Dave Doeren Shares Thoughts On Coaching Through The Season, Georgia Tech

NC State head coach Dave Doeren fielded questions from the media on Monday and he discussed a variety of topics, ranging from the Pitt loss and coaching through struggles to the upcoming matchup against Georgia Tech.

Opening statement…

A little bit of a broken record, when you look at how we're losing games recently, and it's a lot of the stuff we've talked about and you've heard me talk after games, it's inconsistent, really inefficient at times, moving the football or stopping people. And again, it's a team that's played well in spurts and has not played well enough in the last four games to give ourselves, not counting Campbell, to not give ourselves a chance to win. And it's about being efficient, playing complimentary football.

It's about executing plays. And, I can get into a million different things with it. And, we're a team that, like I said after the game to the guys, it's a fun team to coach. And these are good kids that want to play well. They work hard. There's great chemistry.

Nobody's giving up. We just got to play better, and it starts with me. I'm always, I told them this, like what we see on film, what we put on film is our resume. It's your head coach's resume. It's your assistant coach's resumes. And it's your resume. And collectively, we all have to do better. And it's just executing. And it's when you watch plays, it's not one particular player.

It's on the plays that are not effective, it's one guy. And it's whether it's a missed tackle, whether it's a dropped pass, you know, being two yards short on a route. And then when we play well, it's 11-man football, you know, and it's guys playing hard. As you see, it's a team of guys that doesn't quit. There was a lot of good plays at the end of that game. Great diving catch by Wesley Grimes.

Noah Rogers made several plays there at the end of the game. I think CJ continues to lead our football team really well. I'm proud of him. Hollywood continues to work really hard and make plays for our football team. But it is a team that, has some deficiencies with injuries. And opportunities are presented to young guys to play.

And all of us need to play well. And so, opportunity to play the number eight team in the country. Brent's done a tremendous job with his team. He's got a really tough, good quarterback. I think Haynes King is, I told him this last year after our game, I have so much respect for how he plays. He's a tough kid. He's throwing the football really accurately. He doesn't turn the football over. He gets yards on design runs and on scrambles.

He's got excellent talent around him. Their offensive line protects him well. I think their offensive coordinator, Buster Faulkner, does a great job, with a lot of window dressing and formations and alignments and puts stress on your edges with different runs and read schemes with vertical shots off of them. And they got guys that make plays. Both their tailbacks are similar in yardage and very electric when they have the football. But more than anything, it's about us.

I think it's about trying to get these guys in these last four weeks one game at a time just to play the best football they can play, not beat ourselves. And when you have penalties at inopportune moments or you have a pass, whether it's dropped or whether it's an overthrow or a miss, or you have a guy bust on defense, in a call that we've practiced over and over and over, I consider those kind of things layups. And as a football team, you got to make your layups.

And to put it in basketball terminology, you make your layups, you have a high percentage on your free throws, and every now and then you hit a step-back three. And that's what we got to do. We got to go up and make some big catches when they're there, make some great throws when they're there.

And then the easy things, we got to do them. Like, it's routine. And so I look forward to getting back on the field, getting around the guys again tomorrow. They were great in the team meeting. They're frustrated. They're mad. And they want to do something about it. And so one thing about this sport, man, you put the ball down, anything can happen. And we showed that earlier in the year. We can hang in there with people and find ways to win games, and we need to get back to playing that way. Questions? 

You talked about kind of being a broken record with the same kind of thing happening, the last few games. What's been the biggest difference you've noticed from those first three weeks to what you've seen these last four games against FBS teams? 

Well, it's two different stories. Defensively, it's been a really tough year. And I've talked about this before. We've had nine different guys on defense get injured throughout the season that were in our top 22. And so when you have movement in your depth chart to injuries, not through competition, there's some lost learning that's taking place. And, as a football team, you want to get better and better and better.

And for us, there's been three different safeties, three different nickels, two linebackers with Sean and AJ being out. So there's just been a lot of movement and moving parts and guys changing positions that haven't allowed that transformation, that progression that you have week in and week out. So that side of the football, a lot of it is that.

And then, as you all know, we dealt with something internally during the middle point of our season there with Coach Eliot. And so offensively, it's not been that. It's been there's been some games where we've been really efficient, averaging six to seven to eight yards on first down, clean pockets, big running lanes.

And there have been some games where it hasn't been that way. And that's execution. And this is a sport that requires 11 guys to do their job on any particular play. And if they do their job with great strain and technique, then those plays are really well done. And we just haven't been able to do that enough. Like in this last game, first two series, we were three and out, three and out.

