NC State co-defensive coordinator Charlton Warren leans on military background in coaching

Charlton Warren may have left the Air Force more than two decades ago, but the lessons he learned during his time in the military have stuck with him over his 21-year coaching career. 

Before he embarked on tutoring young football players from all over the country, Warren served in the Air Force for 10 years, including a stint in special forces, after his four-year playing career at the branch’s academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The traits that he boasted through his time in the military shine through today. 

“It’s really shaped me as a human being,” Warren said. “There’s nothing out of my life right now that I can’t credit to going to the Air Force Academy, going through boot camp, playing football at the academy, going on active duty for 10 years. That’s really made me the husband, the father, the coach, the mentor of young men that I am today.”

Warren, who was hired to be NC State’s co-defensive coordinator earlier this month as he will coach the Pack’s nickels and safeties, believed his time in the Air Force helped with his sense of discipline, accountability and his ability to communicate effectively. 

While those attributes are compatible with coaching football, Warren also believes that his time in the military helped give him a sense of perspective on life. He’s “been in some stuff” during his time in the Air Force, which has led to his focus on mentoring his players — both on and off the field. 

“I understand how great it is to take care of young men and to make sure they’re mentored and coached the right way,” Warren said. “You’re going to lose some, and I hope we win a bunch more than we lose, but in either one of those, young men have to be guided the right way.”

“I think my military background, that perspective on life, has really given me all the tools I think I need to help succeed and help those young men in my room understand the bigger picture in life, and also make them competitive, fight and tough and not back down from anybody.”

Even though Warren appears to be built to be a leading presence in his position rooms, he knows it will not come right away. The longtime assistant, who was most recently North Carolina’s assistant head coach for defense, knows he has to earn the trust of the Wolfpack’s defensive backs. 

That’s what he’s focused on for the first couple of months in his new role. And he thinks his military background will be key in that. 

“You have to get buy-in right away because kids can smell it from a mile away if you’re full of crap,” Warren said. “I want to earn their trust through meetings, through seeing my knowledge of the game, through being able to talk to some of the pro players and guys I’ve developed in 20 years.”

“More importantly, I want to earn their trust by pouring into them away from football,” he continued. “We don’t play a football game for a really long time around here. I’m going to pour into them as humans more than I will as a football player because I have more time right now. That’s how you build trust.”

Warren was the Wolfpack’s final assistant coach hired this past month as NC State revamped its defensive staff. He joined defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, while Elisha Shaw was promoted to co-defensive line coach. 

Eliot, who hasn’t overlapped with Warren through each of their stops at the collegiate level, still spoke highly of his new colleague just days after the hiring. 

“Charlton’s a tremendous coach with great experience across the country,” Eliot said. “He’s very detailed, very high energy. … He has great discipline, a plan of how he’s going to attack every day and I think some of that comes from his military training. It’s great to have a guy like that on our staff.”

While Warren spent two stints at UNC, NC State’s arch rival, he didn’t make the move to the Wolfpack just because of the close location to his current family home. No. Instead, it was the Pack’s culture and the program’s rabid fan base that seemed to stand out the most. 

Warren experienced what it is like to stand on the opposing sideline inside a sold-out Carter-Finley Stadium, and it was key in his decision to join the Wolfpack’s staff. 

“I think when you have a program that’s built on toughness, when you have a fan base and you walk into the stadium, you know you’ll have to deal with them on the opposing sideline and the players just grind and work for 12 months — any football coach in their right mind would want to run this way,” Warren said. “For me, it wasn’t just about location. … For me, it was about the culture, the climate, and the fan base. Those things really excite me as a football coach.”

While the Pack will not play a game for another seven months, Warren seemed energized to have the Wolfpack fan base on his side as he helps craft the defensive game plan alongside Eliot week-to-week in the 2025 campaign. 

Warren, who has spent time on staff with some of the top SEC programs, including Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, equated the game day environment in Raleigh to some of the top atmospheres he was in all through the deep south. 

Now, he’s excited to take part in NC State’s game day routine — and its raucous crowd — every time the Wolfpack takes the field moving forward. 

“I’ve been here a couple of times. I know, as an opposing coach, I was going to have to deal with it. I could feel the electricity. I could feel the energy. I could feel the fans,” Warren said. “They’re not just playing us in this stadium. They’re playing everybody because they can feel them. That’s the big part about me. Can the opponent feel your crowd, right? And when that happens, what a weapon.”