Best rivalry quotes from NC State football coaches
NC State football coach Dave Doeren has added a second great quote about the rivalry with North Carolina. With that in mind, here are some of the memorable moments from current and past head coaches of the Wolfpack.
No Love Lost
“They don’t like us. We hate them. We are blue-collared. They are elitists. Their coaches talk down to us. They talk behind our backs recruiting negatively against our coaching staff.”
— Dave Doeren to ABC play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch before the 2022 showdown with North Carolina, a game that NC State won 30-27 in double overtime. When asked by Pasch if that quote was on or off the record, Doeren replied, “I don’t give a [expletive].”
“The Triple Play”
“At our school, number one, all classes have a syllabus. Our guys go to school, they are not given grades and they graduate. It’s a little tougher here if you have to go to school, and you’re expected to have a syllabus and go to class. So, I think our guys earn everything that they get here.
“… I’m just going to coach my football team, I’m not going to coach his, but as far as the flagship, here is a guy that was on a staff that ended up in Indianapolis. There are three things that you can’t do in college football — have an agent on your staff, pay your players and have academic fraud. That’s the triple play. I don’t know if they have anything to talk about. If that is what the people want in the flagship university of North Carolina, then so be it.”
— Tom O’Brien in a post-practice media availability in 2011 responding to comments from interim UNC head coach Everett Withers’ quotes in a radio interview. Withers had said that recruits in the state needed to know that UNC was the “flagship” school of the state, and then made a reference to the different graduation rates in football between NC State football and the Heels’ program.
The reference to Indianapolis refers to the NCAA headquarters. UNC football was under investigation for multiple issues, including academic fraud.
NC State would beat UNC a few days later, 13-0, for a fifth straight rivalry win.
The NC State Football Culture
“This is a blue-collar school. This is a work-ethic, hands-in-the-dirt school. It’s an agricultural school, it’s a textile school, it’s an engineering school. It was founded by tough people, and that’s what this football team will be; and that’s what we were today.”
— Dave Doeren after NC State pounded UNC into submission with a relentless ground attack during a 35-7 win in 2014 in Chapel Hill
A Classic Lou Holtz One-Liner
“I walked off the field and those kind Carolina fans were yelling, ‘Moo U’ and ‘Agriculture U.’ I wasn’t in a good mood. The first thing I said at the press conference was, ‘Agriculture is better than no culture.’ “
— Lou Holtz, recalling in later years his first meeting as the NC State football coach against North Carolina in 1972, which UNC won 34-33 after Holtz decided to go for two and the win following a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the game.
The Fallout From A NC State Football Recruiting Win Over UNC
“That’s life in the fast lane. It happens all over America.”
— Chuck Amato on signing day in 2002 after swiping UNC’s highest-rated pledge, cornerback A.J. Davis, from North Carolina. Tar Heels’ head coach John Bunting, who would later take exception to Amato’s comments, noted during his signing day PC that Davis was “coming to North Carolina” the day before, but at 7:06 a.m., the letter of intent was faxed to NC State.
