Year 14 Under Dave Doeren Offers
Great Optimism, Huge QuestionsBy David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Aug. 29, 2026)

As he enters his 14th season at NC State, Dave Doeren is the fourth-longest-tenured head coach in major college football, behind only Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Troy Calhoun (Air Force) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson).

Such longevity implies some baseline of success, and in Doeren’s case there are plenty of examples.

NC State has posted four nine-win seasons and three top-25 finishes (2017, 2021, 2023) under Doeren, who — at 95 career victories with the Wolfpack — is the winningest coach in program history.

Doeren also regularly churns out All-ACC players and National Football League prospects, including first-round draft picks Bradley Chubb (2018), Garrett Bradbury (2019) and Ikem Ekwonu (2022). Doeren tends to produce good citizens, too; during his tenure, Wolfpack players have been regularly engaged in campus, community and charity events, and they rarely have ended up in negative headlines.

At this point, the main thing missing from Doeren’s decade-plus-long resume in Raleigh is a truly special season.

Eight- and nine-win campaigns are nice, and Doeren certainly deserves credit for producing only a single bad team (4-8 in 2019) since his first season at State. His squads have received 11 bowl invitations in the past 12 years.

At the same time, Doeren’s average record with the Wolfpack is only 7-5 (roughly), and his career mark in conference play at State is still a losing record, at 51-55.

That dichotomy, along with a seemingly manageable 2026 schedule, has a significant chunk of Wolfpack Nation understandably screaming for a breakthrough — 10 or more victories, perhaps a trip to the ACC championship game (reminder: Duke and Virginia managed to get there last year!), maybe even an invitation to the expanded, 12-team version of the College Football Playoff.

“There’s definitely an opportunity for us this year,” Doeren said.

“That’s our whole mindset: winning the ACC championship,” junior quarterback CJ Bailey said. “We all have one goal, and that’s the ACC championship and making it to those playoffs and going on a run. We’re trying to change the narrative of the program, the whole thing.”

Bailey turned down lucrative offseason offers from other college programs to return for his third season as the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback, and the energy around his upcoming junior campaign would be even more positive if the Pack had been able to keep four of his most talented offensive teammates, too.

During preseason practice, there were only two dark clouds hovering over NC State’s high hopes for a special 2026 season, and both were directly related to personnel.

On offense, the Wolfpack lost four extremely valuable 2025 starters to the transfer portal: first-team All-ACC running back Hollywood Smothers (Texas), honorable mention All-ACC left tackle Jacarrius Peak (South Carolina), two-year starting wide receiver Noah Rogers (Alabama) and rising junior wideout Terrell Anderson (Southern Cal). Meanwhile, projected ACC contenders such as Miami, SMU and Louisville lost few, if any, key performers they wanted to keep.

On defense, meanwhile, the Wolfpack lost all six of its most productive 2025 players in the trenches. (Five of them are now in NFL training camps, four as free agents.) The Pack appears to have plenty of talent and experience in the secondary, including many with starting experience, but along the line and at linebacker the State coaches will be leaning entirely on either incoming transfers (e.g., a big, immediate impact from fifth-year Tulane end Harvey Dyson III would be extremely helpful) and former backups, many of whom have minimal experience at the college level.

While you could make a strong argument that this year’s Wolfpack has less proven talent than several other Doeren teams, there’s no doubt that — from the preseason vantage point, at least — this year’s schedule feels as manageable as any the Pack has faced in recent memory.

State’s five road trips are to Virginia, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Florida State and UNC. The Cavaliers and Commodores both surged last season, but those were the only special campaigns for either program over the past six years. The Cardinal, Seminoles and Tar Heels all are predicted to finish among the ACC’s bottom seven teams this year. Richmond (an FCS program) and Appalachian State (5-8 last year) are the Pack’s other nonconference foes, and both visit Raleigh.

