Dave Doeren had 14 years of thoughts to share Tuesday. He covered most of them in about 18 minutes and didn’t answer any questions.
Three days after NC State fired him, Doeren held a final news conference in Raleigh, making his first public comments since the school announced the decision on October 24. Over the weekend, we reported that the Wolfpack had parted ways with the winningest coach in program history less than 24 hours after a 31-28 loss at Stanford dropped them to 3-4.
“That’s not how I wanted to go out,” Doeren said. “But, you know, the more I thought about it, honestly, how many coaches can do whatever they want?”
“I know this year has been disappointing, and I take full responsibility for that. It’s a great job, NC State, and it’s also a very difficult job.”
When he pointed out what was wrong, NIL and the portal were among the first things out of Doeren’s mouth.
“Pre-NIL transfer portal, when I took this job I knew what it was and I felt like we had a plan,” he said. “I was able to thrive, develop players who are often underrated, underrated players, diamonds in the rough.”
“It really changed in a hard way when NIL and the transfer portal started, not only at NC State, but for many schools,” Doeren said. “Retention and acquisition is expensive and very competitive in the space we’re in right now. And everyone has different money. They say there’s a cap, and they say there isn’t. And I think that’s the one thing people need to understand. There are haves and have-nots when it comes to the amount of money that schools have in this space.”
Doeren then shared something all coaches should keep in mind when choosing a training destination, especially a head coaching role.
“For this program to become what is desired and expected, resources must match expectations,” Doeren said.
Even before his time with the Wolf Pack, Doeren was known as a coach who built his program at Northern Illinois on development, and his message upon leaving NC State told the next guy exactly what he would need. Many coaches at schools outside the top tier of the income chart would say the same thing if they had job security, or if they didn’t, to say it out loud.
“Since so many media outlets have criticized me so kindly and eloquently over my 14 years, I wanted to give you a nice journalist-by-reporter review. I was going to go through your names one by one and put your pictures up and have T-shirts with your likeness on them, but I decided not to do that,” Doeren said.
“But maybe later, in a podcast by the river with a bottle of bourbon, it will happen.”
Doeren also thanked reporters for covering his players and staff, then added: “This is my press conference, and it’s the last time I’m going to talk to any of you for a while.”
“I’ve been coaching for 32 years and I’ve never been unemployed,” Doeren, 54, said.
Doeren went 98-74 in Raleigh with 11 bowl-eligible seasons, and he passed Earle Edwards as the program’s all-time leader with a 2023 win over Miami. He arrived at NC State in December 2012 after going 23-4 with back-to-back MAC titles at Northern Illinois.
He is owed $9.75 million for the remaining three years of his contract, according to multiple reports.
Running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel steps in to lead the Wolfpack as interim head coach, starting Saturday at noon ET against Cal.
“I’m leaving here with no hard feelings. I love this place and we want to see this program shock the world,” Doeren said. “I will always root for the Wolfpack, I promise.”
If this riverside podcast ever happens, we will be among the many listening to it.
Gn sports
