NC State Football Opens Post-Doeren Era Against Cal

RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State plays its first game without Dave Doeren in more than a decade on Saturday, when the Wolfpack host California at noon at Carter-Finley Stadium for homecoming.

Todd Goebbel, who has coached the running backs and run the special teams, now leads the Wolfpack on an interim basis through the end of the season. The school also parted ways with defensive coordinator DJ Elliot in the shakeup.

The change came after a 31-28 loss at Stanford dropped NC State to 3-4. Stanford, projected in the preseason as the worst team in the ACC, jumped out 14-0 in the first quarter and held on, a result that followed an Oct. 10 defeat at home against Wake Forest in which the Wolfpack failed to score after halftime while giving up 28 points.

Doeren leaves as the winningest coach in program history at 98-74 over 14 seasons, with 11 bowl trips and a 9-4 mark against North Carolina. His teams never reached the ACC title game, though. He was signed through December 2029, and NC State must pay him $9.75 million in remaining base salary on top of what is still due this year, a bill that tops $10 million.

Despite the turmoil, oddsmakers list NC State as an 8.5-point favorite. Cal arrives with problems of its own, having already taken play-calling away from the offensive coordinator it hired this year, and the Bears have shuffled their use of quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in recent weeks.

The national search for the next Wolfpack head coach is already underway, led by athletic director Boo Corrigan. Doeren, 54, came to Raleigh from Northern Illinois in time for the 2013 season and claimed the program record for wins by beating Miami in 2023. Going into this fall he was the second-longest tenured coach in the ACC, behind only Dabo Swinney of Clemson.

Saturday also brings a homecoming crowd to Carter-Finley, giving Goebbel and the players a chance to reset in front of the home fans with five regular-season games left.

Filed under: Raleigh NC Sports News