Report: Robert Anae to be NC State offensive coordinator
NC State football has hired its next offensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Syracuse offensive coordinator/inside receivers and tight ends coach Robert Anae is set to take over the offense, replacing Tim Beck.
Beck was hired last Sunday as the new head coach at Coastal Carolina.
In terms of familiarity, although Doeren did not work with Anae previously, two people who have in the past happen to be two members of the NC State staff among whom Doeren respects the most.
Anae worked at Texas Tech when Ruffin McNeill was an assistant there. McNeill is Doeren’s special assistant to the head coach at NC State. Then, Anae spent a year on the same staff at Arizona with current Pack defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
Anae was previously the OC at Virginia with Bronco Mendenhall until this past year. In 2021, the Cavaliers were third nationally in yards per game.
The Hawaii native played offensive line at BYU. After starting his career as a grad assistant, first at Hawaii and then his alma mater, Anae worked his way up the coaching ladder as an offensive line coach, starting at Boise State in 1996 and then two years at UNLV.
In 2000, Anae was hired for the offensive line coaching position at Texas Tech, beginning a five-year stint there. He left to become the offensive coordinator at BYU in 2005, a position he held while also being inside receivers coach for six years.
After resigning in 2010, Anae accepted a job as running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Arizona. In 2013, he was hired by Mendenhall back at BYU in the same position he previously held there. He left with Mendenhall to Virginia in 2015.
In Anae’s first year with Mendenhall at BYU, the Cougars ranked 14th nationally in yards per game, and they were 28th a year later.
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At Virginia, Anae oversaw gradual improvement of the offense. Each season, the Cavaliers improved their national rank in yards per game from the prior year, rising from 112th in 2016 to third before Mendenhall announced his sudden resignation after the 2021 campaign.
Both Gibson and Doeren spoke highly of how Anae had improved Syracuse’s offense this season, although the overall stats for the Orange were fairly similar to the year before.
Syracuse finished 89th in total offense. That was largely due to a tough four-game stretch against ranked opponents Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida State plus a strong defense from Pittsburgh. During that time, Syracuse did not gain 300 yards in a game and was held to 160 yards or fewer twice.
However, the Orange bounced back and had 477 yards at Wake Forest and 449 yards at Boston College in the final two contests of the year.
One question that will have to be answered is how does Robert Anae’s hiring affect the position coaches. Anae’s career he been exclusively coaching receivers, tight ends or offensive line. Beck handled quarterbacks for NC State.
