NC State football will have a complete overhaul of its coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball. Sources confirmed Saturday afternoon that nickels coach Aaron Henry has accepted a job at Vanderbilt.
Henry has been at NC State for three seasons, originally hired to coach safeties before moving to nickels for the past two years. Prior to that, Henry was a defensive assistant at Rutgers. Henry was a first-team All-Big Ten performer at Wisconsin while Pack head coach Dave Doeren was the Badgers' defensive coordinator.
The only returning coach on defense will be Tony Gibson, who moved from his role of co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach to sole defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Joe DeForest was hired away from Southern Cal to coach safeties, while Brian Mitchell, formerly corners coach at Virginia Tech, replaced George Barlow on that position.
Former Virginia Tech defensive line coach Charley Wiles was hired for the same position at NC State, replacing Kevin Patrick.
Henry’s departure leaves George McDonald, the receivers coach/passing game coordinator, as the lone assistant holdover from the staff that went 18-8 overall and 11-5 in the ACC between 2017-18.
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