Even though women’s basketball coach Kay Yow is ready to return to coaching this week after missing the last 16 games because of a progression in cancer, N.C. State hasn’t missed a beat.

Sure it’s been tough for the players, coaches and even the fans not to have Yow on the sideline, but associate head coach Stephanie Glance, who has gone 10-6 since Yow’s departure, has done a fabulous job coaching the Wolfpack.

Glance, who has been with State for the past 13 years, has the demeanor of a head coach. While sitting in her office, one could not meet a nicer woman. She’ll ask the reporters how they’re doing before fielding questions.

Her personality allows her to talk to anyone — it’s something the players seem to have really caught on to — and it’s something that can’t hurt recruiting.

As the team’s recruiting coordinator, she spends a lot of time evaluating talent. State’s six freshmen this year had the Pack ranked as the No. 10 class in the nation, according to the All-Star Girls Report. The 2004 to 2005 class was 14th in the nation. Since 1995, State has had seven top-20 classes.

She also supervises the players’ academic progress. And the team isn’t too shabby there either. The women’s basketball team ranks in the 95th percentile of women’s basketball — the highest among all varsity sports at State.

On the court, Glance has the look of a head coach. Twenty seconds after flashing a big smile and patting a player on the back, she can give a look that would make Ron Artest shudder.

And it doesn’t stop there. So far this season Glance has made fantastic in-game decisions which have been apparent on the court — something Yow said she didn’t know if she could “have done it any better.”

“I owe a great debt of gratitude to my current staff and to the team for the hard, hard work they have put in,” Yow said. “Everybody has had to up their job description … You see what a great job has been done.”

“Coach Stephanie Glance, who was interim head coach — words can’t express how appreciative I am.” Glance is young, too. At 42 years old, she has coached high school volleyball and been an assistant basketball coach at State for more than a decade, which displays her loyalty to the program.

As an assistant coach at an ACC program, Glance is bound to have had offers come her way to lead a team as head coach. If not, it’s bound to happen this off-season. But she won’t budge.

It’s not easy to find a coach who can mix a friendly, yet demanding personality. It’s not easy to find a coach who has the ability to recruit top-notch athletes, while at the same time keeping them in the classroom. And it sure isn’t easy to find someone to replace Yow.

But Glance has.

So while everyone is understandably excited about Yow’s return to coaching and hopeful return to 100 percent health, the team is in good hands as long as Glance is around.

And when Yow is ready to step down, I hope both Glance and the athletic director think Glance is the right person as the next coach. If so, the future of women’s basketball is very bright.