BREAKING: NC State officially announces additions to football staff
In a press conference Monday afternoon, NC State head coach Dave Doeren officially announced the hirings of offensive coordinator Robert Anae and offensive line coach Garett Tujague. The Wolfpack now has a full coaching staff again after John Garrison and Tim Beck departed for new jobs.
Anae coached at BYU, UVA and Syracuse over the past decade. In six seasons at Virginia, Anae oversaw gradual improvement of the offense. Each season, the Cavaliers improved their national rank in yards per game from the prior year, rising from 112th in 2016 to No. 3 before former UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall announced his sudden resignation after the 2021 campaign.
Both NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and Doeren spoke highly of how Anae had improved Syracuse’s offense this season, although the overall stats for the Orange were fairly similar to the year before. Anae has 16 total years of coordinator experience.
“I am so excited to have Robert Anae join our staff,” Doeren said in a press release. “He is very diverse offensively – leading different offenses to success during his career.
“He is a master at taking the personnel he has and making it work. I can’t wait for him to get started and have him and Liane join the Wolfpack family.”
Syracuse finished 89th in total offense in 2022. That was largely due to a tough four-game stretch against ranked opponents Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida State plus a strong defense from Pittsburgh. During that time, Syracuse did not gain 300 yards in a game and was held to 160 yards or fewer twice.
However, the Orange bounced back and had 477 yards at Wake Forest and 449 yards at Boston College in the final two contests of the year.
Tujague (pronounced TOO-jay) worked with Anae for the coordinator’s entire tenure at UVA.
He was also Anae’s offensive line coach when the latter was the offensive coordinator at BYU from 2013-15. Prior to BYU, Tujague was the head coach at the College of the Canyons from 2007-12— a junior college in Santa Clarita, Calif. As their head coach, Tujague went 43-25.
During his time at UVA, Tujague also worked as the team’s recruiting coordinator and helped set up the success of Brennan Armstrong— an All-ACC quarterback in 2021. Former UVa center Olusegun Oluwatimi was also named an All-American under Tujague’s coaching last year (and recently earned the Rimington and Outland trophies as the best center and best lineman in the nation as a grad transfer at Michigan in 2022).
“Garett is another great addition to our staff,” Doeren said in a press release. “He has great experience and has helped different types of offenses be successful. Having worked alongside our new OC Robert Anae for years, he has familiarity with his style and system and he is a tremendous recruiter, mentor, teacher and developer of the offensive line position. We are excited to have him and Cami join the Wolfpack family.”
