The night before the women’s basketball team left for a West Coast trip for games against Arizona and U.C. Santa Barbara in November 2006, women’s basketball coach, Kay Yow, told her assistants the news.
Minutes later she told the players.
The cancer was back — and this time, it was Stage 4 cancer, the worst. Stage 4, or metastasized cancer, means it has spread to other parts of the body. And the one-year survival rates with this stage are slim.
The next morning, the team was on a plane at 6 a.m. associate head coach, Stephanie Glance, would serve as interim head coach.
“The time that we had to digest that and then actually leave and function as a team was so short that it was devastating. We had a group of players, and they were devastated — and so was our staff,” Glance said.
“Anytime you really care about somebody, and they are so instrumental in your life, and you see them everyday — they’re guiding, directing, teaching and mentoring — and now they have Stage 4 cancer, that’s pretty heavy.”
But there wasn’t anyone else the team would want in control, according to Yow.
“It was really a great feeling to know we were going to keep everything that we stood for in the past, in the present,” Yow said. “And that felt really good — she’s a person who in her own right could be a head coach at another school.”
Last seasonLast season was much different than Yow’s 2004 bout with cancer. The leave in 2004 was defined — 10 days. Yow would leave on a certain day and then return on a particular day.
“Last year was very undefined. Worse than that, her cancer had progressed,” Glance said. “And now we have two scenarios. One is she’s leaving the team, and the other is her cancer’s progressed. Those are two pretty heavy things to take on.”
When Yow left, Glance was forced to take over as the interim coach. During that span, she led the team to a 10-6 record.
While everything appeared in order and Glance directed the team to 10 wins, it wasn’t easy. She said she relied on her faith — and plenty of praying. And it didn’t hurt that at the time Glance had 12 full years with Yow as her mentor.
“I don’t know if I felt prepared, but I knew in my mind that I should be prepared for this. It’s time for me to take this and everything that coach Yow has taught me and all of our staff, and put it in action,” Glance said. “It sounds like a simplistic way, but it was very tough.”
While the Wolfpack accumulated six losses with Glance as interim coach, she believes the team’s turning point was during her 16 games in that position. The change came during a 58-40 win on Jan. 11 at Boston College, she said.
Even though the team would beat Wake Forest and then lose to Duke and North Carolina following the Boston College game, Glance noticed something about her team against the Eagles.
“I think in some unspoken way, they just got a determination about them,” Glance said.
And after the North Carolina game?
“We were headed in the right direction, and then coach Yow came back,” Glance said. “And now it’s like extra motivation.”
Yow returned to the team on Jan. 25 in a 71-60 win against Virginia.
The team went on to reach the ACC Tournament championship, and it reached the Sweet 16 — but the circumstances around the team created a media frenzy, according to Glance.
It was unlike anything she had seen in her entire life. Not only did Glance say she’s never seen media coverage like it around N.C. State women’s basketball, it was bigger than anything in women’s basketball as a whole.
“It took on a national face. It was great for women’s basketball, great for N.C. State. It took on a face for cancer survivors, people that have had any major obstacles in their lives,” Glance said.
“Coach Yow became the face of how to handle obstacles and adversity. It gave so many people hope and encouragement,” she said. “We became so much more than a basketball team.”
Yow and GlanceYow and Glance both majored in English. They taught English. They coached volleyball. They coached softball. But they only talk basketball.
The coaches have such a similar background that it’s eerie, Yow said.
But the differences are plentiful.
Glance loves talking to just about anybody in any situation — she did it when she was 7 years old, and she does it now, according to Yow.
She’s a full-fledged extrovert.
But according to Glance, despite all of Yow’s speeches, public appearances and popularity, Yow is much more of an introvert.
“Coach Yow and I have very different personalities,” Glance said. “I’m much more talkative and extroverted, she’s much more introverted and reserved.”
Despite that, it would still be tough to view Yow as one who motivates from within, Glance said.
“I’m not sure they would think she was an introvert by nature. She’s an introvert who’s had to be an extrovert because of the nature of her job,” she said. “But really, naturally, she is quieter and more reserved but does a great job when she has to.”
On being a head coachGlance knows the position brings more responsibility. She knows what it entails. She’s been there before — even though it was because Yow was battling cancer.
But she wants it, one day.
She said she loves State and wouldn’t work for anyone else but Yow. And those two reasons are why she is still here — even though Glance has had the opportunity to leave Raleigh and pursue a head coaching position at other universities.
Glance said most of the schools were mid-majors, but she said she did have some “very good jobs” come open, too.
“I have actually had a couple conversations with people that they were good jobs — very good jobs,” Glance said. “But I don’t know. I just felt like, in the past couple of years, it would be really hard to leave. If the circumstances were different, I may have considered those.”
Glance said she spent time thinking about the openings, but couldn’t pull the trigger.
“In the end, I just felt like the timing wasn’t right,” she said. “I just felt like it wasn’t the right time to leave N.C. State and coach Yow. I wanted to stick it out. I wanted to be of help where I could be. I just didn’t feel like it was the right time. Timing is everything. I prayed about it, and I just didn’t pursue it.”
She has been on the fast track for a head coaching position since graduating from college. Glance taught high school English at 22 years old, and she had a team of her own.
While having “no clue” what she was doing, she learned plenty — and she liked what she did.
“I liked it. I liked the challenge of that,” she said.
Quickly, she got a position as a graduate assistant and started to coach full time.
Now, more than 20 years after graduating from college, she’s still working as an assistant coach — but she didn’t think she would still be an assistant this far along in her career.
“In one sense, I say it’s funny I’ve been an assistant for this long. But I’ve had a great situation,” she said. “If the situation were different, I wouldn’t have been an assistant. Many years ago, I probably would have started to be a head coach somewhere.”
But she’s stayed because of the responsibility Yow dishes out to the assistants.
“Coach Yow has always given me a lot of responsibility. I’m probably a person who needs that. I think that I do best when I have a lot of responsibility,” Glance said. “If I had worked for somebody else, then I would have to move on and go ahead and do something where I did have a lot of responsibility.”
Glance said she’s been pleased with the situation in Raleigh — and it’s not about jumping from one place to another.
“I’ve stayed here because N.C. State is a great University and coach Yow is a great person to work for. I’m a person who I think [can] recognize great situations when I’m in them,” Glance said.
“I’m not always looking for the grass is greener somewhere else. I’m not that kind of person — that doesn’t cross my mind. I realize when I have a great situation, and I’m grateful for it. And I appreciate it.”
Some of the decisions Glance has made over the years have been tough. But regarding her dream job, and where she wants to be — well, that’s easy.
“I would love to be at N.C. State. I would consider that an ideal job for me,” Glance said. “But I also realize I’m not the person who is making that decision. Somebody else has to feel that way — that I would be the right person and the right fit. But yes, it’d be an awesome job.”
Yow said she recognizes the potential in her assistant and said one day Glance will have a team of her own — preferably with the Pack.
“She’s developed into one of the bright young coaches in the country,” Yow said.
If the opportunity to coach in Raleigh came up, it might be hard for Glance to say no. But that head coaching responsibility is what she wants.
“Eight inches, one chair over, makes a big difference,” she said. “I’ve heard people say that before, but until you’ve experienced it, moving from an assistant to a head coach and experiencing it, you really don’t know.
“There’s definitely a big difference — a different sense of responsibility.”