Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is not how NC State Wolfpack director of athletics Boo Corrigan anticipated spending his one-year anniversary on the job.

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Corrigan had cause for celebration with conference championships in women's cross country, men's swimming, wrestling and perhaps most notably women's basketball.

Corrigan was also laying the groundwork for what will be a facilities master plan to help take NC State to the next level.

Here are more highlights from Corrigan's exclusive interview with The Wolfpacker.

Related link: Part I of highlights from interview with Corrigan focusing on coronavirus impact.

Before coronavirus, what stood out about your first year at NC State?

“The passion of our fans, the pride and connection they have to this great institution is really been what’s the driver for me everyday with what’s going on.

“Whether that’s Wes Moore in women’s basketball winning an ACC Championship for the first time in years, beating Duke in basketball at PNC and seeing that place so alive, to being in Reynolds watching Pat Popolizio and the wrestling program doing what they’re doing, or having the women’s cross country team over to our house after they won their fourth consecutive ACC championship.

“Just the pride, the excitement that people have about NC State has really been something that keeps me going and motivated every day to make us the best NC State we can be.”

Do you just enjoy having title winning teams over for dinner or is that something you’ve always done?

“Yeah, it’s something we think is a great fit. We’ve also had the student-athlete advisors council over to our house. We’ve had all coaches team together.

“… You want to be able to share everything we can with them and, quite frankly, we want to celebrate as much as we can. The accomplishments are great, and we want them to feel great about what they’re doing; we want them to know that they’re appreciated and that’s just one way we can do that.”

Is there any possibility we could see a shift towards regional scheduling when Olympic sports resume?

“I think that’s a logical place to go. As you’re looking at budgets, and you’re looking at everything that you’re trying to accomplish, I think it’s ideal if you can bus instead of fly.

“With that being said, we’re not going to be bussing people 12, 14 hours to get back the next morning. What we’re looking at doing is finding the right range with doing a bus [trip] and getting there safely and making sure we are staying with the values that we have.

“We're trying not to take away from the student-athlete experience. I think we can provide them a great experience. The great thing about being where we are, with the number of Power Five [conference] teams, with the number of Division I teams within a six-, seven-, eight-hour radius is a huge number that will provide great variety for our teams to compete — and to compete in a very high level.

In a perfect world, what would have been the highest priorities after one year on the job?

“I think it’s just laying the groundwork to create a better experience for our students, for our fans, for our coaches to be able to compete and win championships in everything that we do and in every aspect of their life. Whether it's academics; in providing a better opportunity for them in working with the rest of campus to allow them to find internships and ways to help the community; the ability to compete on the field or court or pool or whatever else it is, to be able to win championships and not be afraid to do that.

“The last thing is to find a way to strengthen the entire Pack and find a way to create greater pride in who we are and what we are as an institution. I think we’ve spent a lot of time in the past comparing ourselves to others, and I think we need to focus more on ourselves and how we can be great. When we are great, we’re going to be a formidable opponent, and we’re all going in one direction. We’re going to be better and it’s going to be a more enjoyable environment from our students, to our coaches, to our fans, to everyone to come and be a part of NC State.

Is the facility plan still full speed ahead?

“We’re still meeting on that. Really what that is … more of a master facility plan, an athletics development plan to provide us the groundwork over the next three, five, 10 years to lay out a plan for what we think we need to do with our facilities, and that’s what the input is.

“Students, the coaches, the fans can make sure in whatever we’re providing is as good as it can be, it’s best in class.

What are your thoughts on the ACC Network after the first year of its existence?

“I think it was really good, the goodness comes in the opportunity for us to show off our coaches and our students whether it’s competing or being interviewed — or showing old games, which is a lot of what we’re seeing right now.

"Takeovers where it’s NC State day on the ACC Network are, again, an opportunity for us to get our information out there — to get who we are in front of as many people as possible and the greatness of NC State, being able to share that with more people.

“From a financial standpoint, I think it’s been really good. A lot of carriers have picked us up maybe earlier than what we thought and we are excited about the future of it going forward in the pandemic-new horizon that we’re looking at.”

Your thoughts on what made Ben Broussard the right pick to lead the Wolfpack Club?

“First of all, he’s following a legend in Bobby Purcell, and that’s never an easy thing to do.

"Ben is a real student of fundraising. He’s been around Division I athletics at LSU and grew up there with big-time football and basketball. He raised significant dollars at Colorado.

“More than anything else, I think he’s a really good fit as a person and will really be respected and well thought about by Wolfpack Club members and by the NC State community. I’m really looking forward to getting him in here … as a partner moving forward and putting his mark on the NC State program.

Can you explain the NCAA’s recent announcement of allowing name, image and likeness rights to student-athletes to the average fan and what should they expect from that decision?

“I still think it’s relatively early in the process. People are reading into providing the opportunity for the student-athletes and where it lands. I don’t know, specifically, what elements are going to be included and what elements are not going to be included. That being said, people are open to it and want to be able to help them out as we go through this.

“Again, I think there’s still a lot more work to be done as opposed to what it was today or what it’s going to be. A lot of input from the membership is still to come. In looking at it overall, where does it fit, when does it fit and how does it become operational?"

On the basketball side, several top-tier recruits have recently elected to go straight to the NBA’s G League developmental program instead of coming to college. Any personal thoughts on the impact from a big picture and NC State perspective?

“I think each of those decisions are going to be on an individual basis. These young people are making what they believe to be the best decision for them. I think, ultimately, that’s what membership should be based on, is some kids want to go to college. They want to have that college experience.

“I’m a firm believer in the value of education and the value of learning on a campus, so I really believe that’s a really good option. There are other young people that want to get into the pros and pursue that option as fast as they can. I think it’s great that they have that option.

“What effect is that going to have? I don’t know longer term what effect that’s going to have. I know that we’ve had 10,000-plus basketball season-ticket holders for 20-plus years. I know we’ve had 30,000 football season-ticket holders for 19 straight years.

“I think there’s still that college experience that people want to be a part of; I think there’s still a pride that they have in NC State and wearing the red and white of NC State and being a part of what that is. If they want to be a part of that, we’d love to have them on campus. If they don’t, I wish them luck as they pursue their goals.”

What’s the feel on the football season-ticket renewal process this year given the circumstances?

“We’ve had a great response from our fans on the renewal basis as well as what people want. What they really want is to get a sense of normalcy. They want to get back to something that they’ve done for years and with people [they've done it with], and they really want to be a part of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

“We are giving them flexibility. That’s kind of the business that we’re in, to provide that. To try to create a good experience for season-ticket holders who have purchased tickets, who are thinking of purchasing tickets, and doing the best we can for our student-athletes.”

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