Doeren engineers dramatic turnaround with best coaching job of NC State tenure
By any stretch, NC State’s 2020 season would have been impressive, and a reason to praise head coach Dave Doeren. The Wolfpack finished 8-3 with Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech, winning eight or more games for the third time in four seasons. And the team finished with seven ACC wins, the most in program history (though this year’s schedule did include two more ACC games than normal).
When one starts to consider the circumstances, it becomes more and more impressive. Every team in the country had the deck stacked against it by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Wolfpack being no different. The team didn’t have a game cancelled and didn’t have a major outbreak once play started, but the Wolfpack did have its season opener moved amid having to pause for eight days during its fall camp due to positive tests and contact tracing.
The Pack battled through injuries, including a fractured fibula for starting quarterback Devin Leary. But perhaps one of the most impressive factors is the season the Wolfpack is following. NC State won just one ACC game last year, and finished 4-8. There weren’t many expectations for this team outside Raleigh this year.
It’s for all of those reasons that the 2020 season is easily Dave Doeren’s best coaching job at NC State, and one that should earn him consideration, if not make him the favorite, for the ACC Coach of the Year Award.
“We lost a lot of good players,” Doeren said. “We’ve been through a lot as a program. To go from one ACC win to wherever we end up, six or seven times as many, whether that’s a record or not a record, that’s pretty damn good.”
An offseason of change
After last season’s fiasco, it would have been easy to chalk it up to the litany of injuries and turnover. But a standard had been set with back-to-back nine-win seasons. Doeren knew what happened wasn’t acceptable for his program, and he went to work making changes to his staff.
Doeren fired seven-year defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable, promoting Tony Gibson to that role. He scrapped the co-offensive coordinator experiment for Des Kitchings and George McDonald, with Kitchings moving on and McDonald reverting back to wide receivers coach, while former Texas OC Tim Beck replaced them. In all, there were six new assistant coaches on this year’s NC State staff.
Doeren called the changes and firings “the hardest thing you do as a coach,” and said it wasn’t about the departures not being good coaches, but a desire to change the energy around the program.
“I wanted the power of positivity to take over, not just with our kids but with our coaches and the camaraderie and chemistry,” Doeren said. “It’s what we do for a living and I wanted to have fun doing it every day. I wanted these players to have fun. That doesn’t mean we don’t work hard here, we do. But at the end of the day, it’s because we love the game and we love being around each other.”
That positive energy around the program did not go unnoticed by the players.
“It’s been pretty cool to see, actually,” said defensive tackle Alim McNeill. “We’re a much different team. [Doeren]’s brought a much different attitude to this year’s team with various activities and whatnot during the offseason. The results are showing. We’re a completely different team than last year with a completely different vibe here at NC State.”
Doeren was also quick to credit his team’s leadership among the players for the Wolfpack’s turnaround.
Part of that came from offseason leadership programs that included leaders from various military branches coming in to speak with the team. The players took note of the lengths Doeren went to improve the team in the offseason.
“I think college football, especially being a head coach, is a position where you either adapt or you die,” said graduate guard Joe Sculthorpe. “The programs across the country, they’re going to change to get better. If you don’t stay on top of that, you’re going to fall behind the curve. Obviously, with last year’s performance, we had to change something. … He’s always trying to adapt and change his offseason approach so that he gives us the best opportunity to win in the upcoming season.”
A season like no other
Doeren and the Wolfpack finding this level of success with that much turnover under normal circumstances would have been cause for celebration. But the pandemic wiped out spring ball, a critical time for a new staff to gel with its players. And NC State lost eight days of fall camp to a COVID shutdown.
Yet the Wolfpack was still ready to go out of the gate, winning its opener and starting 4-1.
Injuries strike again
But the curve balls didn’t stop there. NC State lost numerous players in its secondary, with one of its most important players, Tanner Ingle, missing four games and being ejected for targeting in three he did play.
Despite that, NC State allowed about one fewer point per game this season despite playing all but one of its 11 games against ACC foes.
And, on offense, NC State made a huge leap, going from 22 points per game to 31. This came despite getting just three starts from its No. 1 quarterback, with a broken fibula against Duke ending Devin Leary’s season. Many felt that would be a death blow to NC State, as Bailey Hockman’s play against Wake Forest was not inspiring.
But, following a blowout loss to UNC and the bye week, Hockman looked like a different quarterback, averaging a 65.7 completion% and 257 yards to go with nine touchdown passes and four interceptions in 4-1 post-bye finish for the Wolfpack. Much of the credit for Hockman’s turnaround should go to the tutelage of Beck, arguably one of the most impactful assistant hires in the country.
But Hockman was also quick to credit Doeren’s confidence in him and attitude with the entire team.
He’s been extremely positive to everybody, just building people up, helping the program excel, and helping the players excel on and off the field,” Hockman said. “He preaches that all the time, and he’s done a good job bringing the Program in and people like that to help the team bond. I’m blessed to have him as a coach.”
Finding a way
Throughout the season, NC State found different ways to win games and fight through adversity in a way that had lacked in previous years. The Wolfpack won shootouts with its running and passing offense. It won defensive battles. It found ways to slug out ugly wins in the fourth quarter.
More than perhaps any NC State football team in recent memory, this group seemed to just have a knack for finding any means necessary to win games.
“This team has grit,” Doeren said. “That’s the sixth game that we’ve now won a one-possession game this year. There’s no flinch. There’s no soft. They’re hard, they’re tough, together. Our team just finds a way to win.”
Coming into the season, NC State was projected to finish 11th in the ACC. The Wolfpack can finish no lower than fifth. Not many gave this team a chance coming off last year’s disappointing finish, but Doeren and his group found a way all year.
It’s not as if Doeren hasn’t had successful seasons before. The 2017 and 2018 teams each won nine games. But those teams played under normal circumstances, and with loaded rosters, as 11 players, including two first rounders, were drafted into the NFL over that span.
Many deserve credit for the Pack’s turnaround, from the players to the new coaching staff. But it all starts with Doeren. He made the necessary changes to put the team in a position rebound from last year’s debacle. He guided the team through unprecedented circumstances with the pandemic, and yet more injuries, including a season ender to the most important position.
Despite all that, the Wolfpack improved its overall win total by seven, and ACC win total by eight. When considering all those factors, it’s an easy choice to call this Doeren’s best coaching job at NC State. There’s also a good chance it should and will be called the best coaching job in the ACC this year.