NC State dismissed head coach Dave Doeren on Saturday, less than a day after a 31-28 loss at Stanford. He leaves with a 98-74 record, the most wins of any coach in program history. Yet the later years of his tenure were shaped by a team that kept lifting its floor without ever breaking through its ceiling. The Wolfpack never won 10 games in a season under Doeren and never reached the ACC championship game, even in years when it began the season talking about a conference title.
The high point came in 2021, when NC State beat Clemson 27-21 in double overtime at Carter-Finley Stadium. The win ended an eight-game losing streak against the Tigers and was the program's first over a top-10 opponent since 2012. Quarterback Devin Leary led two touchdown drives in overtime, and the defense stopped Clemson on its last possession. Afterward Doeren told reporters, "The curse is broken, NC State fans, finally."
Later that season came a stunning comeback against North Carolina. Down 30-21 with 2:12 left, NC State got a 64-yard touchdown pass from Leary to Emeka Emezie, recovered an onside kick, and connected with Emezie again from 24 yards out just 26 seconds later. The 34-30 victory sent fans onto the field.
Two more milestones stand out. In September 2017, NC State upset No. 12 Florida State 27-21 in Tallahassee, snapping a 10-game losing streak against ranked opponents. Then on Nov. 4, 2023, a 20-6 win over Miami gave Doeren his 78th victory with the Wolfpack, passing Earle Edwards for the program record. That same season, NC State won five straight ACC games to finish the regular season 9-3 and ranked No. 18 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, after quarterback Brennan Armstrong reclaimed his starting job from MJ Morris.
The low points were just as vivid. At Clemson in 2016, kicker Kyle Bambard missed a 33-yard field goal as regulation expired, and the third-ranked Tigers won 24-17 in overtime on the way to a national title. In 2022, a 16-game home winning streak ended on Senior Day when 2-7 Boston College scored the winning touchdown with 14 seconds left in a 21-20 victory, after NC State had built a 14-point lead.
The 2024 season brought another disappointment. Entering ranked and with conference hopes, NC State was beaten 51-10 by Tennessee in Charlotte, a game that turned on an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown by Will Brooks. The Wolfpack finished 6-7. Wake Forest also haunted Doeren's teams. NC State lost to the Demon Deacons in 2017 and 2018 in painfully close finishes, and in 2021 a 45-42 defeat at No. 12 Wake Forest cost the Wolfpack a shot at the Atlantic Division title.
The end came this season. NC State fell behind Stanford 14-0, rallied to tie, trailed 28-14, and could not complete a second comeback before an announced crowd of 13,949. The loss dropped the Wolfpack to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC. It followed an earlier collapse at Vanderbilt, where quarterback CJ Bailey fumbled in his own end zone while trying to run out the clock, allowing the Commodores to recover for the winning touchdown.
Athletics director Boo Corrigan fired Doeren less than 24 hours after the Stanford game, closing the longest head-coaching tenure in NC State football history.
