Coach Dave Doeren's journey from Northern Illinois to NC State
Then NC State athletic director Debbie Yow had one goal in mind after she fired Tom O’Brien on Nov. 25, 2012 — a quick coaching search.
Yow had just gone through a men’s basketball coaching search during the spring of 2011, which was drawn out and went through several twists and turns before the surprising hiring of coach Mark Gottfried. She was not going to have something similar happen in football.
With that as the background, she zeroed in on Northern Illinois coach Dave Doeren, and folks in Raleigh watched in earnest when the Huskies played Kent State on Nov. 30, 2012, for the MAC title in Detroit, Mich.
Northern Illinois won 44-37 in double overtime to finish a 12-1 regular season and 8-0 mark in the MAC. NIU scored at least 31 points in every game but the 18-17 loss to Iowa in the season opener.
Yow and NC State landed Doeren the following day Dec. 1, 2012, and his era in Raleigh began. Doeren is able to reflective this week because 2-2 NC State is hosting 2-1 Northern Illinois at 12 p.m. Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
“It's a program that takes a lot of pride in beating Power 4 football teams, and I was a part of that experience while I was there,” Doeren said. “Obviously, we'll spend time educating our team on that. This game is a lot about us. We have to respond the right way.”
Related links from when NC State hired Dave Doeren:
Dave Doeren promises to not take any shortcuts | Dave Doeren ready to establish relationships in recruiting | Debbie Yow: NC State got their top choice
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Doeren shared Monday that on the way home after winning the MAC title, it took ona new adventure.
“On the bus ride home, one of the buses caught fire,” Doeren said. “I mean, it was a long ride home. We didn't get home until like 6 a.m.
"Then that next day, everything just changed. A day later, I was on a plane to come here. So, it's pretty crazy all the stuff that happened in a short period of time in that transition.”
Not many are still around from the start of the Doeren era, but he’s been able to go 83-60 overall and 44-47 in the ACC, with trips to nine bowl games.
Doeren knows he has work to for another successful season this year.
“I’m built for stuff like this,” Doeren said. “Man, I love adversity. I love obstacles, and I'm going to battle and fight, and your team's going to fight.”
To understand Northern Illinois football’s culture, it can be simply described as when they have been a member of the MAC Conference and when they weren’t. The Huskies were in the MAC from 1975-to-1985, and then decided to try for higher goals as an independent.
Bill Mallory had been the coach from 1980-83 and got hired at Indiana, where he coached for 12 years. Mallory’s replacement was future ESPN college football personality Lee Corso, who went 4-6-1 in 1984 and left for the USFL and the Orlando Renegades.
Coach Jerry Pettibone arrived to replace Corso, and brought the Oklahoma triple option wishbone with him from 1985-90, and it worked to the tune three straight winning seasons out of six, and he was hired by Oregon State.
Northern Illinois joined the Big West Conference in 1993-95, which it was ill-suited for. Arkansas State was its closest Big West foe. Northern Illinois was in the college football wilderness.
NIU’s fleeting moment of glory was when they had future NFL running back LeShon Johnson in 1992-93. Johnson was a terrific college player and rushed 327 times for 1,976 yards and 12 touchdowns, plus 16 catches for 106 yards in 1993.
The rebuilding of Northern Illinois began when it was taken back by the MAC in 1997, and coach Joe Novak was the coach. Novak went 1-10 in 1996 and followed with 0-11 in 1997 in joining the MAC. He built the program up and went 10-2 in 2003, and had seven straight winning seasons (2000-06) and two bowl trips.
Novak struggled his last year in 2007 and retired, and Jerry Kill was named the new coach. Kill, like Doeren, had ties to growing up in Kansas. He was successful at Southern Illinois in the FCS ranks.
Kill got NIU back into a bowl game his first year and finished 6-7, and was 10-3 in his third season, and was hired at Minnesota. Enter then Wisconsin defensive coordinator Doeren, who had just turned 39 years old when he was hired Dec. 13, 2010. He learned the motto at NIU is “The Hard Way” because you have to do a lot with a little.
“There's a lot more responsibility on head coach's plate,” Doeren said. “You think you know what you're getting into when you're a coordinator — ‘I'm going to be a great head coach. I know how to do this.’
“Then you get there, and shoot my first week on the job, I had a player shot and was in intensive care. I had to drive to the hospital every couple days, which is not in DeKalb, Ill., which was about 40 minutes away. There are a million things that go into the head coaching seat.”
One aspect that Doeren appreciates now compared to then is more life balance. He delegates more and has more time management, which has led to more quality time with his family.
“I probably was not the best father and husband at that time,” Doeren said. “I was working like crazy. Not that I don’t work hard now, but I understand the difference between what I was and what I am with work-life balance.”
Behind back-to-back star quarterbacks Chandler Harnish and Jordan Lynch, the Huskies went 23-4 and 15-1 in the MAC. Doeren will always remember the emotions of departing Northern Illinois after winning the MAC title.
“It was hard,” Doeren said. “I was excited because we had won our second conference championship in a row. I was really excited for the opportunity to come to NC State. I felt like I had done what I could do at NIU. It was sad and exciting all the time.”
Northern Illinois was able to play Florida State in the 2013 Orange Bowl, and Doeren and Kill sat in the stands watching the 31-10 loss to the Seminoles.
“Jerry Kill and my family watched the Orange Bowl, which is probably the hardest thing I’ve had to do as a coach, not coach that game. If there was any regret I have in football from a coaching standpoint, It was not being able to do that.”
Northern Illinois stunned Notre Dame 16-14 on Sept. 7 in South Bend, Ind., but then fell 23-20 in overtime at home against Buffalo on Sept. 21. Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock is a successful alum for the Huskies from 1999-02 for Coach Novak, and has been the head coach since 2019 (26-34 overall).
Hammock, like Doeren, coached at Wisconsin as a graduate assistant in 2003-04 and as running backs coach from 2011-13. He also coached at Minnesota and with the Baltimore Ravens.
“It’s a great place and Thomas Hammock has done a really great job,” Doeren said. “They have built a tough football team. They are going to come in here and run the football. That is what they do.
“A lot of edge runs, multiple tight end sets, motions.”
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