NC State coach Dave Doeren talks ‘the worst week in college football’
Not too long after No. 22 NC State’s 39-20 win over North Carolina on Saturday night, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren talked about the various distractions his team overcame this season, including “people trying to poach our players.”
But that was followed by a plea to the NC State fan base to generate donations to the Wolfpack’s NIL collectives, Savage Wolves and Pack of Wolves, ahead of a turbulent time in college football.
The regular season concluded on Saturday, and while the transfer portal does not officially open until Dec. 4, players around the country will likely announce their intent to transfer this week.
“I’m proud of how this thing turned out and now we get into maybe the worst week in college football coming up with the portal and all that other stuff,” Doeren said. “For all you folks that want us to keep winning, I’d tell you to get on Savage Wolves, find that link, and I’d love to see 5,000 people donate $1,000 to our NIL and get us to a point where we can recruit, retain and develop the program in the NIL world where guys on our roster are able to benefit from that.”
The 11th-year coach has seen college football evolve during his time at NC State, and NIL is the latest piece of that. And while it has become the norm around the country, Doeren was concerned for what other actors may be doing in the space outside of the Wolfpack.
“I think in this space there’s a lot of bad stuff happening, and there needs to be a financial commitment from our fan base … so that we can take care of these kids that play so hard for us,” Doeren said.
The upcoming week will be pivotal for the Wolfpack coaching staff as it prepares to work in the portal the week after — both in additions to its roster as well as some players that will depart.
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What does this year’s version of the transfer portal era look like? Doeren is not sure.
“The whole country is kind of like what’s happening now?” Doeren said earlier this week. “You’ll find out Sunday I guess. It’s a mess, to be honest. It’s a mess. You just hope that the young people involved get good advice and listen to good advice because there’s a lot of people that are trying to use these kids from other places to get money.”
Doeren stressed the importance of looking after players in college football and hoped that they would make the right decision since only 63% of FBS football players that entered the portal enrolled at another NCAA member school.
“I know there was a lot of players that went into the portal last year that didn’t find a home,” Doeren said. “Which means they’re not getting a scholarship. … If you leave one school and go to another, what happens to your credits? Well usually you lose some, so you’re not graduating at the same pace. Nobody cares if you’re not there anymore. There’s a lot of sad stories that come out of this thing.”
This week is not a fun week for anyone involved as programs shuffle to prepare for the future. But one thing Doeren wanted to stress was just because a player leaves one school does not mean they will be in a better situation at the next one.
“As we all know, the grass is not always greener,” Doeren said. “I hope in the next week that a lot of kids make educated decisions that have their education and growth in mind.”
