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. Four of the squad’s losses in 2016, including two to ranked teams, were by seven points of less. 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. The squad finished the year with a resounding win in the Hyundai Sun Bowl. His 2017 squad posted nine wins for the season, including a 6-2 mark in the ACC - the most in 23 years. 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. 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.ĭoeren’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. 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. 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. That successful campaign followed a season that saw the Wolfpack decimated by injuries with seven players (including five starters) lost for the season. Doeren led his resilient squad to seven ACC victories - a new school record. 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. Still, NC State’s final rankings (18th in CFP, 20th in AP) were the program’s highest since 2002. 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. 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. In 2022, injuries forced the Wolfpack to start four different players at the quarterback spot, with each of the four earning a victory. 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. 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. Over the 2020, ‘21 and ‘22 seasons, the Wolfpack won 16 straight home games, tying as the longest home winning streak in school history. Bradley Chubb won the Nagurski Trophy and the Hendricks Award in 2017, Garrett Bradbury was the recipient of the 2019 Rimington Trophy and last season, Christopher Dunn won the Lou Groza Award. Three of his players have won four national awards. The Wolfpack has boasted 56 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. Three of his players have gone on to be first-round picks, including OT Ikem Ekwonu (No. The Wolfpack ranks third in the ACC in conference wins since 2018 and eight of his 10 Wolfpack squads have qualified for postseason bowls - the most of any coach in program history.īetween 2017-22, 19 of his players have been drafted by the NFL - including an ACC-best seven in 2017 - the sixth-highest total nationally. He has guided NC State to at least eight wins in five of the last six seasons, with three nine-win campaigns in that time. He enters the 2023 campaign with the second-longest tenure in the ACC and the seventh-longest in the Power 5 conferences. Doeren has led the Wolfpack to 72 victories – the second-highest total in school history. That culture has paid off with success on the field. Tough, hard-working players who play not for individual, but for the collective. That’s the culture that NC State head coach Dave Doeren has built in his 10 seasons at the helm of the Wolfpack football program.
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