NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media and he addressed any rumors about him potentially retiring as well as the upcoming game against Georgia Tech.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
First of all, just prep this week. I mean, what have you seen from this team coming up?
Same stuff. Guys working hard, trying to get better guys, trying to take the mistakes off of film that obviously has been on film in certain places and it's a fun team to coach.
I keep telling you the same thing and its nothing's changed. We got to eliminate mistakes. I mean, that's how you win a game, not beat yourself and then make plays that are there to make. And so focus has been the same. It's much more about us than our opponent. We got to play a clean football game to win a football game, period, and then you get into these one-possession games when you do that. And then guys got to make plays to close the game out.
Coming off that, on your radio show last night, you talked about this team is good at beating itself this year. Is there anything you've changed this week to try to address that?
Well, we're playing against a really, really good offense so I can speak about both sides of the football and they do a lot of stuff, a lot of formations, a lot of motions, a lot of eye candy and do a great job. And they have good players. And so you can't have a million schemes. You got to do less better.
I think especially with our depth and all that's been talked about, how many guys are out, it doesn't make sense to try to run a bunch of things. You got to line up, you got to play fundamental football and you got to have your eyes in the right place. There's been a lot of talk about eye discipline and leverage because of how they run their offense.
Offensively, it's a different guy in some of the drives where we don't move the football, it's a drop, it's a throw location, it's a block we could have had better inside hands-on or we fall off of a guy where we got to play and we're one guy away.
So it's just finishing plays and execution comes down to 11 guys doing that.
I hate to say this to you, but things don't change. Execution is execution. From the first day of practice to the last day, you get to coach the sport. It's 11-man football. If you don't have 11 guys do the right thing, you don't succeed. And so the players have to really buy into that. And like I told them outside, don't be the guy with the MA on film. Be the guy that does his job, right? Every play.
How hard was it simulating Haynes King in practice?
Oh yeah, it's hard, man. That guy's a great football player and it's always that way. There's always different guys that the opponent has and you're asking a freshman or a walk-on guy to simulate that player and so it's hard to do that, especially a guy like him that's so in command, third year in an offensive system, understands it so well.
Who played the role this week for you guys?
We have two quarterbacks that we rotate down there and both of 'em did a great job. Hudson and Ethan gave us the best that they could give us.
Coach every game is a big one, but this one just given the losing streak people questioning your future, do you feel maybe the added weight that this game could have to get the season back on track and potentially s sure up people's faith than you too?
Every game's a big game for me. I don't look at it like the public does. Every loss hurts. Every win is awesome. You celebrate your wins, you're mad as hell when you lose. Like I said, on Monday it's the same thing. I'm here to coach these kids and take advantage of my opportunities and I'm going to do that as hard as I can, as long as I get to do it.
It's been reported that you considered retiring last year. It's being said as fact that you're considering retirement this year. I don't think anyone's given you this opportunity to address that or is that something that you think about?
No.
I think about winning games, trying to find ways to get better, trying to help this football team, trying to help this university, trying to help my coaches, trying to be a good dad, trying to not get my wife mad at me.
That's what I think about.
Do I have plans down the road someday to retire? Sure, but I don't have any plans to do that. I'm going to keep coaching. I got four years left on my contract, so...
I want this place to be as good as it can be. That's what I want, and I've done a lot, we've done a lot here to make this a stable, successful, competitive program.
And I love these kids, man. I get to come to work and be with CJ Bailey. I get to come to work and be with Isaiah Shirley and Caden, Fordham and Brandon Cleveland and all these kids. Man, I'm so fortunate. So I'm having fun.
I know losing sucks and it hurts and I'm pissed as hell on Sunday and Monday, but I'm having fun going to practice with this football team.
You mentioned on your radio show that you maybe didn't have as much fun with last year's team.
It was hard. Last year's team was hard. This is not last year, and I think no different than Boo or any other person that is in charge of something. At the end of every year you look at it and you're like, man, that was really hard or I really enjoyed that, but what can we do better? I'm going to worry about it at the end of the season and what can I do better than I did last year? And sometimes you got to step away from it and give yourself a little breath, not make emotional decisions, but right now it ain't about that.
It's about trying to beat a really good Georgia tech football team.
How much different is it being at home, being inside Carter-Finley Stadium and what kind of environment do you expect on Saturday night?
It's homecoming, a night game... expect NC State fans to show up their alma mater, cheer on their team, be festive, have fun Halloween weekend students and all kinds of costumes. Having a good time on the stands. I mean, shoot, it's a football game. You're here to watch a really good game. Two teams that want to win, enjoy it.
I mean, you think about all the things going on in the world right now. If you're upset at a football game, you need to really look in the mirror, go in there and have some fun and cheer for your football team, cheer for your alma mater.
These kids are fighting and some of 'em are strapped up, duct taped together and they're fighting their butts off and they need every ounce of crowd noise they can get to help 'em.
Are the players more excited, even the fact that they're playing a really, really quality opponent on Saturday?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, you got a Heisman trophy contender head quarterback, and obviously he, as a defensive player, you don't want to be on his highlight reel. We want to do everything you can not to let that happen. We had him in a dog fight last year, came down to a kick last second that we missed. And so these guys believe they can win. And like I told 'em after the last game, the beauty of competitive sports is when that whistle blows and it starts. Anybody can win any night, any day. You just got to go execute and you got to believe that you can do that.
Piggy piggyback off that, some years there are gaps with the top 10, they're in their own stratosphere. Do you feel like that's the case this season? Do you feel like teams in the top 10 maybe are closer to say where you are? You could take them down any given day.
Any day, man, and the odds are against you when you're all a lot of players out and things like that. But man, you see upsets in sports all the time and I've been a part of a few of them.
So I don't look at anything as insurmountable. I look at it as a huge opportunity and you get to play against a really good coach, really good team. But my focus is more on how can we get these guys to play their best football and what's that look like? Four quarters of complimentary football with fewer mistakes. And that's all we're focused on right now.
