Tim Peeler: Looking back at Dave Doeren's first win at NC State

On a hot summer afternoon at sunshiny Carter-Finley Stadium, most of NC State’s devoted football fans were passed out — but not the bad kind.

They were just following the longtime stadium tradition of leaving at halftime for the expansive parking lots around the N.C. State Fairgrounds and PNC Arena for some in-game tailgating, a practice that sometimes leaves the stands looking empty at the beginning of the third quarter of Wolfpack home games.

That was a new one for first-year coach Dave Doeren when his team faced Louisiana Tech in his first game as head coach on Aug. 31, 2013. He was greeted by 54,204 spectators to start the game, but found far fewer in their seats when the second half began.

Doeren’s inaugural team, flush with nearly a dozen true freshmen in the lineup and in the hands of a graduate transfer quarterback, had little trouble with their foes from Ruston, La. The Bulldogs were under the guidance of another familiar first-year coach, Skip Holtz, late of East Carolina and South Florida and newly hired to coach the Bulldogs.

Nothing went awry in the playing of the game, which the Wolfpack won with relative ease, 40-14, after scoring 24 unanswered first-half points. Redshirt junior Tony Creecy opened at running back in place of suspended starter Shadrach Thornton, the team’s leading rusher the season before,  and scored the first touchdown of the Doeren era just two-and-a-half minutes after kickoff.

Freshman Matt Dayes added 3 touchdowns and rushed for 84 yards off the bench, on a day that the Pack gained 247 yards on the ground.

The no-huddle scheme of offensive coordinator Matt Canada was clicking for the Wolfpack for its first three possessions of the game, until starting quarterback Brandon Mitchell suffered a broken foot midway through the first quarter. The injury needed surgery the next day and kept the Arkansas graduate transfer out of the lineup for the next eight weeks. He returned late in the season to finish out a 3-9 overall, 0-8 conference debut for Doeren.

Pete Thomas stepped in during Mitchell’s absence, completing 15 of 27 passes for 212 yards.

All seemed peachy after the game, and Doeren even applauded the support his inaugural team received from the Carter-Finley faithful. Two days later, however, the new coach made a plea for new habits.

“The passion that our fan base has, we need them to be in the seats in the third and fourth quarters to be a great team,” he said. “You win big games in the third and fourth quarter. It’s great to start fast with a big crowd but it’s better to finish with one.

“That’s an advantage that we need to gain.”

It was an advantage that was not necessarily needed for that 12:30 p.m. contest. Many fans sought shade and hydration on the 90-degree afternoon from their tailgating spots. Doeren then and still today asks for fans to mitigate their halftime respites, something that could again be an issue when the two teams meet this Saturday at noon.

The weather shouldn’t be much of a factor, with temperatures in the low 80s, with a slight chance of rain. Little, though, has changed in fans’ halftime routine, so Doeren’s original plea still stands.

“I’m asking for fans to change their routine a little bit and come back into the stadium a little earlier and stay a little longer and support our guys,” Doeren said 12 years ago. “That’s something we need if the program is going to grow the way everybody wants it to.”

The coach and the fans learned much about each other in that first game, and Doeren has piled up enough wins to surpass Earle Edwards as the program’s winningest coach. He’s now the second-longest tenured coach, behind Edwards, in school history and has constructed a strong foundation that will keep him in Raleigh for as long as he wants to coach here, with nine winning seasons and nine bowl games in his first 11 seasons.

He and his team receive unprecedented support from Wolfpack fans, especially in frequent postseason bowl games and in-season road games like last Saturday at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in a loss against Tennessee, in which State sold out its entire ticket allotment before the season started.

It’s something Doeren fully recognizes and appreciates.

“I want to thank our fanbase,” Doeren said. “You guys were awesome. Our leadership, staff and team appreciate your support.

“It was a great environment.”

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].