The start of the 2021 season begins with much anticipation for NC State, and head coach Dave Doeren, entering his ninth season at the helm in Raleigh, does not shy away from his team’s potential.
From top to bottom, it could be his best team. Proving that, though, is the task at hand.
“It has the opportunity to be,” Doeren confirmed during an appearance on the Packer and Durham Show on the ACC Network. “It’s about earning that now.
“I like this team a lot. I like the competitive depth. The staff chemistry is as good as we’ve had. It’s a lot of fun to be around the coaches on our staff. They’re awesome guys. There’s 299 years of coaching experience on our staff. There’s a lot of people that can offer really solid opinions on things.
“This team, they’re hungry to go out there and prove who they are. I think they’ve gotten some pats on the back, but they still have such higher expectations for where they could end up.”
Getting to this point was an arduous journey over the past two years. It goes past the challenges of going through the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It dates to the 2019 season where an injury-marred campaign resulted in a 4-8 overall record and 1-7 mark in the ACC.
In a way, that year is what has NC State where it is now.
“I had to go through what we did in '19 as a program,” Doeren admitted. “It uncovered some things that needed to be fixed. We were forced to play a lot of guys before they were ready because of the injuries, but there were a lot of things there that needed to be taken care of within our program.
“As painful as it was, I’m very thankful I had to go through that pain. It made me a better person, a better coach. It helped our team grow together through that adversity.”
One of the biggest changes Doeren made was overhauling the coaching staff. New coordinators were hired for offense (Tim Beck) and defense (Tony Gibson), joining special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel to give Doeren what he feels like is a strong group of leaders.
“Both of these guys are guys who know how to unite people and bring chemistry with players and coaches,” Doeren said of Beck and Gibson. “Todd Goebbel does that with special teams.
"I think I have three guys in our coordinator roles that just do a fantastic job of building the offensive staff chemistry, the defensive staff chemistry and then bringing that to the players.”
Doeren has a lot of questions and concerns about the future of college football. His grandfather was a referee in the then-Big Eight Conference, and Doeren grew up around rivalries like Kansas-Missouri, Nebraska-Oklahoma and Texas-Texas A&M. All those rivalries have been halted due to conference realignments.
Doeren doesn’t know where college football will end up, but he knows this particular year will be unprecedented.
“We going to have the most experienced rosters you’ll ever have in college football this year,” Doeren noted. “You’ll never see this again.”
Doeren’s team at NC State is no exception, which is what has fueled the expectations in Raleigh. The path to leading up to them begins Thursday night against South Florida at Carter-Finley Stadium.
“It’s going to be special here,” Doeren said. “It is. I’m happy for the young men that we coach. They’ve worked so hard. To now have fans, this is icing on the cake. It’s the reward. I am happy for the guys tonight to play in front of the crowd that we’re going to have.”
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