In the past few weeks, The Wolfpacker has rolled out exclusive interviews with NC State defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Tony Gibson and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tim Beck.
Head coach Dave Doeren also did a one-on-one Q&A with The Wolfpacker, and here is part I of highlights from that interview.
Your team won games in a variety of ways last year. Is that an unappreciated sign of how good they were in 2020?
“I think we played complementary football as well as I’ve seen here.
"What that means is different sides of the ball were picking each other up at key moment and feeding off what was needed for the roster whether it was a special teams play at Virginia or Duke blocking punts, Liberty blocking a field goal, for Bam Knight returning a kickoff, an offensive performance or a defensive performance.
"It just seemed like an opportunity, normally in a one possession game, somebody would pick up one side of the ball that needed to be picked up.”
Tony Gibson said that sometimes you were putting in a new part of the defense during a game week. How challenging was it to get through the pandemic season with two new coordinators?
“I think what happened here was really a testament to Tim and Tony and how they communicated with their sides fo the ball during the break, how they continued to build chemistry.
"Even though I was returning Tony it was his first year running the defense, and his install system is different, how he wanted to progress things through installation.
"It was a huge challenge, and I think those guys have stepped up, and the players did a nice job of allowing the coaches to coach them. Sometimes that’s not how it always is. Sometimes guys aren’t as coachable. It was the opposite last year. They were willing to not only do what they were asked to do but to also help coach younger players to step into roles, to take on a challenge.
"[Safeties coach] Joe DeForest had as many starting guys in our lineup as any guys on our staff, and I thought he did a really nice job of having different guys rise up when they needed to.”
Have you ever had this much experience returning?
“Maybe [Bradley] Chubb’s senior year. I’d have to go back and look, but we were a very veteran team that year as well. That’s the closest thing to it, though.”
