Former Charlotte AD Judy Rose opens up on Title IX, Pat Summitt and starting football

Judy Rose, this week’s interview subject for “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” was a trailblazing athletic director who served the Charlotte 49ers in that role for 28 years.

Rose worked for the Charlotte athletic department for 43 years — including as head coach of the women’s basketball and women’s tennis team — before her retirement in 2018. Her leadership as the school’s AD coincided with the greatest across-the-board success in the school’s history, as the 49ers won 70 conference titles in 14 sports.

Rose also shepherded seven new sports into the 49ers’ fold during her tenure including, most notably, a brand new football program in 2013. Rose was also only the third woman to serve as an AD of a Division I school and the first to be named to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee. This interview was conducted in the home where she and her husband Ken live, in the Lake Norman area. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

Scott Fowler: One common denominator in all your work as an AD is that so often you were the only female in the room. What was your strategy in handling that?

Judy Rose: You’re absolutely correct in regard to my being the only female in the room, and I’ll never forget that. I was trying to find mentors (after being named athletic director in 1990). Our chancellor at the time, Jim Woodward, said, “Well, Judy, I’ve got two female mentors for you but they’re not in sports.”

And he mentioned Dale Halton, CEO of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company, and Pat Rodgers, CEO of Rodgers Builders. And he said, “They’re in male-dominated professions. It’s not sports, but it’s the same situation you’re dealing with. Now you’re going to have to go find some within the NCAA, too — some male mentors that will help you.”

SF: You were the third female AD at a Division I university, right?

JR: That’s correct. The other two were from out west. I did not know them and didn’t really interact with them at all.

SF: You have said you weren’t sure you wanted the Charlotte 49ers’ AD job in 1990 when the school offered it. Why?

JR: I just didn’t know any other women doing it. And even though I’d been attending NCAA meetings and doing a lot of parts of the job, I knew that Jeff (Mullins, also the 49ers’ basketball coach at the time) really held the title of AD and would back me up on everything. He was a buffer.

It just made me nervous. Would I be accepted? But I took it. And I just kept telling myself: “You are the athletic director for the entire program. And you’ve got to act like the athletic director for the entire program, and you’ve got to make decisions on what’s best for the entire program, even if you get criticized for those decisions.”

SF: You grew up in Blacksburg, S.C. What was that like?

JR: I’m one of six children. My dad was vice president of a manufacturing company there.

My Mom died early. She was about 46 when she passed away of cancer. I’m the fifth out of six children — five girls and a boy. All five girls graduated from Winthrop. My two older sisters were already at Winthrop, and my brother was at The Citadel, when my Mom passed away. Us three younger ones were all in 8th-9th-10th grade, around there.

All of us played sports in high school. In Blacksburg, there were about 2500 people at the time, and that might even be counting the animals. We created our own fun. You could ride your bike all over town. It was a good upbringing in a small town.

SF: You played basketball in high school and in college at Winthrop. How good were you?

JR: I was a point guard and a captain, all through junior high and high school and for two years at Winthrop. I was a good player. I wasn’t a great player. Team was everything to me. I had learned those teamwork skills from having six kids in a family. We had one television set. We were like: “My brother wants to watch Star Trek or whatever every day. We don’t want to watch that.” My Dad would say: “Figure it out.”

SF: So your Dad sent all five girls to Winthrop?

JR: Yes. When my last sister was going to be graduating, my dad got a call from the alumni office. And they said that they wanted to take a picture with all five girls and the school president. Dad had said, “I can afford to send you to a state-supported school. It’s a great teacher education school. And so that’s where you’re gonna go.”

So when the last one graduated, they take the picture, and then my dad says to the school president: “So, are you going to name a dorm after me? I know I’ve paid for one.”

They didn’t do that. But there is a brick there that I bought and put his name on (laughs).

SF: And then you went to Tennessee?

JR: Yes. A lot of my professors had gotten their master’s degrees at Tennessee. And so they had suggested that I go to Tennessee. And so I applied and got offered an (assistant coaching position for the women’s basketball team). And so I accepted it. Pat Summitt (perhaps the most famous women’s basketball coach in history, but then just starting her career), Sylvia Hatchell (the future UNC women’s basketball coach) and me — those were the three coaches for the women’s basketball team.

We were all around 21 years old. I was like, “They have entrusted us with all these young people!” We were pretty mature, but we still had some immaturity.

