WATCH: Dave Doeren After NC State’s Football Practice: ‘I Don’t Have any Plans to Retire’

Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after NC State’s practice today leading up to the Wolfpack’s game against Georgia Tech this Saturday. You can watch the video above, and read the transcript below.

First of all, how has prep been this week. What have you seen from this team?

Same stuff. Guys working hard, trying to get better.

Guys trying to take the mistakes off the film that obviously has been on film in certain places. It’s a fun team to coach. I keep telling you the same thing, and nothing’s changed.

We’ve got to eliminate mistakes. That’s how you win a game. Don’t beat yourself. and then make plays that are there to make.

So, focus has been the same. It’s much more about us than our opponent. We’ve got to play a clean football game to win a football game. Period.

Then you get into these one possession games, when you do that, then guys got to make plays to close the game out.

Going off that, on your radio show last night, you talked about how this team is good at beating itself this year. Is there anything you’ve changed this week to try to address that?

We’re playing against a really, really good offense. So, I can speak about both sides of the football.

They do a lot of stuff. A lot of formations, a lot of motions, a lot of eye candy, do a great job, and they have good players. So you can’t have a million schemes.

You’ve 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’ve got to line up. You’ve got to play fundamental football, and you’ve 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 when we’ve 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.

So the players have to really buy into that. Like I told them outside, don’t be the guy with the MA (Missed Assignment) 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 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. It’s the third year in an offensive system, and 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 them did a great job. They gave us the best that they could give us.

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 can have to get the season back on track and potentially shore up people’s faith in you too?

Every game’s a big game for me, and I don’t look at it like the public does, you know. 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. 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, you know. 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’ve got four years left on my contract.

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 mean, I get to come to work and be with CJ Bailey.

I get to come to work and be with Isaiah Shirley, Caden Fordham and Brandon Cleveland, all these kids, man. I’m so fortunate. So I’m having fun.

I mean, I know losing sucks and it hurts, and I’m pissed as hell on Sunday and Monday, but I’m having fun going to practices with this football team.

You mentioned on your radio show that you 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, you know. 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. What can I do better than I did last year? Sometimes you’ve got to step away from it to 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, man. A lot of night games.

I expect NC State fans to show up, their alma mater, cheer on their team, be festive, have fun. Halloween weekend, students in all kinds of costumes having a good time in 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, 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, but 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 them are strapped up, duct taped together, and they are fighting their butts off, and they need every ounce of crowd noise they can get to help them.

Is it even more exciting for the players knowing what they’re up against, a team that’s playing as well as Georgia Tech undefeated?

Yeah, I think so.

I mean, you’ve got a Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback, and obviously as a defensive player, you don’t want to be on his highlight reel, you know. You want to do everything you can not to let that happen.

We had him in a dogfight last year, came down to a kick at the last second that we missed. These guys believe they can win, and like I told them 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’ve just got to go execute, and you’ve got to believe you can do 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 where you are?

You could take them down any given day. Any day, man.

The odds are against you when a lot of players are 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.

What’s that look like? Four quarters of complimentary football with fewer mistakes, and that’s all we’re focused on right now. Thank you, guys.