The annual ACC Spring Meetings are underway in Amelia Island, Florida, where athletic directors, coaches, administrators, and conference officials gather for strategy sessions and offseason planning.
NC State Football coach, Dave Doeren, sat down with WRAL’s Pat Welter and Brian Murphy for an extensive one-on-one interview covering the ever changeing landscape of college sports, the Brazil game and the coming season.
You can watch the interview above and read the full transcript below.
Question: Alright Dave, so we’re right by the ocean, but we’re stuck in meeting rooms all day. I’m sure you’d rather be fishing, but what’s your biggest takeaway from some of these conversations you’ve had today going forward?
Doeren: Yeah, a lot to talk about, a lot of meetings. The calendar, the playoff expansion, recruiting, rules changes, you know. So it’s a constant, these guys come in the room, fill you in on what’s happening, and the next group, and the next group. So it’s a lot to process, a lot of conversation.
Question: One window we got was kind of changing the spring format, spring practice, maybe a little bit more like the NFL. I mean, you’re in there, you know the details. What can you share about that, and how do you feel?
Doeren: Well, I think it’s a 12-month revision, and part of the revision, starting your season earlier, potentially having 24 teams in the playoffs, wanting to end our season earlier, because we want it to be a one-semester sport for a variety of reasons, is being able to train our guys in a different way that matches up better with the calendar as it is. And so, you know, having more access to our players. The players want it too. They’re with us anyway. But to be able to, you know, basketball does it. They have skills practices where they go out there with their guys. And football is a team sport. It’s a muscle memory sport. You know, the more that we can do things with these guys to help them develop, the better. And doing it in a smart way, you know, because obviously injuries can prevent you success. And so it’s hard to develop a player that’s injured. So you have to make sure that you’re doing it, you know, too much is too much, right? So you have to do it in a way that benefits the player both physically and mentally.
Question: You talked about the 2014 playoff. I don’t know if you were part of the AFCA vote on that, but where do you think is the right number? And do you think 24 is the right number for college football?
Doeren: You know, I have a unique advantage of being in the playoffs as an FCS coach at Montana. We went to the national championship two years in a row. I was a part of the selection Sunday watching where you fit your seeds in the home field. And it’s awesome, you know. So I love that. And, you know, just watching this thing expand from FCS to four teams to 12 and now talking about 16 or 24. I’m all in favor of 24. But also with the revision of the calendar being a part of that. We can’t make our seasons go to the end of January and start week zero and think that’s good for our athletes. It’s not. And so making sure that we understand what needs to take place with the expansion. But I do think access for teams is a good thing. You know, having the opportunity. We would have been in a 24-team playoff three times in my tenure. And so I would have liked to have been a part of that, right? You can see where you end up and how far can you advance. That’s one of the things we’ve been talking about. 24 would bring a lot of teams from the ACC in that maybe a four-team certainly didn’t allow for. As a coach, you just want that opportunity to get in there and give yourself a chance against some of these other teams.
Question: Yeah, I think access is relevant, right? You know, before the playoffs began, players wanted to play in bowl games, right? They wanted to win bowl games. And now it’s going to be I want to be in the playoffs. And I know that you have that opportunity as a program creates relevance for your team. This is year 14 for you now at NC State. And I think it’s like a Winston Churchill quote, rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated. People have been trying to say you’re retiring. People are trying to say that you might get fired, different points, different seasons. And here you are as different coaches in this building change. You are still here, you know, one of the longest-tenured coaches. What keeps you coming back to NC State? And how do you see the future?
Doeren: Well, I love NC State for one. I love being in Raleigh. My family loves being in Raleigh. We’ve built tremendous friends. And it’s the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere in my entire life, you know. And so what keeps me coming back is, one, the people, but two, you know, there’s meat on the bone. You know, I want to win the championship at NC State. And I believe that I can recruit the caliber of player to do that and develop them. We’ve shown that we are as good as anybody in the country at development with young men, not just as players but as men. And you can see that by the way my former players come back and the experiences they had. So, you know, I think people are going to throw mud. I mean, that’s what they do these days. And you’re right, you know, when you don’t win in sports, they think you’re going to get fired. When you do win, everyone says you’re taking a job somewhere else. I guess when you’re in your 50s, they say you’re retiring. You know, I don’t know where that came from. But, you know, I’ve got a lot of energy, man. I’ve said this many times. I had more fun coaching last year’s team than I have in a long time. It was an awesome group of guys. And so it took a while to figure out the formula with the new things in college football with, you know, multiple portal windows, one portal window, NIL, now NIO go, no rev share, rev share. It’s a lot, you know. But we’re starting to understand how to work within these spaces better, not just as a football team, but as a NC State administration and all the things that go with it. And so, you know, I like the way things are going. If I didn’t, this would be a different conversation. But Boo and I have a great relationship. I look forward to working with him and trying to continue to be competitive and take the next step as a program.
Question: We talked to Justin Gainey just a second ago. He talked about toughness, his program being built on toughness. When I think of your program, toughness and the fact that you guys never seem to let go of the rope. There have been times and seasons where you could have just thrown it in, and it doesn’t seem like your team’s ever kind of give up. What is it about the kids you recruit, the way you coach, the kids in that room that seem to fight when they have to fight the most?
Doeren: Yeah, you know, I think everything starts with leadership. And for me, that’s one of the things I pride myself on is that never quit mentality. And there is no room for soft with the Wolfpack, none. And so we recruit tough kids. And they’re coached by a head coach that admires toughness. And I like to say that’s one of my best things is when you put me up against the wall, I’m going to fight better than anybody else in the country. I know how to get off the ropes and fight. I don’t quit. And I hire people that are like me, that enjoy that fight. I recruit kids that are in that same DNA. They’re fighters, you know, and that’s part of what makes NC State. That was Jimmy V. You know, that’s the DNA of our university. And that’s why it’s a good fit, too, because, you know, when we were looking to leave northern Illinois for a new home, we wanted to find one that fit our DNA as a family. And being persistent is one of my qualities. You know, I really enjoy that. You tell me I can’t do something, I’m going to prove you wrong. That’s part of who I am.
