Football
Sep 6 (Sat)
12:00pm
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- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ntbrince@ncsu.edu
- Phone:
- (919) 515-2114
DRAKE, ‘94
32nd year in coaching; 13th year at NC State
Career Record: 110-69 (14 yrs.)
Record at NC State: 87-65 (12 yrs.)
It’s never been about him.
Throughout a coaching career that is now in its fourth decade, Dave Doeren’s focus has always been on helping the young men entrusted to his leadership and their development on and off the field and ensuring they are committed to his philosophy of team over individual. The pack over the lone wolf.
He introduced his 1Pack 1Goal, mantra on the very day he was announced as NC State’s new head coach in December of 2012 and 13 years later, those words have become the Wolfpack culture.
Wolfpack Football under Doeren is known for hard working, gritty, blue collar players and that culture has paid off with success. He has led the Wolfpack to 87 victories – the highest total in school history.
He boasts the second-longest tenure in the ACC and the sixth-longest in the FBS. He has guided NC State to at least eight wins in six of the last eight seasons, with four nine-win campaigns in that time.
Since 2020, Doeren’s Wolfpack ranks second in the ACC in overall (40) and conference wins (26) since 2020 and 10 of his 12 Wolfpack squads have qualified for postseason bowls - the most of any coach in program history.
Between 2017-24, 22 of his players were drafted by the NFL - including an ACC-best seven in 2017. Three of his players have gone on to be first-round picks, including OT Ikem Ekwonu in 2022, C Garrett Bradbury in 2019 and DE Bradley Chubb in 2018.
The Wolfpack has boasted 66 Academic All-ACC performers under his guidance - including a program-high 13 in 2022 - and in 2018 had a player named to the prestigious NFF National Scholar-Athlete Team.
Five of his players have won seven national awards. Bradley Chubb won the Nagurski Trophy and the Hendricks Award in 2017, Garrett Bradbury was the recipient of the 2019 Rimington Trophy, and in 2022, Christopher Dunn won the Lou Groza Award. In 2023 LB Payton Wilson brought home the Butkus and Bednarik Awards while long snapper Joe Shimko won the Patrick Mannelly Award. He has coached two ACC Defensive Players of the Year and an ACC Rookie of the Year.
Although the 2024 campaign did not go as expected, the Wolfpack qualified for its fifth-straight bowl game and talented true freshman quarterback CJ Baily came in for an experienced graduate student and posted some of the top numbers in the country for a rookie. The Pack posted its fourth straight win over UNC, marking the second-longest win streak for NC State in the 131 history of that series.
In 2023, the Wolfpack won five straight league games (for the first time in 50 years) to close the season and qualify for the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando. His defense ranked in the top 25 nationally in 10 different categories and the Pack finished 18th in the final CFP rankings.
Over the 2020, ‘21 and ‘22 seasons, the Wolfpack won 16 straight home games, tying as the longest home winning streak in school history. The 2021 squad became the first since 1986 (35 years!) to go undefeated at home (and that squad did post one tie) and one of just six teams in school history to post an unblemished record at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The 2022 Wolfpack team was the first since 1980 not to give up more than 30 points in a game all season and the Wolfpack was the only Power 5 team to accomplish that feat in 2022.
In 2022, injuries forced the Wolfpack to start four different players at the quarterback spot, with each of the four earning a victory.
Wolfpack fans stormed the field twice in 2021, as Doeren’s Pack knocked off ninth-ranked Clemson in double overtime and then scored 13 points in 95 seconds to knock off visiting UNC and close out the regular season.
The Pack was poised for its 10th win of the season in the SDCCU Holiday Bowl before a game-day cancellation by UCLA shocked the nation. Still, NC State’s final rankings (18th in CFP, 20th in AP) were the program’s highest since 2002.
In 2021, with five new coaches on staff (not to mention a global pandemic to contend with), the Wolfpack made one of the most inpressive turnarounds in college football, posting an 8-4 record and earning the sixth bowl bid of his Wolfpack tenure. Doeren led his resilient squad to seven ACC victories - a new school record.
