There’s an alternate reality, one that’s not particularly far-fetched, in which Dave Doeren is standing on a different sideline Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
As things stand, he’ll be leading his No. 23 NC State football team into a matchup against No. 12 Tennessee in what should be one of the more enticing games of Week 2 of the 2024 college football season.
Since being hired by the Wolfpack in December 2012, Doeren has become a mainstay of the NC State program. He’s one game into his 12th season at the helm in Raleigh, making him the Wolfpack’s longest-tenured coach in more than 50 years.
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Had circumstances changed ever so slightly several years ago, he would have been heading into the Tennessee-NC State game wearing orange and a Power T.
Doeren was among the candidates associated with the Vols’ coaching vacancy in 2017, a job that ultimately went to Jeremy Pruitt after a circuitous search.
Though Doeren opted to remain at NC State, his name will remain connected in some small way with Tennessee, particularly with his team preparing to face off against the Vols for the first time since that reported flirtation.
Before the Tennessee and NC State kick off Saturday night, here’s what you need to know about Doeren and his involvement in the Vols’ coaching search seven years ago:
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Dave Doeren Tennessee coaching search
In November 2017, and with two games remaining in the season, Tennessee fired football coach Butch Jones shortly after the Vols lost to Missouri 50-17 to fall to 4-6, the latest disappointing twist in a season they began ranked in the top 25 nationally.
Jones had improved Tennessee over the course of his tenure, highlighted by back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2015 and 2016, but in his teams never appeared in the SEC championship game or finished a season ranked in the top 20 over his five-year tenure. The Vols and their fans understandably wanted more from a program with two national championships to its name.
“We need to hire someone that understands the magnitude of being the football coach at the University of Tennessee,” then-Tennessee athletic director John Currie said at the time.
What followed, though, was a search that could only be described as calamitous.
It began, as Tennessee coaching searches have a tendency of doing, with rumors of Jon Gruden potentially coaching the Vols, but that chatter quickly fizzled. Dan Mullen, then the Mississippi State head coach, had spoken with Currie about the position, but opted instead for the Florida job. A slew of other names — Mike Gundy, Jeff Brohm and Scott Frost, among others — were connected to the vacancy.
After those various twists, the Vols narrowed their focus on their target — then-Ohio State defensive coordinator, with whom they were closing in on a deal. Word of the looming arrangement leaked, however, setting off a revolt from fans, donors and even state politicians. Faced with that outcry, Tennessee eventually backed out.
With Schiano out of the picture, and as Currie’s search reset, Doeren’s name entered the equation.
According to documents obtained by the USA TODAY Network, Currie contacted Doeren’s agent, Jordan Bazant, who wrote to the Tennessee athletic director that his client was “fired up” about the possibility of coaching the Vols. Currie even flew to Raleigh to meet with Doeren.
Like with Schiano, though, there was pushback to Doeren once it was revealed he was in the mix for the position. His 2017 NC State team went 9-4 and won the Sun Bowl, but in his first four seasons with the Wolfpack, he went just 25-26.
The conversations wouldn’t get any further. On November 30, NC State announced it had signed Doeren to a new contract. The five-year, $15 million deal Doeren was in line to receive was worth at least $1 million less annually than what Tennessee had offered him, according to a report at the time from the Raleigh News & Observer.
“My heart is at NC State,” Doeren said in a news release announcing the new contract.
His previous deal with the Wolfpack, which paid him $2.21 million annually, was scheduled to run through the 2020 season. USA TODAY’s Dan Wolken reported at the time that Doeren had been engaged in a stalemate with NC State athletic director Debbie Yow over a contract extension, lending credence to the idea that Tennessee was possibly used as a bargaining chip.
Regardless of the minutiae of the negotiations, Doeren’s hiring at Tennessee may have never materialized even if both sides wanted it. Within 48 hours of speaking with Doeren about the job, Currie was out as the Vols’ athletic director after just eight months.
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Dave Doeren record
In the years since his dalliance with Tennessee, Doeren’s NC State teams have improved.
After going 25-26 in his first four seasons, Doeren has gone 57-32 since, a run that includes four nine-win seasons.
Entering Saturday’s game against Tennessee, Doeren is 82-58 at NC State and 105-62 for his career. He joined the Wolfpack after two seasons at Northern Illinois, where he went 23-4 and helped lead the team to the Orange Bowl in his final season.
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Publish date : 2024-09-06 23:05:00
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