Among the other five teams visiting Carter-Finley Stadium (see full schedule below), only Louisville — a talented and well-coached squad, but one breaking in a brand-new quarterback, one with minimal college experience — is expected to be an ACC contender.

As Doeren said, opportunity is knocking in Raleigh this season.

Is the 2026 Wolfpack up to the task?

2026 NC STATE FOOTBALL

Head Coach: Dave Doeren, 14th season (95-70 overall, 51-55 ACC, three top-25 finishes, 11 bowl invitations, 0 ACC title games, 0 ACC titles)

Offensive Coordinator: Kurt Roper (8th season with Wolfpack, 2nd season as Pack’s OC)

Defensive Coordinator: DJ Eliot (2nd season with Wolfpack, 2nd season as Pack’s DC)

Returning Starters/Offense (4): junior QB CJ Bailey, junior WR Keenan Jackson, fifth-year RT Teague Andersen, sophomore C Spike Sowells Jr.

Returning Starters/Defense (4): junior S/CB Asaad Brown Jr., fifth-year CB Jamel Johnson, junior S Ronnie Royal III, fifth-year CB Jackson Vick

Returning Starters/Special Teams (3): sophomore WR/PR Teddy Hoffmann, junior RB/KR Jayden “Duke” Scott, fifth-year K Kanoah Vinesett

Most Accomplished Incoming Transfers (5): senior East Carolina LT Jamarion McCrimon (1st-team All-AAC), fifth-year Tulane DE Harvey Dyson III (3rd-team All-AAC), senior Penn State S/KR King Mack (HM All-Big Ten), fifth-year Buffalo WR Victor Snow (1st-team All-MAC), junior Arkansas State P Jackson Waller (starter, 40-yard net)

Other Intriguing Incoming Transfers (9): senior Miami LB Popo Aguirre, junior Texas OL Daniel Cruz, senior App State WR Davion Dozier, fifth-year Marshall NT KaTron Evans, junior Georgia CB Ondre Evans, junior North Carolina RB Davion Gause, senior Penn State LB DaKaari Nelson, sophomore Oregon TE Vander Ploog, junior Miami WR Jojo Trader

NFL Draft Departures (2): TE Justin Joly (fifth round, Broncos), DT Brandon Cleveland (seventh round, Raiders)

NFL Free Agent Departures (8): LB Sean Brown (Titans), LB Caden Fordham (Buccaneers), WR Wesley Grimes (49ers), TE Cody Hardy (Saints), DE Sebastian Harsh (Texans), CB Devon Marshall (Jaguars), P Caden Noonkester (Saints), DE Cian Slone (Raiders)

Key Transfer Portal Departures (5): WR Terrell Anderson (5 starts in 2025, 53 career catches, 787 receiving yards, 6 TD), Southern Cal; LT Jacarrius Peak (HM All-ACC, 3-year starter, 32 career starts), South Carolina; WR Noah Rogers (2-year starter, 22 career starts, 68 catches, 919 receiving yards, 3 TD), Alabama; RB Hollywood Smothers (1st-team All-ACC, 17 career starts, 249 carries, 1,510 rushing yards, 15 TD), Texas; LB Kenny Soares Jr. (starter, 13 career starts, 137 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 3 sacks), Michigan State

2026 NC State Schedule

Sat., Aug. 29—at Virginia, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sat., Sept. 5—OPEN
Fri., Sept. 11—Richmond/FCS, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sat., Sept. 19—at Vanderbilt, 12:45 p.m. (SECN)
Sat., Sept. 26—Appalachian State
Sat., Oct. 3—Louisville
Sat., Oct. 10—Wake Forest
Sat., Oct. 17—OPEN
Fri., Oct. 23—at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sat., Oct. 31—Cal
Sat., Nov. 7—Duke
Sat., Nov. 14—Syracuse
Sat., Nov. 21—at Florida State
Sat., Nov. 28—at North Carolina

Preseason Media Poll: NC State = 7th among 17 ACC teams
DG/NCSN Regular-Season Prediction: 9-3