The clock is ticking on the Dave Doeren era at NC State. The head football coach of the Wolfpack is entering his fourth season at the helm, and with an 18-20 record in his first three seasons, the heat is on to start producing results.
If you follow the program closely, then you know the narrative of his time at NC State; a disastrous first year that saw the Wolfpack go winless in ACC play, followed by two decent seasons in which quarterback Jacoby Brissett buoyed the team to back-to-back bowl appearances.
Brissett is gone, and the Wolfpack is left with an uncertain but hopeful future. As Doeren gets deeper into his tenure at NC State, questions will start to rise over whether he is the right man to lead the Wolfpack in the future. This year will be the beginning of that process.
When Doeren took over for former head coach Tom O’Brien, the cupboard was left bare, and he was given only a month to put together a recruiting class to fix the many holes in the Wolfpack’s roster. The results were predictable: a 3-9 record, which concluded with eight-straight losses. Doeren bounced back in his second and third years as some of the players he recruited started to make a difference on the field.
Brissett, a transfer from Florida who Doeren lured to Raleigh, stabilized the quarterbacks’ room. Running back Matt Dayes, a recruit from Doeren’s original class, proved to be a playmaker in the backfield. Linebackers Airius Moore and Jerod Fernandez darted around the field behind defensive lineman B.J. Hill and Kentavius Street. These players complemented NFL-caliber holdovers like defensive end Mike Rose, cornerback Juston Burris and guard Joe Thuney to create a bowl-eligible team.
Now, the roster is strictly Doeren’s. You won’t find any of O’Brien’s fingerprints on key positions on the team’s roster anymore. Doeren also won’t have the benefit of a soft nonconference schedule to keep him afloat when his team reaches the murderous ACC slate. The schedule this season features home games against powerhouses Florida State, Notre Dame and Miami. Add in road games against Clemson, UNC-Chapel Hill, Louisville and East Carolina and you have a seriously difficult schedule for the Wolfpack to contend with this season.
Four years into a tenure as head coach of a Power-Five program is a time in which fans expect results from a head coach, but expectations must be tempered this season. We must remember that NC State is not Clemson or Alabama; there will not be five-star recruits at every position on the field this season, and that’s not necessarily Doeren’s fault.
He will be breaking in a new quarterback in either redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon, redshirt freshman Jakobi Meyers or transfer redshirt junior Ryan Finley. The Wolfpack will have to replace three starters on the offensive line, a fact that shouldn’t be discounted. Dayes is a star in the backfield, but is recovering from a season-ending foot injury and may need time to re-adjust. Redshirt freshman Johnny Frasier will eventually be a stud in the backfield, but he has never taken a snap in a real game. The defense lost two starters in the secondary and its sack leader on the defensive line.
A 6-6 record may look bad on the surface, but when you add up all the above variables, is it really? Earning a trip to a bowl game this season would be a success considering all the obstacles stacked up against this team. The team needs to show tangible improvement that suggests next year is going to be the year the Wolfpack starts to contend, as all these young players turn into major contributors at the collegiate level. If Doeren can coax seven wins out of the team this season by beating Florida State, Clemson, UNC-CH or Louisville, then he should be given a multi-year extension.
Of course, the worst-case scenario for the team is that the offense can’t decide on a quarterback, causing the team to switch between the three options with none of them performing at a high level. The defense continues to give up big plays while the offense sputters, and the Wolfpack loses games that were assumed to be wins at the beginning of the season. The team limps to the finish with a 4-8 record, and Doeren’s seat becomes a Bunsen burner.
