As the coaching carousel spins nationally, NC State’s Dave Doeren is focused on trying to win

The college football coaching carousel is spinning faster than ever. As of Monday, there were 10 FBS coaching changes that have resulted in at least $140 million in contract buyouts through the first nine weeks of the season.

But when it comes to NC State coach Dave Doeren, he doesn’t give that too much attention. Despite his team losing four of its last five games — the lone win mixed in being a 56-10 victory over FCS Campbell — the 13th-year coach has his priorities set on looking to win the final four games of the regular season.

“I don’t worry about that,” Doeren said Monday afternoon. “I gotta worry about my players, I gotta worry about my staff, my wife, my children. Those decisions aren’t mine to make. I told the team this yesterday, I’m going to give them everything I’ve got. Our goal is to go win this football game. And then the next week, we have a bye, try to get them healthy. And then the next week, go try to win a football game. You just keep going. There’s a lot of football left, a lot of games. What happens at other schools has nothing to do with what’s happening with me.”

Doeren, the program’s all-time winningest coach with 91 victories to his credit in Raleigh, holds just a 10-11 mark since the start of last season. That has appeared to upset many of the vocal Wolfpack fans, some going as far as asking for a coaching change to take place following the season on social media. 

NC State’s last four losses have come at the hands of Duke, Virginia Tech (with interim coach Philip Montgomery), No. 16 Notre Dame and Pitt. The Wolfpack has had chances to keep itself in every one of those defeats, but inconsistent play from all three phases of the team has doomed its chances of getting over the hump.

The Wolfpack didn’t have that issue in the first three weeks as it started the year 3-0, and that seems to have frustrated Doerem, who noted that it comes down to execution on a week-to-week basis. 

“It’s like a broken record when you look at how we’re losing games recently,” Doeren said. “It’s inconsistent, really inefficient at times, moving the football and stopping people. It’s a team that’s played well in spurts and has not played well enough in the last four [FBS] games to give ourselves a chance to win.”

At Duke, it was the Wolfpack’s special teams that led to an 11-point swing in a 12-point loss. In the other three games, it’s been a mixture of the offense’s inconsistency to march down the field — the Pack has one trip to the red zone in its last two losses combined — and the defense’s inability to slow down offenses at a high rate. 

While it’s back to the drawing board with No. 8 Georgia Tech visiting Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN2), Doeren isn’t going to give up on his team. He’s been in similar situations before, including a 4-3 mark in 2023 before the team won five straight to close the season, and past experiences could come into play this fall as well.

Doeren is a process-oriented coach that relies on facts and data to back up his decisions, and he isn’t changing his approach. 

“I just believe in being steady, sticking to the process that has worked for me over time. There’s a reason we’ve been competitive in a consistent manner in a long period of time,” Doeren said. “Even though we’re not getting the results right now, if you look at the tenure, there’s been a lot of aggressive, competitive football teams here. I know the formula works, and unfortunately this season we haven’t gotten it done in four of these games.”

Doeren is focused on the four-game stretch to close the season. The eighth-ranked Yellow Jackets kick it off with an open date after. Following that, it’s a sprint to the finish line with a trek to No. 10 Miami before hosting Florida State and North Carolina to close the campaign. 

“Let’s go put all our chips on the table again and see what happens. That’s just who I am. I’m not defined by the outcome of the game, I’m defined by how I do my job, how I treat people, the type of father and husband that I am, the type of boss that I am,” Doeren said. “Do I quit? Do I crumble under pressure? Or do I stand there and fight? That’s what defines me. And that’s what I’m going to do.

“… We’ve lost four out of five games. So what? Now we’ve got to go fight again. Let’s go fight harder. That’s who coaches this football team. If it’s not good enough at some point, then they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. But that’s who they have leading the program: a guy that doesn’t quit, that fights his ass off and loves his players.”

Doeren has always fought in his Wolfpack tenure. Although the past two seasons haven’t gone the way he wanted, the coach hasn’t given up on his team. His players, likewise, have done the same for him, and while he’s judged by the scoreboard, Doeren is focused on doing everything in his power to right the ship moving forward this fall.

“Wins and losses matter a lot, I understand all that. I understand the profession,” Doeren said.
“It’s not pressure, it’s a privilege to get to do what I do. And at some point, if they want someone else to do it, then God bless them. But I’m going to take advantage of my opportunities as long as I get them, and I’m going to fight for these kids because they’re going to fight for me.”