NC State thrives in its home environment. This week vs. Florida State means a little more to Dave Doeren

It’s no secret that NC State coach Dave Doeren enjoys playing inside Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack has one of the top home atmospheres within the ACC, something he’s more than happy to point out throughout the season, but Friday night’s game has a little bit of a deeper meaning to him. 

As NC State is set to welcome Florida State to Raleigh for the primetime clash on ESPN, it coincides with the team’s annual Military Appreciation Day, which Doeren called “favorite home game of the year.” The combination of the 26th straight sell out at home and the honoring the Armed Forces seemed to hit home for Doeren. 

“I think our military presence in North Carolina is huge, it’s very special to me being from a military family,” said Doeren, who was born in a California Naval Hospital.  “You have the pageantry of that, along with a sellout and a packed house.”

The 13th-year coach holds the military in a special place. His father served in the Navy, while his father-in-law was in the Army. Both of his grandfathers were in the military, too, and so were both of his wife’s were as well. 

Doeren, who was admitted to the Naval Academy out of high school and at one time thought he’d serve as well, has been able to learn from those in the Armed Forces. After all, North Carolina is home to more than 90,000 active-duty troops, which has provided him an opportunity to learn from countless military members, including spending time at Fort Liberty, during his decade-plus stint in Raleigh. 

“It’s engrained, not just from me and my upbringing, but with what we do programmatically to bring these guys in,” Doeren said. “Obviously, football is not life or death. But command presence, leadership, getting guys to learn how to be leaders, getting guys to be able to grow in leadership, speak accountability, there’s a lot of carryover between what they do training their troops and what we do training our team.”

NC State will recognize combat wounded veterans, as well as other veterans by era, at the end of the first quarter against Florida State, while the Wolfpack will have four special guests for the pregame coin toss: Dane Hughes (Assistant Secretary of War for Legislative Affairs), Major Roger Kerstetter (Executive Officer of North Carolina Piedmont Consortium), Captain Brian Tanaka (Commanding Officer of Naval Submarine Training Center Pacific) and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Bergkamp (Commander of NC State’s Air Force ROTC). 

While this game holds special meaning to Doeren, Carter-Finley Stadium is also a place that his team has played better in this fall. The Wolfpack, which has played three of its last four games on the road, is 1-4 outside of its home venue — lopsided losses at Notre Dame, Pitt and Miami, most recently — with a 4-1 record in front of its own crowd this season. 

Doeren hasn’t taken the Wolfpack’s home crowd for granted. Early in his tenure, the stands would be significantly less full after halftime, but that has improved as the years have gone by, including a postgame field storm in its last home game, a 48-36 win over then-No. 8 Georgia Tech three weeks ago. 

The 55,919 fans that fill the stadium each Saturday not only play a key role in helping rattle the opposing team, but Doeren noted it’s what helps the Wolfpack separate itself from a lot of other teams on the recruiting trail. And NC State has done just that for each of the past three seasons in as it rides a program-best sellout streak.

When you take a job somewhere, you want to be in a place where you can recruit from the state — which we’re able to do, there’s great talent in North Carolina — you want a fan base that helps you win games,” Doeren said. “Sold-out stadiums help with recruiting, they do. … When a recruit hits the in-state schools, and we’re one of them, there’s a difference on game day.” 

Although NC State’s recruiting section won’t be as full with this week’s game falling on a Friday, the sold-out stadium will still play a role for the Wolfpack. It hasn’t been able to find much success outside of Raleigh, and with a chance to continue its path of finishing with an above .500 record, the raucous crowd will be pivotal in helping propel the Wolfpack to its fourth straight win over Florida State.

“For us, home field is an advantage because it is rowdy in the stands with how loud they get in the student section,” Doeren said. “There’s some teams that have a bad game day at home, so going on the road might bring energy to them. That’s not the case for us, right now. … We have a great home field advantage, it’s been that way for a while, and I’m excited to be back in The Carter.”