NC State coach Dave Doeren details why he made a change at offensive coordinator

Just two days after NC State dropped the Military Bowl to East Carolina, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren decided to make a change at offensive coordinator. He relieved Robert Anae of those duties in late-December as he opted to elevate quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper to the vacant position. 

While the move was announced on Dec. 30 and made it official with a signed contract on Jan. 19, Doeren had yet to publicly answer questions since his staff shuffling until spring practice opened on Tuesday. 

The Wolfpack’s 13th-year coach opened up as to why he made the decision for the first time after he watched the new squad’s first practice. 

“I just felt like, as a group, we needed to be able to score more points, we needed to play more unified football,” Doeren said Tuesday. “I loved Coach Anae, I loved working with him. He’s a great man and did a lot for our program. It just felt like Kurt is a unifying force over there.”

Roper brings a high-tempo, pro-style attack to the Wolfpack’s offense this season. And as Doeren alluded to, the longtime assistant has a goal of increasing NC State’s scoring output in 2025. 

“One of our challenges is to score more points as an offense,” Roper said during a Zoom media availability in January. “The vision, what you’re gonna see is, first and foremost, we’re gonna try to put guys on the football field that are explosive with the football.”

NC State didn’t finish inside the top-60 in total scoring offense in either of the two seasons that Anae served as the play-caller. The Pack was No. 74 (26.1 points) in that department in 2023, while it was only slightly better in 2024 with the No. 64 scoring unit (28.5). In addition to the point totals being lower than expected, the Wolfpack was No. 91 in total offense (350.4 yards) in 2023 and No. 77 (377.8) in 2024. 

Roper, who served as the Wolfpack’s quarterbacks coach for three of the last six seasons, will be able to build around rising sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey, who was thrust into the starting spot for eight games this past season. 

While Bailey was inserted into the starting lineup sooner than expected as graduate Grayson McCall suffered two head injuries, which led to an early end of his collegiate career, the first-year player was able to succeed. Bailey, who is loyal to Roper, set the freshman completion rate program record (64.9 percent), tied the most passing touchdowns by a freshman (17), while he finished with the second-most passing yards (2,413) in the team’s storied past. 

The Miami, Fla., native has consistently raved about Roper during his time in Raleigh and that was no different after his position coach was promoted this offseason. In fact, it might have taken the signal-caller’s joy to an even higher level, even though he noted he never wavered on his commitment to the Pack no matter who the offensive coordinator was. 

“It’s amazing,” Bailey said. “When Coach Roper got the job, I was so happy. I was so happy for him and happy for this offense and for our future. I’m glad he’s the OC and also my quarterbacks coach because now we’re definitely on the same page with everything. … I feel like he’s going to take this team to the heights that it hasn’t been before.”

The 2025 season will mark the first time Roper has been an offensive coordinator since he served in the role at South Carolina in the 2016 and 2017 campaigns. And like the Pack’s new defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, who once called defenses at Colorado, Kansas and Kentucky, Roper seems to have something to prove with NC State. 

Doeren, who is a self-described blue-collar coach, embraced having two coordinators that have a “chip on their shoulder.”

“At one time, they were both guys that were really hot in the business,” Doeren said. “Sometimes, things happen and you’ve got to work your way back up. They want to prove themselves, just like I do and our players do. I like that about them. I just felt like it was the right move at the right time for the team and what we’re trying to get done.”