As a college player, Philip Rivers led North Carolina State to the best season in program history. Now the Wolfpack need a coach to bring those glory days back. Could a Rivers reunion in Raleigh be in the works?
N.C. State’s search for Dave Doeren’s successor is entering its third week, and reports indicate the school has interviewed just about every former Wolfpack quarterback this side of Mike Glennon. Rivers’ name was first off the tongue of a large and vocal subset of the fan base, and according to reports, school officials on Wednesday came to Alabama — where the former NFL quarterback coaches high school football — to talk about the job.
Rivers’ high school team’s season ended Friday night, and he immediately faced questions about the job at his alma mater. Those final answers should come soon. Before then, here are three reasons why Rivers is the right fit — and three more reasons he’s not.
Why NC State should hire Rivers
He gets the Wolfpack
N.C. State is a unique situation. It takes a special type of coach to thrive in North Carolina’s Triangle, where the Wolfpack must jockey for attention, oxygen and resources with two other ACC rivals — North Carolina and Duke. And there’s a phenomenon that we’ll paraphrase as #NCStateStuff that serves as a convenient description for the lingering expectation of doom that always seems to follow the Pack’s short-lived success — perfectly encapsulated by the loss at Vanderbilt on a game-ending fumble in the end zone earlier this year.
Rivers not only understands it, he’s overcome it. He played for N.C. State from 2000-03 and led the Wolfpack to its only season in school history with double-digit victories. His 2002 team went 11-3 and beat Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl. Rivers knows what it feels like to win in this specific college-centric ecosystem, and not every candidate for the job can say that.
His son is coming, too
There will be at least one Rivers in Raleigh next year: His son Gunner, the four-star quarterback for his Saint Michael Catholic High School team, has committed to the Wolfpack. Speaking after the team’s season-ending loss, Philip Rivers said that it “certainly would be special” to coach his son again, this time in college, but added that he “wouldn’t call it the deciding factor,” according to WRAL-TV in Raleigh.
Plus, that might not be the end of the Rivers pipeline: Another son, Pete, was a freshman on that high school team. Could he be on the N.C. State roster in 2030?
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A fired-up fan base means more roster money
Nothing gets the donors to write big checks quite like a coaching change, and the Wolfpack program seemed to get stale during the final years under Doeren — who won a school-record 98 games in 13-plus seasons but never more than nine in a single year. N.C. State is also the only one of its in-state neighbors to never reach the ACC championship game.
Bringing in Rivers would immediately mobilize a feisty fan base that could be willing to spend big. N.C. State was in the middle of the pack of spenders this season, according to The Athletic. That could mean more money for a roster — and that, more than anything, would set Rivers up for success.
Why NC State should look elsewhere
The Dilfer experience question
A former NFL quarterback jumps straight from coaching high school ball to an FBS job? We’ve seen this before. Trent Dilfer flamed out in two-plus seasons at UAB, going 9-21 overall and 5-14 in conference play before he was fired. That’s not to directly compare Dilfer to Rivers, but to point out just how different of an animal coaching high-level college football is — especially in the age of the transfer portal, of name, image and likeness and of paying players directly. What evidence have we seen that Rivers knows how to navigate that landscape? Dilfer, for the record, told USA Today that his failure came in rallying the base, not Xs and Os, and that Rivers is a more natural fit at N.C. State than he was at UAB.
Who will join his staff?
A college coach is only as good as the assistants who surround him, and with well-established candidates, fans generally have a good idea of the coordinators and position coaches the head guy wants to bring to town. That tends to provide a window into both philosophy and geographic priorities in recruiting. Though he is reportedly in the process of sorting out potential staff members, their identities have not yet become public knowledge, leaving a key question unanswered.
The legacy question
This is the big one. Rivers practically walks on water in Raleigh. He rode out of town in 2003 as a conquering hero. The appeal of coming back and taking the program to even greater heights is attractive, no doubt. But there’s one pivotal question: What if it doesn’t work out? It’s hard to fire an alum, but N.C. State has done it before — 20 years ago, it pink-slipped the late Chuck Amato. But this would go more than a few steps beyond that. Let’s say Rivers can’t get N.C. State over the hump. Would athletic director Boo Corrigan have the guts to fire the most decorated figure in program history?
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