And opposite of complementary football, you go three and out to open the game, you have a punt, a 50-yard punt that doesn't have great hang time, gets a 20-yard return. Defense starts on the field on the 50. And that's as uncomplimentary as you can play. And that wasn't what we were doing earlier. We were having sustained drives at eight o'clock that ended in points or a punt that had good hang time with good coverage, which allows our defense one, to get rested, two, to have better field position to defend. And so we just got to get back to complimentary football.

After those two drives, our offense did a good job. They got us back in the game. It was a one-score game. And even late in the third quarter, we had a chance to go down and tie the football game. And we throw a raid route, inside fade route, up to Keenan, who's made a lot of great plays for us this year. And he just doesn't come down with it. And those are the kind of three-pointers I'm talking about. You've got to make some plays. And we're not making enough of those plays in key moments, whichever side of the ball it is.

I mean, shoot defensively, we had an interception called back due to a pass interference. We had a dropped interception that hit us right in the face. You've got to make those plays. I mean, those are plays that you've got to make to win football games. And we were making those plays earlier in the season. We haven't been making those plays of late. And if I could fix that, I would. But at the end of the day, the guy's got to go out there and perform at a high level. And that's the goal, to get him to go out there and play really, really well. Let him play fast, let him play free, and go make plays.

Is Georgia Tech, in its simplest form, a team that just basically says, we want to be tougher than you? Is that the challenge for your guys this week, is to out-tough them? 

Yeah, I think you have to. I mean, you know that it's a team that mirrors their head coach's personality, an offensive line coach that loves physicality. That's what all our line coaches are built on. I love the way they play. It's definitely a game where you got to show up physically, blocking and tackling the two biggest parts of this sport still.

It's going to be a battle. It is. And there are a lot of rules that are tested when you play their team. I think they do a great job of testing the rules of your schemes, whether it's the edges and how you're going to play them, whether it's your coverage checks. And you're going to see, a lot of formations, which you do in college football anyway. But with them, you'll see multiple motions and shifts on the same play.

And so just trying to create angles and leverage and missed gaps by guys not using the system correctly on defense. And so it's a physical test for sure, but they do a good job testing you mentally as well with their offensive system. 

Yeah, Dave, you were able to get some extended reps for a couple young guys, Rico Jackson and Tristan Teasdell. How would you evaluate their play? 

I was really proud of Tristan. I told the team this yesterday. Guys go to college to play football to play, and you never know when you're a young guy how long it's going to take you.

And, our plans earlier in the year was to register a lot of these guys. And in his case, he showed in training camp that he was fast, that he can make plays on the ball, that he's a contact player. And so we were playing him on special teams not knowing we'd have, the injuries that we've had in the back end.

And it's put him in a position to help us on defense. And he went in the game. He didn't flinch. He was physical. He made plays, played fast. The interception he made in the end zone was a terrific play, sticking with it and finding a way to get it in.

It was a one-handed play by him, close to a return for a touchdown. I mean, he was one man away from getting a 100-yard return right there. So, really proud of him.

Rico has gotten a lot better. He's a developmental player. When we took him, he's really improved his body and his strength and,  to be able to have both of our guards out last week.

We're playing a top-10 rushing defense in the conference last week in Pitt and maybe in the country in yardage per carry and rushed for 160 yards. I think it says a lot. Didn't give up a sack in the game.

We were pressured at times, for sure. But that's a tough group inside to go up against. And I thought Kamen and Rico, came in the game and did a lot of good things.

There's obviously plays they can do better, and that's part of the game. And that's what I'm talking about. The more you play the game, the more opportunities you have to learn from your mistakes and improve yourself.

And Rico and Kamen, Teasdell, all these guys that are getting reps early in their career, it'll make them better as they progress through.

Dave, you mentioned Haynes King earlier. When you've got a quarterback who plays the way that he plays and kind of relishes taking games over, particularly late, what are just some of the biggest keys to trying to slow him down and make him uncomfortable?

Yeah, well, you got to have a lot of people getting off the blocks. You got to leverage plays and fit runs well. But you got to tackle him like he's a running back. He's not going to just go down.

He lowers his shoulder. He'll sidestep guys. He can accelerate. He's got quick acceleration. And he's a long strider, so when he gets around the edge, he can eat up some yardage. He's going to make some plays, and you can't let him take over the game in the run game.

Like, he's got enough weapons in the backfield to hand it to as well, so got a lot of respect for him. I know our players do. He's a tough dude. He's a head coach's kid. You can see that he loves the game, and his teammates play hard for him. But to play a guy like him, and we've had several in my tenure, it takes a lot of people to stop him.

