NC State football coach Dave Doeren has remained busy despite being forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We haven’t sat down by any means, but you do feel locked down being in your house and not going anywhere,” Doeren confessed in an interview with the newly launched “The OG Show” with hosts Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio on 99.9 The Fan.

Technology has played a big role in Doeren and his assistants continuing to do their job.

“A lot of technology communication — whether you are in a Zoom meeting, kind of a town hall type meeting, or text message, FaceTime, phone call whether it’s with my staff, current players or recruits or recruits' families, sending emails to current players' parents,” Doeren explained. “So it’s really just trying to stay connected. … Just seeing where we can help and more than anything, staying connected with them and trying to keep them on target with what they need to accomplish because they are still working.

“They are still taking online classes every day, or trying to keep them in shape to the best of our abilities from a distance.”

One difference Doeren would not mind seeing is a change in a rule. Coaches cannot have organized zoom meetings with the team, thus it limits the staff to one-on-one phone calls. That is one thing that is being discussed among coaches.

“There’s so much being talked about,” Doeren said. “College football is no different than the world. I think we all think we got it figured out and then the next day it changes. It’s really just be flexible.

“First and foremost, make sure everybody is in a safe place and that they are doing the right things to keep their distance and not make it worse. The communication is when are we going to be allowed back in our offices? when are we going to be allowed to talk football again?

“Right now, we are doing it as staff all over the phone or through different meetings, but I don’t know what the summer is going to hold. I don’t know what the fall is going to hold. I don’t know if any of those things are predictable at this point.”

Doeren was asked if there was a positive in that the forced pause could allow his team to be fully healthy after an injury-riddled 2019 campaign, but the coach offered there might be a bigger plus to the current situation.

“The silver lining in all this to me is that everybody in the world is getting to spend some quality family time with their family,” Doeren said. “I think God is telling everybody to slow down.

“From a team standpoint, yeah it’s nice for the guys to recover longer, no question. At the same time we are a young football team that could have used the reps with the healthy players we had.”

Spending time with his family is the No. 1 thing on Doeren’s daily to-do list at home. He also makes sure to get a workout in, but the bulk of his time is trying to establish a semblance of normalcy as best as he can for his program.

“The biggest concern that I’m sure all coaches have right now is all of us have made offseason progress with our teams in building chemistry and team building and in the strength and condition gains and weight gains and weight losses,” Doeren noted. “And you just don’t want to see all that fall through. You are just trying to maintain.”

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