SF: Was Pat Summitt already an intimidating presence, sporting her famous glare?

JR: Yes, she had it even then. Pat’s one of those people who was not harsh in any way with language. But she called a spade a spade. If she told you to do something, you better do it. And if you didn’t, that glare was there.

I think a lot of it came from her background. If you’ve read much about Pat, she and her father were kind of at odds over the years. He hardly ever said he loved her. Pat was public about all of that throughout her career.

SF: Did Pat Summitt ever get angry with you?

JR: No. I got angry with her. Pat was always on Pat’s schedule. One time we were supposed to go play tennis. And I’m waiting on her and waiting on her. She finally shows up, an hour late. I said, “I’m not playing now.” I would call her out. (Laughs)

SF: So after Tennessee, you were offered a couple of jobs and you ended up at UNC Charlotte. I’m sure at the time you didn’t know you were going to be there for 43 years. What were you supposed to do originally?

JR: When I was hired in 1975, the university had maybe 8,000 students. I was hired to be the first women’s basketball coach, and that’s what I wanted to be. And some other things went along with that. They said, “If you coach basketball, you will coach tennis. And you will teach one class each semester of physical education. And you will be over the lifeguards.” I didn’t like the lifeguards part, but I agreed to all of it.

I think I was a good basketball coach. But we had no scholarships and limited resources. We traveled by van, which I drove to and from the games. My former players, who I call my kids, they say now: “You kind of drove like a maniac.”

But we had to get to where we’re going and come back.

And in the daytime, sometimes I would drive around the UNC Charlotte parking lots and try to find tall girls that would be on our team.

SF: Wait a minute. You drove around the UNCC dorms, scouting for players?

JR: Dorm parking lots, yes, and all through the campus, looking for people coming to their cars when classes would get out. I’d roll down my window and say “Excuse me. Did you ever play basketball?”

That sounds crazy, but it’s true.

SF: When you took the team van back at night, what did you have to do?

JR: I would drop each one of the young ladies off at their residence hall. And then I would drive back to Belk Gym.

It was dark. There wasn’t good lighting. I’m not gonna say I wasn’t scared. I was.

I would get out of the van and have to unload all the equipment because I did not have assistant coaches or any support staff there.

And I would go into that gym by myself late at night, no lights on. I had a flashlight with me. And I would go into our little closet area and get the equipment put back in there. Then I’d go park the van, get in my car and drive to my apartment. Thank goodness times have changed, on a lot of fronts.

SF: Speaking of times changing, this year is the 50th anniversary of Title IX. What sort of impact has Title IX had on your life?

JR: There’s absolutely no question that I am a product of Title IX. I believe that if Title IX had not passed, I would not have had the opportunity in Charlotte that I had. I’m just so grateful for it.

SF: One of your great accomplishments at Charlotte was instituting a football program at a school in 2013 where that had long been an issue. How did you make that happen?

JR: My senior staff and I were meeting many years about football before we ever started it. We did all kinds of research. One time we thought we were (getting somewhere), and then 9-11 happened. So this was way back. Mac Everett (a prominent Charlotte businessman) was a huge advocate for it. I remember once the chancellor said, “We can’t afford it.” And Mac said: “You’ll never be able to afford it. If you’re waiting, it’s just gonna get more expensive.”

I wanted us to have it, and to get to FBS (the highest level) as quickly as we could. ... One thing it did for us, among many: We could bring recruits in, for every sport, on a football weekend. They could see all that hoopla and participate in it. It’s fun.

We had done that with basketball before, but it doesn’t have the same effect, because the tailgating isn’t there.

SF: What are 2-3 of your favorite moments as the 49ers’ AD?

JR: One actually came in 1977, when I was the women’s basketball coach and our men made it to the Final Four in Atlanta. That was unbelievable.

And going from 8,000 students to 30,000 students — to see all of that growth. And then starting football — that would be on there for sure. I took a lot of pride in the way that the university handled that. I think we started football the right way.

For much more from this interview and to hear other “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” interviews, including 1-on-1 conversations with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dawn Staley, Charlie Scott, Danny Ford and Wesley Walls, subscribe to the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast. New episodes drop every Wednesday, and bonus content is available exclusively on Apple Podcasts.

Next week: Former UNC basketball star Phil Ford.