you get with Pat Hill's Bulldogs.

Hill took over in the Valley in 1997. In each of his 13 seasons, Fresno finished between 6-2 and 4-4 in the WAC (there was a 5-2 mark in 1999 after the league split in two and was briefly left with eight teams).

So even accounting for Boise State's dominance, the Bulldogs invariably do two things every year: Beat or scare the bejesus out of a power conference team, and trip up against someone who doesn't win the WAC in league play.

Fresno's averaged nearly eight wins a season over the last eight years, and with a strong offensive line in place, the Bulldogs remain a good bet to finish close to the top of the conference and land in yet another bowl game.

52. MISSISSIPPI

The Rebels lost a 1,000-yard rusher (Dexter McCluster), a 1,000-yard receiver (Shay Hodge) and a quarterback who didn't live up to his Heisman-candidate billing last year but was nonetheless decent (Jevan Snead)..

Since Ole Miss isn't, say, Alabama or Florida or Louisiana State, it won't simply reload and be a borderline top-25 team.

But expecting the Rebels to completely fall apart? For those who do so, it's a trap.

While Admiral Ackbar won't be prowling the sideline in Oxford, the Rebels should be pleased they draw Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt from the East Division. Toss in three home nonconference games --- and a home date with Mississippi State --- and it should be enough to earn one of the SEC's plethora of available bowl berths.

In short, Ole Miss won't be overwhelming, but its defense should be good enough to manage seven wins and an extra month of practice.

51. TENNESSEE

It's been a quiet five months in Knoxville.

Well, relatively speaking.

Lane Kiffin is no longer around to agitate and instigate, which means the Volunteers haven't made nearly as many headlines. And that translates into non-Kiffin matters; they're nowhere to be found in the most recent Fulmer Cup standings.

Ultimately, Tennessee traded the scion of one coaching family for another. And Derek Dooley, who was 17-20 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech, takes over a program that just endured an exodus of talent.

Unlike Ole Miss ---  a team in a very similar predicament --- the Volunteers get no help on the scheduling front. Alabama and Louisiana State pop up from the West Division, and Oregon pays a visit in the second week of the season.

Dooley's greatest test will be surviving a brutal opening two months. The November schedule --- Memphis, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky --- is plenty manageable, but it won't matter if Tennessee stumbles to a 2-6 start. Matching last year's 7-6 record during the Kiffin Interregnum would be sufficient to qualify as a success this fall, even if Dooley doesn't do it with as much bravado as his predecessor.

Comparing Debbie Yow's old and new deals to ACC peers

Loyal readers of the blog --- going back to v1.0 --- remember a story from December about assistant basketball coach salaries in the ACC (the link is provided as a sign of good faith, not as encouragement to to actually click on it and give a former employer a page view).

In any case, assistant coach contracts were far from the only thing requested in that blitz of public records requests sent to each of the eight public schools in the ACC.

The contracts of football and men's and women's basketball head coaches were requested, as well as those of all the athletic directors.

Eventually, all could prove useful in some way or another. And with Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow leaving for the same post at N.C. State, those AD deals are certainly of some interest now.

There are, admittedly, some holes in this. The contracts are also interpreted in a fairly literal manner. Some of the base salaries aren't necessarily reflective of pay for the last school year, but it's far better to take the numbers secured through the records request (or, in the case of Yow at Maryland, via the Diamondback's salary guide --- check out the top left of page 20) than through any sort of assumptions utilized during calculations.

Some contract clauses are considered add-ons that are virtually assured of being paid. These include supplemental pay (Yow will get $100,000 of that at N.C. State) or radio/TV money.

There's also the matter of some incidentals that are included in terms of dollars in some deals and not in others. Pretty much every AD gets an auto allowance; some get money, others get a courtesy car that wouldn't pop up in an analysis like this.

