ESPN: Dave Doeren In-Depth Interview

ESPN sat down with Dave Doeren after his press conference introducing himself as NC State’s new head football coach. While his presser was pretty revealing, I think this ESPN interview went even a little deeper into who Coach Doeren really is. Here’s a few highlights from the interview:

 

On Recruiting:

DD: Obviously, that’s a challenge. I had never worked in the state of Illinois, either. What you do is you try to assemble a staff of guys that are great recruiters. Not necessarily that they have to had recruited North Carolina. When I was an assistant coach, I recruited Los Angeles, and did a great job. Then I got moved to Dallas and did a great job, and then I got moved to South Florida and I did a great job. I think it’s about relationships. You can recruit anywhere if you’re willing to put the time and the work and the effort in. You don’t just walk in in January and sign a Top 20 class in-state. That doesn’t happen. The staff I put together is going to be more judged probably on how well we did in a year, when we get 12 months into a class. Right now it’s more about making sure the kids who are committed want to come here, that they still feel like we want them. There’s only a few spots left. But we do need to build huge relationships for the future and get on all the young kids now and build the relationships now so next year we do have a shot at them.

 

More on Recruiting:

DD: When you turn on the TV and you see a lot of great players from the state of North Carolina starting as freshmen at Georgia and Florida, so if we can get some kids who don’t want to leave home, you feel pretty good about meeting her expectation. But that’s not something that happens overnight, either. You have to recruit those kids from when they’re ninth graders on. You want to have that whole feel where mom and dad can get in the car and drive an hour and watch me do my thing. Why should I go eight hours? That’s what we have to do here. We have to build that kind of continuity within the state, and with the high school coaches, to feel comfortable with the staff we put together as well and build the relationships there. I’m going to take my time. I don’t think anything has to be rushed. I know I’ll be judged in time on the body of work we put together, but we’ll do everything we can to get the best class we can in the next few months and move forward from there.
On running the spread offense:

DD: I’ve got to recruit some quarterbacks that fit the other system if we’re going to go in that direction. I’d like to see who my offensive coordinator is before I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m working the phones on coaching staffs and recruits at the same time. I love what we did offensively at Northern but it also fit our personnel. So if we’re going to go that route with the spread option, multiple formation and motion type system that I like, then obviously I’ve got to find a couple key people to fit it.
On why NC State was a destination job:

DD: It’s a place, quality of life-wise, that I just love. We vacation in North Carolina, we’ve brought our kids out here to fish. It’s a place I really like. You can recruit in-state. You don’t have to go far. We’ll obviously go to Florida because of my ties there, but the North Carolina, South Carolina regions are rich regions for players. When you can say that you’re in a great conference that has a great place to recruit to, and you like the geography of the state and you have great support, as long as I’ll continue to get the same support that I’m getting now, why would you leave? That’s just how I feel. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us here, there’s no doubt. But I just feel like it’s a place I can attract not just players but assistant coaches to want to be part of for a while.

Click here to read the full interview: Part 1

Click here to read the full interview: Part 2