Question: I love that. Can you take us inside the process of getting C.J. Bailey to come back? It maybe was easy, but I imagine nothing’s easy in modern college football. And I also think that you get a quarterback of his caliber to come back, it affects what you can do with the rest of the roster. So can you take us inside a little bit of that process?
Doeren: I mean, there’s only a handful of us that can say we have a third-year starter at quarterback in college football. In our conference, I think it’s just us and SMU. A lot went into it. It started back when we recruited him in high school. You know, there was trust built by us believing in C.J. early, building a relationship not just with him but with his high school coach, his mother and father, and then being real. You know, to build trust, it’s an everyday thing. It’s not something that you do in one day. And then the friendships he’s built at NC State, the loyalty that we’ve shown him and he’s shown us. And C.J. came to NC State saying he wanted to make it better than it’s ever been. That was one of his goals, and that goal is still in front of him. There’s records he wants to break, there’s teammates he wants to play with, and there’s coaches he wants to play for. And then there’s the transactional side. You know, we had to do what was right by C.J., and we had to fight hard to get that done.
Question: Does that impact what you can do around him? Obviously, you lost some key pieces off that offense. It looks like you brought some in, too, but you’ve got to manage your budget in many ways.
Doeren: Yeah, I really like the additions, you know, the acquisitions, I guess you’d say now. But it starts with retention, and we retained a lot of really good players. We lost a few, as you mentioned. That’s part of college football now, you do. But any time you lose someone, you know, my goal is to upgrade if you can. And in some cases, I really like who we brought in, not just as players but as human beings. You know, we’ve got some talented, fun guys to be around. And this spring was a lot of fun. Spring football is way different. You know, it used to all be developmental. Now it’s, who are we? You want to find out. We had 42 new players, so what can these guys do? What can’t they do? How do we need to adjust schematically based on what we added and lost? What can we do now that spring ball is over to get better in those areas? We feel like we’re not as good through our developmental program with our strength staff and our OTAs and things that we’re allowed to do. But we definitely have some fun guys to coach, and I’m excited to see what they do these next two and a half months in the summer workouts as we get ready for an early game. You know, we start fall camp earlier than we ever have.
Question: We didn’t get to see a ton of spring practice, but are there a couple guys that have stood out that you think, you know, when we do get a look at you guys in Brazil there, that fans will be really pleased?
Doeren: Yeah, I mean, I’m excited about a lot of them. I mean, 42 new guys. It’s hard to single out one particular player. But, you know, I think for me, as you guys know, it starts on the line of scrimmage. You know, it always does. I love the fact that we brought in some offensive linemen and defensive linemen that can really play. It’s going to be up to them to, you know, get the status and things like that. But, you know, guys can really help us. In the receiver room, there’s a lot of new faces. In the tight end room, a lot of new faces. But, you know, I’m going to let this summer really play out and get into fall camp and let these guys start showing you who they are.
Question: A couple more questions for you. What can playing in Brazil do for your program? It’s not just the national stage, it’s the world stage.
Doeren: Yeah, it is. But first life experience, you know, I don’t know how many, but not many of our players have been out of the country and very few have ever been to Brazil. I’ve never coached a game out of the country. And so the life experience is the first unique thing. And that’s part of our journey together as a football team. And then to be on international television, like you mentioned, it’s a great opportunity. I mean, I don’t know how many countries are going to tune in to that, but I would think a lot more than normal. We were just playing UVA at their place like we were supposed to. You know, we’re now playing on an international stage where you’re going to get millions of more viewers. And to me that’s awesome for not just NC State and Virginia, but for the entire sport.
Question: When you talk about the Brazil game, that was a non-conference game that got turned into a conference game. You’ve got some teams playing eight, some teams playing nine. Were you in favor of the move to nine? And obviously you had to shift some non-conference games that you had scheduled, including Texas Tech and South Carolina and other series that I think some people were looking forward to.
Doeren: I think I’m on the outlier when I say this. I’d be in favor of 11 conference games. The year we had COVID we played all conference games but one. We played Liberty that year. And that was awesome because, you know, to me, I don’t get to play enough of the teams in our league, especially now that it’s a bigger league. I like playing all those teams and, you know, get to the end of the year and say, hey, we won more conference games than anybody else. It says something. So I have nothing but love for more conference games. I don’t understand the economics of all these kind of things, right? I do understand winning and losing and staying at eight might allow you to schedule more wins. Right. So I understand the value in that. But I also competitively like playing more conference games. We’re ready for some conference games, some worldwide games, some worldwide Wolf Pack.
Question: You got your Portuguese brushed up?
Doeren: No, not even close. Something to work on here the next couple months.
Question: Do you get to work on your golf game? Do you get to work on your fishing or are you in grind mode still?
Doeren: No, this time of year the players are gone so they’ll come back next week. So definitely getting to fish and golf a little bit, much more than normal. This time of year and it’s been good. You know, we’ve had a drought in North Carolina, so it’s made the fishing a little harder. I thought it might be easier. I don’t know. The water’s down. A lot of stress on the fish when the water’s down. But, yeah, we definitely get out and enjoy the outdoors when we can.
Question: Well, cool. Well, let’s get out and enjoy what’s left of this rainy day here at the beach. Appreciate your time, Dave.
Doeren: Thanks for having me. Go Pack.
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