Co-DL coach Elisha Shaw brings high-energy personality to NC State’s coaching staff

There’s just something about his attitude. It’s infectious. And on this day, even though he was speaking through a Zoom press conference, the energy oozed through the screen as he talked about his future at NC State. 

As he talked, you wouldn’t have known what Elisha Shaw has been through in life to reach this moment. He was a top-100 recruit in the 2014 recruiting cycle out of Tucker (Ga.) High School, but a neck injury ended his playing career before he could even step inside a collegiate stadium dressed in pads and a helmet. 

That sent him down a new path: coaching.

Shaw, who had offers from nearly every major program during his recruitment, obtained a waiver to attend Alabama on a non-football scholarship, even though he couldn’t play. That kicked off his coaching career, which took him from a student assistant to a graduate assistant at Georgia State and NC State. 

And now, he’s the Wolfpack’s newest full-time assistant after coach Dave Doeren promoted Shaw to be the team’s co-defensive line coach moving forward. 

“Coach Shaw has brought a wealth of passion and enthusiasm to our program and has done a great job with our D-line,” Doeren said when he made the hire official. “He has a bright future as a coach.”

As Shaw has navigated the coaching industry, he views his career like a Crock-Pot, not an air fryer. He had all the tools to play high-level Division I football, likely in the SEC, but he couldn’t deploy them on the field. Instead, he waited and has used them in coaching. 

“You’ve got this plan, this meal that you want to cook up. You’ve got the ingredients and the recipe all together, but you’ve got to cook it slowly,” Shaw said. “It’s not a fast track. That’s how I’ve always described my last eight to 10 years’ tenure. Just slow-cook. God slowed me down and wanted me to learn a little bit more.”

It’s a process, but Shaw has emerged as one of the top up-and-coming assistants in the industry through his patience. He arrived in Raleigh before the 2023 campaign as the Wolfpack’s defensive line graduate assistant to work with Charley Wiles. 

From the moment he stepped on campus, Shaw had a unique charisma about him. That energy translated onto the practice field as Shaw assisted Wiles in running drills, while he also played a pivotal role in the Wolfpack’s scout team. 

Shaw impressed the Wolfpack’s coaching staff, including Doeren and Wiles, which led to NC State bringing him on in a full-time role, though his day-to-day duties will be similar to last season’s. 

While Shaw continues to grow as a football coach, he was overjoyed to continue learning from Wiles, a 38-year veteran. 

“The opportunity to sit underneath his wisdom and be able to bounce things off Coach Wiles and receive things from him to create this great recipe that works,” Shaw said. “One thing about Charley, his recipe is proven. I only want to take that from him, add to that, and create a recipe that works — a recipe that NC State loves.”

Wiles, meanwhile, raved about Shaw’s ability to relate to the defensive line as well as the enthusiasm he has for coaching.

“He brings a lot of positivity, a lot of energy. … He’s fun to be around,” Wiles said. “Elisha, I trust him 100 percent. We’re coaching together. It’s a great situation.”

Shaw enjoys being able to learn from Wiles — the “best partnership he could ever ask for,” he said — and the rest of the Pack’s coaching staff as he looks to add to his coaching repertoire. He’s more than a decade removed from a life-altering injury diagnosis that sent him to a different side of the sport, but for Shaw it has been a key learning opportunity. 

He has attacked each day with the same energy and passion he did on the field, looking to get after opposing quarterbacks, and it has served him well ever since. 

“[It’s] earned not given. And even when you earn it, the results of that are only temporary,” Shaw said as he reflected on his path through football. “Sometimes, you’ve got to re-earn it. … Earn success once. If life says, ‘Hey, I want you to earn another outlet,’ you take the same process to excellence and you earn it again. You earn it again and again. That’s legacy-driven.”

Shaw worked his way to the top as a football recruit. Now, he’s looking to do the same as a coach, and it will continue at NC State in his first full-time coaching position at the FBS level.