NC State football is learning leadership from a West Point graduate. The impact is palpable ahead of 2026 season

The Wolfpacker FootballNC State coach Dave Doeren sat in front of a logoed backdrop with a dejected face on the second-floor of Navy-Marine Corps Stadium after the 2024 Military Bowl. Not only did his team lose to East Carolina, but a brawl with 44 seconds left marred the end of the season finale. The fight, which appeared to be sparked by an ECU player swiping the towel from an NC State defender, took more than a minute to be brought under control. At least one official emerged from the fracas bloodied, which led to eight ejections between the two teams once the referees calmed everything down. “I'm embarrassed as a coach,” Doeren said afterwards on that December night in Annapolis, Md. “I know our players are too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that. To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there's no excuses for it. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.” Although that moment left the veteran coach frustrated, it served as a critical turning point within the leadership of the group