Philip Rivers spent Friday night where he has been since 2021: on the sideline at St. Michael Catholic High School, coaching his son’s team in the Alabama state playoffs.
But the bigger question hanging over the former NC State quarterback is whether that sideline is about to change.
Rivers has emerged as the leading candidate for NC State’s vacant head-coaching job, and school officials, including athletics director Boo Corrigan, met with him in person this week in Alabama. He has never coached in college or the pros, but his name has quickly moved to the center of the Wolfpack’s search.
St. Michael hosts The Glenwood School on Friday night in the first round of the playoffs. A loss would end the season, and it could also accelerate NC State’s timetable.
That possibility has only added another layer to a search already moving fast. Dave Doeren was fired Oct. 24 in the middle of his 14th season. He won 98 games at NC State, the most by any coach in school history, but the program still never reached an ACC championship, never played in the ACC Championship Game since its 2005 debut, and Doeren never posted a 10-win season.
In the university’s Oct. 28 letter to the Wolfpack Club and trustees, Corrigan and Chancellor Kevin Howell framed the move as a reset.
“We believe this is the right time for a new chapter, with fresh leadership and renewed energy to elevate Wolfpack Football to the next level,” Corrigan and Chancellor Kevin Howell wrote in an Oct. 28 letter to the Wolfpack Club and university trustees.
Doeren, in his farewell address, pushed back on the program’s financial support, saying that “ resources need to match the expectations. ” Corrigan and Howell responded in writing that the school will is ‘fully committed to providing the financial investment, infrastructure, and NIL support required to compete and win.”
The money piece matters here, too. NC State spent an estimated $22 million to $26 million on its football roster this season, according to The Athletic’s estimates across the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Notre Dame. That put the Wolfpack in line with the ACC average of $21 million to $25 million.
At the top of the league, No. 1 Miami checked in at $44 million to $50 million.
Boston College was at $8 million to $13 million, while Duke landed at $12 million to $15 million. Stanford and Wake Forest, both losses for NC State this season, were estimated at $16 million to $20 million.
The next step will come through the boardroom. The NC State Board of Trustees has meetings scheduled for Nov. 12 and 13, and the board must approve a contract for the next head coach.
Rivers, 44, brings a very different résumé to the conversation. He played 18 seasons in the NFL, including a three-game return with Indianapolis last season after coming out of retirement. Over a career that included 16 starts in 15 straight years with the Chargers, he piled up nearly 64,000 passing yards and 425 yards, and at various points led the league in completions, attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns.
Before all of that, he was one of NC State’s biggest stars. Rivers played for the Wolfpack from 2000 to 2003 and helped lead the 2002 team to an 11-3 record. As a junior and senior, he led the ACC in passing yards and touchdown passes, finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting in 2003 and had his No. 17 retired by the program.
In Other News...
NC State Still Has One Big Lineup Concern Before Duke
The ACCs second availability report for NC States trip to Duke brought some notable movement, and not all of it was encouraging for a Wolfpack team trying to sort out its lineup before a key matchup. Four players who had been listed as probable the day before are no longer on the report, including three defensive starters, which at least suggests some of those situations may have improved as game day approaches.
The bigger concern now sits on offense, where Preston Douglas has been ruled out and two other important pieces remain questionable. Duke Scott and Teague Andersen are still in limbo, leaving NC State with at least one significant lineup decision still hanging over the buildup to the Duke game. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Faces A Brutal Duke Test With Plenty On The Line
NC State heads into its matchup with Duke trying to keep the focus on football, even as the broader backdrop remains noisy with an ongoing coaching search. The Wolfpack have reason to feel a little better about their offense, though, with Duke Scott back in the lineup after missing the last three games, giving the run game another option as the team tries to settle in and stay present for a game that matters beyond the usual rivalry edge.
The challenge is obvious: Duke brings a physical rushing attack of its own, led by Nate Sheppard, and that kind of test can expose any team still juggling distractions. For NC State, this is the sort of week where details matter and the margin can shrink quickly, especially against an opponent that has been steady on the ground and arrives with plenty of confidence in how it wants to play. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Has Early Momentum But One Issue Could Test The Pack
NC State opened the Justin Gainey era with a comfortable 83-64 win over Campbell, and the early signs were encouraging for a team trying to settle in under a new head coach. Ven-Allen Lubin gave the Wolfpack a strong inside presence in the opener, helping set the tone as the Pack handled business and moved quickly into the next challenge on the schedule.
East Tennessee State arrives in Raleigh after dropping its season opener to Arizona State, and it brings a different kind of test for NC State. The Wolfpack already showed it can take care of one overmatched opponent, but the next step is proving that momentum holds when the competition tightens and the details matter a little more. [Read more 🡒]