Dave Doeren: "They See the Progress"
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media Thursday afternoon to discuss the Wolfpack's upcoming matchup with East Carolina in the Go Bowling Military Bowl, the transfer portal, and more.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s interview.
On the hectic schedule for this time of the year...
You hit December, and you get right into the roster management retention piece. Then ,you have your signing day because you're recruiting your high school guys to sign. We used to be on the road doing that. You're doing that from the offices now. Then, signing day ends, and now you're like, “Okay, here's the guys that are coming back. Here's the guys that are going in the portal.” Now, you start recruiting the portal, so you're going through that piece. There are 6,300 guys to look at. That's a lot of film. Then, you're getting ready for a bowl game. You're starting to game plan your opponent; for us it’s ECU. You’re building out your practices and your calendar. By the way, the guys are in finals and did a great job. I’m really proud of our team. We had 71 guys over a 3.0 [GPA] this semester which is a record. I’m really proud of them and thankful to Ashley [Grigsby] and her team at our academic center. By the way, you also have your kids home and your wife, if you're married, and you're trying to have family time. You're balancing a lot. In some cases, like ours, there's staff openings, so you're behind the scenes either interviewing people or talking to guys on your staff. There's a lot. It's multitasking at its finest right now. I'm looking forward to getting to the bowl, to be honest, and coaching in it. It'll be fun to get there, be part of that with the families, the coaches, and the players, and get into that competition.
On the Wolfpack’s player retention...
It speaks to our team, our culture, our family, the level of treatment that they get here, and how we develop people. They know they're getting better. They enjoy the daily interactions. They see the progress. They're excited about what's happening within the walls. There's trust. When you don't have those things, that's when you see [players leave]. I will say this: the portal is good for some guys. It is. It's great when a guy's been on your team for three or four years, he's graduated, he's not playing, and he wants to get on the field in his last year. “Yeah, let's try to help you do that.” There are positives to it as well. The biggest issue, and it's been well said by a lot of coaches, is the timing of this with the bowl games and how it's impacting teams' abilities to field a team in some cases, but to have a two-deep in other cases. It's really challenging. To me, college athletics, and really athletics in general, I don't think you could ever see a coach and not hear him say that finishing isn't important. The word ‘finish’ means something in athletics. It means something in business. Our calendar is set up to prevent that, in some cases, for the athletes and for the teams. Hopefully, we can get some really good people together after the season and come up with a better way to serve everybody involved in this thing because it needs to happen. For college football, it needs to happen for these bowl games, for these teams, for these coaches, and for the players. They need to have a calendar that, to me, allows finish. You see it in the NFL. Their teams are together until their seasons are over. Their coaches are together until their seasons are over. I know it's a different calendar because they don't have academics involved, but there are ways to be smart about serving the season. That's really important for these athletes to be in a model that does that.
On the impact moving December signing day up had...
None. I don't think it impacted us at all. It may have with other teams that dropped kids before the portal. We don't do that. I didn't see any advantage to that. We'll see where it goes.
On the ruling that grants JUCO players four years of eligibility...
I haven't had a lot of time to process it. I'm happy for the guys on our team that get to benefit from that. There's going to be a lot of questions. As you know, every decision has unintended consequences as well. I haven't seen what those are yet. There's guys on our team that are from junior colleges that are excited today. They were. They know they have another year or two of eligibility to finish a degree, to start a master's, to play with their brothers, and have the option of moving on to the NFL or staying for an extra year or two.
On finishing the season with a win...
It's really important. It's been a long time. It started off here with a bunch of bowl wins. Then, we had a bunch of one-possession bowl losses with a lot of players — good players — some didn't play in games, like last year's K-State game when there were 45 guys between the two teams that didn't play. You look at how many guys were in the portal, injured, and so on. The bowl dynamic has changed a lot. I want to be on that stage. There's no question about it. It's not about the opponent. It's not. It's about winning a bowl game. It helps momentum, but to me, it's more about closure for the season that you were just in and finishing it with an exclamation point.
On the players that have stood out in practice this week...
I've been impressed. Josh Alexander[-Felton], on defense, has gotten a lot of reps because we've rested some guys. He's really gotten better. Jonathan Paylor has gotten a lot better. He's been an athlete the whole time but you can see the improvement in his route running and his ball catching. He's always been fast and super competitive. Those two things have been fun to watch, for us to see that. A guy that's taken reps all year that's gotten a lot better: Lex Thomas. I said this before UNC: I thought it was his best week of practice. He's continuing to get better. That's what's so important about the bowl for the team is the visual for the coaches to see where these guys are at, then to be able to provide really honest feedback going into the offseason for them.
On C.J. Bailey to continuing to stamp his mark on team...
He's been doing that. That doesn't change, your quarterback. His confidence grows as he plays more and more. That's been happening for a while.
On getting to know players in the transfer portal...
It's tough. We've had — I don't know exactly how many — over 10 in the last two weeks come through here. They're not high school visits where they're there for 48 hours. They're literally going from school to school to school because their window is tight, too. You may get them for 24 hours, 36, at the most 48. You're doing as much as you can before they get here; know that, too. You're calling people you know that know them and trying to get as much detail about these guys as you can. The last thing for them we want is for them not to fit either. I don't want to bring a guy here who doesn't fit our culture. That's not good for him. We're trying to figure that out. “Who is this guy? How's he wired? What's he like in the weight room? How does he handle adversity?” All those things. You're studying film and then transcripts but also who the guy is, trying to figure that out with phone calls and conversations. Then, you get them here, and there's a lot of eyes on them. There's a lot of conversation. Then, they're off to the next school, or they're making a decision. It's crazy. It's different.
On the team embracing Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay as interim defensive coordinator...
Freddie's done a great job. One of the things he does for us is our freshman focus which is teaching guys about NC State and the culture of our team when they get here for that first semester. He has a special relationship with all the kids that have been here since he's been doing that. It's going on three years that we've had this program. Both sides of the ball, these guys know him differently because he spends time with them. He's an alum. This is important to him whether he's the coordinator or not: to do the best that he can for all these guys. He genuinely cares about him. It's been fun to see him doing that. Isaiah Moore is in a new role doing that as well. As a former position coach, defensive coach, I'm enjoying watching it.
On playing in the Military Bowl with staff members who have served in the armed forces...
I talked to those guys during our Military Appreciation Week. I haven't talked to them leading up to this game about it, but I do know how much that meant to them. Being at Annapolis, I think it's going to be cool for everybody, but for guys that served, it’s a lot extra for them, the pageantry of it.
On the JUCO ruling impacting recruitment of those players...
It's like you're recruiting a prep school or mission trip player that comes in two years older with the same eligibility as a high school player. There's going to be a lot of eyes on the junior colleges. I don't know if that'll help their enrollment now or what. It's unique to be able to take a guy that's now going to be 20 instead of 18 that has the same eligibility. He's been developed a little bit. He's played more. I see a lot of benefit in that.
On Dave Clawson retiring from Wake Forest
I texted Dave when I saw it. I'm going to miss competing against him. We've known each other since the MAC and have had a lot of good games against each other. I have a lot of respect for Dave. He did a tremendous job for Wake Forest. Sounds like they're going to keep him around in an advisory role, which is great for him. I wish him nothing but the best. I know he and I will have a friendship well beyond the coaching years. He did a great job there. Put a lot of good players out, had a lot of good teams, came up with a scheme that was really hard to play against. He did that heck of a job there.