Russell Wilson is in the mix for the North Carolina State head coaching job.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback interviewed for the opening on Tuesday. Wilson spent three seasons at NC State from 2008-10 before transferring to Wisconsin for his final college season in 2011.
NC State’s search has also included another familiar name. ESPN reported Saturday that Philip Rivers, an eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback and NC State alum, has “engaged in serious discussions” about coaching his alma mater.
The Wolfpack opened the job after firing Dave Doeren on Oct. 24 following a 3-4 start. Doeren was in his 14th season leading the program.
Wilson, 37, stepped away from the NFL in June after a 14-year career and is currently working as a CBS Sports analyst on “The NFL Today” this fall.
His playing résumé is loaded. Wilson led Seattle to two Super Bowl appearances and a championship during his 2012-21 run with the Seahawks, where his deep ball and scrambling ability became his trademarks. He also set franchise records, finished in the top four in AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year voting three times and won the NFL’s 2020 Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
Wilson’s career took a different turn after Seattle traded him to Denver in March 2022 in a blockbuster deal. The Seahawks used the return to help build toward their 2025 Super Bowl-winning team, while Wilson’s path went in the opposite direction.
From there, he went 17-27 as a starter across three teams in four seasons. He was 11-19 in Denver in 2022-23, 6-5 with Pittsburgh in 2024 and 0-3 with the Giants in 2025 before being replaced by first-round pick Jaxson Dart.
Across his NFL career, Wilson completed 46,966 passing yards with 353 touchdowns and 114 interceptions. He also rushed for 5,568 yards and 31 scores, making him the only player in league history with more than 40,000 passing yards and 5,000 rushing yards.
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Purdue gets its first home look of the season Friday night at Mackey Arena, a quick chance to move past the disappointment of an opening loss to Gonzaga and settle into the rhythm of a long schedule. The No. 24 Boilermakers are back in West Lafayette to face Valparaiso, which arrives with some early confidence after beating Western Illinois in its first game.
For Purdue, this is the kind of early November game that can matter beyond the result, offering a chance to clean up details in front of a home crowd before the calendar starts to tighten. The matchup also comes with the usual season-opening backdrop around the program, from the broadcast setup to the full 2026-27 slate that is beginning to take shape, but the immediate focus is simply on getting the home opener right. [Read more 🡒]
Purdues Biggest Defensive Problem Is Getting Harder To Ignore
Purdues defense spent much of the Penn State game under pressure, and the issues in the front seven were hard to miss. The Boilermakers had trouble holding up against the run, with the defensive line getting pushed around and the linebackers and cornerbacks producing a mixed night of results. Snap counts and tackle totals told part of the story, but the broader picture was even clearer in the film review, where Kyle and Drew broke down which individual defenders held up and which ones struggled to make their presence felt.
The concern for Purdue is not just what happened in one game, but how it fit into a pattern that is becoming tougher to brush aside. There were some encouraging individual moments in the grading, and a few players flashed in specific roles, but the overall unit still looked vulnerable when Penn State leaned into its ground game. For a defense trying to establish some consistency, the next step is figuring out whether those problems are fixable with personnel tweaks and better execution, or whether the same issues are going to keep surfacing every week. [Read more 🡒]
Ex Boilermakers Are Already Sending Early Signs At Their New Schools
A handful of former Purdue players wasted no time making their presence felt in new uniforms as the 2026-27 college basketball season opened. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Will Berg, Camden Heide, Myles Colvin and Aaron Fine all logged their first games with new programs, giving Boilermaker fans an early look at how the transfer pipeline is taking shape around the country.
The range of debuts was notable. Berg turned in the biggest night of the group, while Heide added a solid scoring effort for South Carolina and Colvin chipped in across the board for Cincinnati. Kaufman-Renn and Fine had quieter openers, but each former Boilermaker was part of a season-opening rotation, which is exactly the kind of early-season snapshot that can make Purdue followers keep one eye on what its exes are doing elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]