That successful campaign followed a season that saw the Wolfpack decimated by injuries with seven players (including five starters) lost for the season. Because of injuries, a Power 5 conference-leading 45 players started games in 2019 and the Pack played the nation’s second-highest total of freshmen.
With nine victories, the 2018 Wolfpack was one of just six teams in the 126-year history of NC State football to post nine or more regular season wins. It marked the first time since 1991-92 that NC State had posted back-to-back nine-win seasons and was only the third time in school history that had been accomplished.
Doeren’s teams qualified for five consecutive bowl games (2014-18) - the second-longest bowl streak in school history - and he is only the second coach in school history to take teams to five straight postseason bowls.
The Wolfpack boasted an ACC-best six first-team all-conference performers in 2018 and became the first team in school history to place two wide receivers on the first team.
His 2017 squad posted nine wins for the season, including a 6-2 mark in the ACC - the most in 23 years. The squad finished the year with a resounding win in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.
In 2016, while facing a daunting schedule, his squad won three of its last four games, including a win at rival UNC and an Independence Bowl victory over SEC opponent Vanderbilt. Four of the squad’s losses in 2016, including two to ranked teams, were by seven points of less.
In 2015, Doeren took one of the nation’s youngest teams and went to battle against three teams that ended the regular season ranked in the top 10. NC State won four road games in 2015, more than any Wolfpack squad since 2002. No other State team has turned in more road victories since 1957. The team posted numbers on offense and special teams that were among the top marks in school history.
In 2014, his second year as the head coach at NC State, his team was the second-most improved in the Power 5 conferences. The Wolfpack more than doubled its win total from the previous season, earned a bowl victory and posted its highest team GPA in program history.
The 2014 Wolfpack squad was only the second in school history to score 40 or more points in five regular season games and posted its best rushing average since 1992. Despite the tough league schedule in 2015, the team posted four 40+ point games and an almost identical rushing output.
He came to NC State after leading the program at Northern Illinois to its most successful two years in program history. His first Husky squad won the school’s first Mid-American Conference Championship since 1983 and tied the school record with 11 wins. His second version repeated as league champions and set a new school record by posting 12 victories for the season and earned a trip to the Orange Bowl - the first BCS berth ever for a MAC school. Doeren was a finalist for several national coach of the year awards following the 2012 campaign.
Under Doeren’s leadership, NIU boasted the nation’s longest conference winning streak with 17 straight wins versus MAC opponents. The Huskies never lost a home game during his tenure in DeKalb, winning a dozen home contests in his two seasons to extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 21 games.
Prior to his stint in DeKalb, Doeren spent five seasons in the Big Ten at Wisconsin, where he served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. During Doeren’s time in Madison, the Badgers posted a 49-15 overall mark and played in the Champs Sports Bowl twice, the Outback Bowl, the Capital One Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
For his first two seasons in Madison, he served as co-defensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator/linebackers coach and in 2008, was named the primary defensive coordinator.
Doeren arrived at Wisconsin after four seasons (2002-05) at the University of Kansas, where he served as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator for three seasons before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator under head coach Mark Mangino.
During Doeren’s time at Kansas, the Jayhawks ended a seven-year bowl drought, earning bids to the 2003 Tangerine Bowl and the 2005 Ft. Worth Bowl. The opponent in that first bowl appearance was a Philip Rivers-led NC State team.
In 2000 and 2001, Doeren coached the secondary at NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) powerhouse Montana, also serving as the Grizzlies’ recruiting coordinator for one year. Montana advanced to the I-AA national championship game in 2000, losing by two points, but returned to win the national title the following season. The Grizzlies posted a 28-3 record and won two Big Sky Conference championships in his two years with the program and he coached five All-Americans, four All-Big Sky performers and two league defensive MVPs.
Doeren grew up right outside of Kansas City, where he watched his grandfather, Thomas Glennon, coach high school basketball and track. He loved the respect his grandfather commanded from his players, even after he retired from coaching.
When he left for college at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, his goals were to play football, earn a pre-med degree, go to med school and become an orthopedic doctor. He accomplished the first two.