It takes a lot of effort getting off the blocks, and they're going to have plus one in some cases where you're going to have to defeat a block to get an extra hat there.

Yeah, Dave. You've said that it's one year at a time for you at this point in your career, but given all the moves that are being made around college football with these head coaching decisions, have you faced any pressure to speed up what should be an end-of-the-year decision?

No. I mean, Boo's been, you know, I've said this before. He's a great guy to work for. I don't worry about that. I've got to worry about my players. I've got to worry about my staff, my wife, my children. Those decisions aren't mine to make, and I told the team this yesterday.

I'm going to give them everything I got. Like, our goal is to go win this football game, and then the next week, we have a bye week. Try to get them healthy, and then our next week, go win a football game.

You just keep going. There's a lot of football left, a lot of games, and, what happens at other schools has nothing to do with what's happening to me, and when decisions are made, they're made. For me, it's how much fun can I have with this staff, these players, how good of a job can I do for them.

My job is to serve them, to motivate them, to get them better, to be there for them, to push them, to hold them accountable, and I'm going to do all those things as hard as I can and try to enjoy every day doing it. 

I think one thing that hit us all on the face this year in this program is, when you lose people you love that are close to you, you have perspective about how fortunate you are to get to do the things, get to, not got to, get to do the things that you're allowed to do, and I'm allowed to work with a bunch of awesome kids at a great university in an awesome city, and I'm going to relish that? Wins and losses matter a lot. I understand all that.

I understand the profession. 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.

When you look at that, obviously, there's been points at your career where Boo has shown patience or other AD's have shown patience. You look around the country. It doesn't look like patience is in, patience seems to be in short supply around the country.

Like I said, I'm not going to sit here and try to understand what other people do. I got enough on my plate. Just going to focus on what I control, and, the rumor mill and all these things doesn't make me a better or worse coach. What makes me better or worse is what I do on a day-to-day basis, and I got to spend my time right there.

Yeah, how has your experience in the coaching profession helped you, you know, remain calm and not panic when, teams go through some of these stretches that they have?

Yeah, I don't know if it's all the experiences or just who I am. I think I've always tried to make decisions based on information and experiences.

I'm not a reactive person. I'm more, I want to hear what people have to think. I want to marinate on things. I'm going to make firm decisions when I'm ready to make them. I know that as a leader, people look to you, and if I'm a guy that's panicking and going crazy, then what are they going to do, right? I got no choice but to do what I'm doing. And, so I just believe in being steady, sticking to the process that has worked for me over time.

There's a reason that we've been competitive in a consistent manner for a long period of time. Even though we're not getting the results right now, you look at the tenure, there's been a lot of aggressive, competitive football teams here. And so I know the formula works, and unfortunately, you know, this season we haven't gotten it done in four of these games.

And but we got four left. And I always look at what you have instead of what you don't as the gift of life, you know. And what I get to do is compete again.

And I get to compete against a great team with a coach that I really respect. And so I look forward to that. And let's just go put all our chips on the table again and see what happens. And that's just who I am. And I'm not defined by the outcome of a game. I'm defined in how I do my job, how I treat people, type of father and husband that I am, the type of boss that I am.

That's what defines me. Do I quit? Do I crumble under pressure? Or do I stand there and fight. And that's what defines me. And so that's what I'm going to do. And I think adversity brings out who you are. In a lot of cases, it's easy to be this front-running dude when you're winning.

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

Yeah, Coach, did Ronnie and Justin both go down with injuries? Did you have any update on them after Saturday?

Yeah, you love getting in, like, these little conversations about injuries. And I love telling you I'm not going to answer the question because I don't have to.

Yeah, Dave, what are some areas you'd like to see that maybe the passing game improve here over this game and obviously moving forward this season?

Yeah, I think making our layups, number one. When we have what I consider high-percentage throws, those to be 100% complete, high-percentage throws or underneath throws, uncontested throws, throws where we can set our feet and make a clean pass to somebody. And for that receiver or running back or tight end to catch that ball and get positive yardage.

I think just being 100% complete on layup-type plays, down-the-field plays, giving our guys a chance to either catch the football or compete for the football and earn a pass interference if they can't catch it, right? And sometimes, you see a ball sail out of bounds and we don't get a chance to catch that football or even earn a penalty.

So those are areas, and I think, in general, our offense's efficiency depends upon, throw-and-catch-type moments and, whether it's a five-yard hitch or a swing to the back or a guy on a slant route, underneath throws, because we are running the football effectively, there's throws like that that we can make that help the offense, whether it's an RPO, a screen, a sprint out, a naked, underneath things like that, because the run game opens up things for you in the pass game, and you have to be able to take advantage of that when it's there.