How scars from 2019 made NC State football a better program, Dave Doeren a better coach
N.C. State coach Dave Doeren slipped on a pair of glasses Monday before his first weekly press conference, joking that he didn’t need them 10 years ago.
Not that the eyewear was the biggest change he has had to make.
That the Wolfpack will open the 2022 season against East Carolina on Saturday can only bring back memories of 2019 and another ECU opener, of a season that would go awry, that would bring so many changes for Doeren, personally and professionally.
The Wolfpack won that 2019 game easily against ECU, 34-6. The Pack won the next week, too, routing Western Carolina.
After the 2-0 start, N.C. State would win only two more games. There were injuries, a lot of them, and misplays and mistakes in a season that ended with a 41-10 loss to North Carolina at Carter-Finley Stadium that left the Pack with a 4-8 record.
After back-to-back 9-4 seasons, after losing a number of players to the NFL, N.C. State took a big step back. It was painful for all involved, including several players still on the Wolfpack roster. Painful, but also helpful.
“I’m thankful I had to go through it,” Doeren said Monday. “Because I’m better for having gone through it. It exposed some things in our program.
“We all have the same scar from 2019. It’s a big ugly one, man, and we remember it.”
There was a total dissection of the program after the season and some deep personal introspection for Doeren. Staff changes were made and two in 2020 proved to be critical to future success: bringing in offensive coordinator Tim Beck and making Tony Gibson the defensive coordinator.
The Pack also had a new athletic director, Boo Corrigan. The former AD, Debbie Yow, had hired Doeren away from Northern Illinois but Doeren had a new boss to answer to in Corrigan.
And, of course, he had to answer to himself.
“I didn’t do a good enough job having a young team ready to play and then dealing with all the injuries, so I learned from that,” Doeren said Monday. “In my 12 years now as a head coach, I look at failure as an opportunity to grow. You can’t get better without struggle, you can’t. Nobody likes to hear that, but that’s the God’s honest truth in life.
“If you really want to get better you have to put yourself in very difficult situations to grow. You don’t grow a lot when it’s easy. And I’ve grown a lot.”
Doeren is 50. Yes, he needs glasses. His beard is flecked with gray. The oldest of his three sons, Jacob, is 21. His youngest, Connor, is 15. He and his wife, Sara, are Midwestern transplants to the Triangle who have made North Carolina their home.
“I understand my environment more, too. Being in the South, it’s different,” Doeren said.
As he begins his 10th season with the Wolfpack, Doeren describes himself as being “more seasoned, more scarred, more calloused, more patient and with more experiences to lean on.” He also might have his most complete team. It could be one good enough to contend for an ACC championship.
The Wolfpack football motto is “Hard. Tough. Together.” As Doeren said, his is a football team that has gone through a lot, that like him has the scars to prove it.
“It’s a team that has been on a journey together for a time now,” he said. “We’ve grown together. There’s a genuine commitment and understanding of what it takes to be good and what it takes not to be good. …
“It’s about winning today, over and over and over so that we can play well in the moment of truth. That’s what Saturdays are about.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 7:40 AM with the headline "How scars from 2019 made NC State football a better program, Dave Doeren a better coach."