He lettered at tight end for the Bulldogs, catching 19 catches for 237 yards for his career. He majored in pre-medical biology, earning Academic All-America honors as a senior. He took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). His plans for the future changed, however, during the summer between his junior and senior years when his former coach at Bishop Miege High School asked him to lead seven-on-seven drills.
From that moment on, he decided he wanted to be a coach. He pursued that goal with a relentlessness that never wavered. Instead of heading to med school, he landed his first coaching job in 1994, right there in Kansas at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. His collegiate coaching career began just a year later, when he was named an assistant coach at Drake, leading the linebackers from 1995-97 before adding defensive coordinator chores in 1997. He also earned his master’s degree from Drake in educational leadership.
Doeren got his first taste of a bowl experience as a defensive graduate assistant at the University of Southern California. During his stint with the Trojans, he began work on his Ph.D.
Doeren met his wife Sara while he was coaching at Drake and she was a nursing student. The couple has three sons: Jacob (26), Luke (23) and Connor (19).
YEAR BY YEAR WITH DAVE DOEREN
| Year | School | Position | Rec. | Postseason |
| 1994 | Shawnee Mission NW HS | Assistant Coach | ||
| 1995 | Drake | Linebackers | 8-1-1 | |
| 1996 | Drake | Linebackers | 8-3 | |
| 1997 | Drake | Linebackers/DC | 8-3 | |
| 1998 | USC | Grad Asst. | 8-5 | Sun Bowl |
| 1999 | USC | Grad Asst. | 6-6 | |
| 2000 | Montana | Def. Secondary | 13-2 | IAA Runnerup; Big Sky Champion |
| 2001 | Montana | Def. Secondary | 15-1 | IAA Champ; Big Sky Champion |
| 2002 | Kansas | LB/Recruiting Coor. | 2-10 | |
| 2003 | Kansas | LB/Recruiting Coor. | 6-7 | Tangerine Bowl |
| 2004 | Kansas | LB/Recruiting Coor. | 4-7 | |
| 2005 | Kansas | LB/Co-Def. Coor. | 7-5 | Ft. Worth Bowl |
| 2006 | Wisconsin | Co-Def. Coor./Rec. Coor/LB | 12-1 | Capitol One Bowl |
| 2007 | Wisconsin | Co-Def. Coor./Rec. Coor/LB | 9-4 | Outback Bowl |
| 2008 | Wisconsin | Def. Coor/LB | 7-6 | Champs Sports Bowl |
| 2009 | Wisconsin | Def. Coor/LB | 10-3 | Champs Sports Bowl |
| 2010 | Wisconsin | Def. Coor/LB | 11-2 | Rose Bowl; Big Ten Champion |
| 2011 | Northern Illinois | Head Coach | 11-3 | GoDaddy.com Bowl; MAC Champion |
| 2012 | Northern Illinois | Head Coach | 12-1 | *Orange Bowl; MAC Champion |
| 2013 | NC State | Head Coach | 3-9 | |
| 2014 | NC State | Head Coach | 8-5 | BitCoin St. Petersburg Bowl |
| 2015 | NC State | Head Coach | 7-6 | Belk Bowl |
| 2016 | NC State | Head Coach | 7-6 | Independence Bowl |
| 2017 | NC State | Head Coach | 9-4 | Hyundai Sun Bowl |
| 2018 | NC State | Head Coach | 9-4 | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl |
| 2019 | NC State | Head Coach | 4-8 | |
| 2020 | NC State | Head Coach | 8-4 | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl |
| 2021 | NC State | Head Coach | *9-3 | SDCCU Holiday Bowl |
| 2022 | NC State | Head Coach | 8-5 | Duke's Mayo Bowl |
| 2023 | NC State | Head Coach | 9-4 | Pop-Tarts Bowl |
| 2024 | NC State | Head Coach | 6-7 | Go Bowling Military Bowl |
*The Wolfpack's opponent in the Holiday Bowl backed out on game day, but the game was not ruled a forfeit (which would've given the Pack a 10-3 record)