Nonetheless, this chart is a reasonable reflection, based on an examination of the contracts, of what the ACC's athletic directors are hauling in. Yow's contracts at both Maryland and N.C. State are included, as is the deal of former N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler. Some explainers follow (EDIT: There was a little confusion on Radakovich's supplemental income. His total reflects 2009-10 now, not 2010-11):

AD	Base	Base + Add-Ons	Max Bonus	Signed/Through
Dan Radakovich, GT	$300,000	$587,800	---	2008/2013
Debbie Yow, NCSU	$350,000	$457,500	$398,000	2010/2015
Debbie Yow, Md.	$382,574	$448,374	$90,000	2007/2013
Terry Don Phillips, CU	$200,000	$418,000	---	2007/2013
Jim Weaver, VT	$362,472	$387,472	$95,412	2006/2012
Randy Spetman, FSU	$350,000	$350,000	$190,000	2008/2013
Dick Baddour, UNC	$295,000	$325,000	$147,500	2009/2012
Craig Littlepage, UVa	$320,000	$320,000	$50,000	2001/????
Lee Fowler, NCSU	$280,000	$280,000	---	2007/2013

* These numbers do not account for retirement packages and deferred compensation. Phillips received $160,000 in retirement plan money, while Weaver collected $25,000 for a university retirement plan. With that taken into account, Phillips obviously skyrockets in compensation.

* Yow's N.C. State max bonus is perhaps the most glaring example of a literal interpretation. In this case, it would take all 23 of the Wolfpack's varsity sports winning a national title to make that happen.

Here's a more realistic scenario: N.C. State finishes fourth in the ACC in football, both basketball teams reach the NCAA tournament (but don't win the ACC), a total of eight teams reach the NCAA tournament and the department meets its APR, graduation rate and Director's Cup benchmarks. That bonus would come out to $153,000. Clearly, her new deal has a generous bonus package, but it's not as outlandish as the chart would suggest.

* Yow's move pretty clearly isn't about money; the compensation will turn out to be similar. While the cost of living is more tolerable in the Triangle, the extra cash is far from the top of the list of explanations as to why she would switch jobs.

* Phillips' base salary information is from 2007, so it might have jumped some since then. The base numbers for Radakovich and Spetman come from 2008. The numbers for the rest were all accurate for the 2009-10 school year (except, obviously, Yow's new deal at N.C. State).

* Phillips' deal has a clause that is extremely relevant this week. From his 2007 contract amendment:

3. Article 3.3 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Unless written notice of non-extension of this Employment Agreement is provided to Employee by the President not less than sixty (60) calendar days in advance, at the conclusion of the eighth year of this Employment Agreement (July 1, 2010), the term of this Employment Agreement shall be automatically extended for five additional years making the expiration date July 1, 2018. If the President decides not to extend this Employment Agreement as provided herein, the written communication from the President to the Employee will include the reason for that decision. ..."

* Baddour receives a month's salary for each of the following occurrences: Football plays in a bowl game; men's basketball reaches the NCAA tournament; women's basketball reaches the NCAA tournament; baseball reaches the NCAA tournament; department's four-year APR exceeds 970; and North Carolina finishes in the top 10. His bonuses add up pretty quickly, and vault him much closer to the top of the list than the chart implies.

* Littlepage's contract is easily the least revealing of the bunch. The contract provided by Virginia was a couple pages in length and basically was Littlepage's appointment letter from nine years ago. Completely random and irrelevant --- but still kind of curious --- fact: Littlepage put his signature on it on Sept. 11, 2001.

* Poor Lee Fowler. Not only was he guaranteed the least amount among the conference's eight public school ADs, but he received no obvious bonuses, either.

* The fifth addendum to Fowler's contract (from April 2007) provided some of the most interesting language in all of these deals.

WHEREAS NC STATE desires to employ ATHLETICS DIRECTOR for an additional four (4) years beyond his current contract term, which ends on September 30, 2009, and ATHLETICS DIRECTOR desires to be employed for an additional two (2) years.

Apparently, Fowler (like most people) wasn't about to argue with being given more than he wanted. Who could blame him --- especially now that he'll get paid to do nothing for the final two years of his deal?

* One last Fowler item --- he had a non-compete clause in case he either left on his own accord or was fired without cause. Not that it was remotely likely in the first place, but those N.C. State fans hoping for a challenge trade of athletic directors will probably be disappointed:

"... ATHLETICS DIRECTOR agrees that he will not obtain employment with any ACC school for the time period remaining under this Agreement. The parties agree that money damages would be inadequate to remedy a breach of this covenant; therefore, the UNIVERSITY shall have the right to obtain from any court such equitable, injunctive, or other relief as may be appropriate, including a decree enjoining ATHLETICS DIRECTOR from violating this paragraph."