#16 NC State will host Texas Tech tomorrow night at 7pm in Carter-Finley Stadium The Wolfpack have quite a few connections with the Red Raiders.
Ruffin McNeill, Special Assistant to Dave Doeren, was on staff at Texas Tech from 2000-09. He was the Linebackers coach from 2000-02, and then carried the title Assistant Head Coach from 2003-09, while also wearing many other hats during those 7 years. In that time, he was the Special Teams coach, the Defensive Line coach, and finally served as the Defensive Coordinator his final two seasons in Lubbock.
Interestingly enough, the last two times NC State played Texas Tech, was back in 2002 and 2003, when McNeill was on the Red Raiders staff. This marks the 2nd time this season that the Wolfpack have faced a team that McNeill used to coach. During his stint at TT and ECU, he faced the Wolfpack as an opposing coach.
For one lone game, on January 2, 2010, McNeill served as Texas Tech’s head coach, for the Alamo Bowl, filling in for Mike Leach. This was McNeill’s last game at Texas Tech before becoming the East Carolina head coach in 2010.
Current Wolfpack Cornerbacks Coach Brian Mitchell also has connections. From 2006-09, Mitchell served as the Red Raiders Cornerbacks Coach, and for those final two seasons, he served under Defensive Coordinator Ruffin McNeill.
Current Texas Tech Cornerback Malik Dunlap, used to be an NC State Cornerback, before transferring from Raleigh to Lubbock prior to the 2021 season. Last year, Dunlap battled injuries, seeing action in only 7 games, starting in one. Dunlap started at Corner last weekend in Texas Tech’s upset of then #25 Houston.