NC State hires Kurt Roper as Quarterbacks Coach

Dave Doeren apparently had zero interest in reading a Backing The Pack POAPS series on QB coaches, as the NC State Head Coach made a quick (and very good) hire in naming Kurt Roper as the new Quarterbacks coach for the Wolfpack. Roper, a long time Dave Cutcliffe assistant, comes to Raleigh after serving as the QB Coach at Colorado for the 2018 season.

While not detailed in the official release from NC State, it’s assumed that Roper will begin his duties (at least in terms of on-field coaching... you can pretty much bet that house that he started recruiting for State before even telling his family he was hired) following NC State’s bowl game. NC State already announced that current Offensive Quality Control Analyst Kriss Proctor will coach the QBs for NC State’s Gator Bowl match-up against Texas A&M on December 31.

Roper spent 17 of the first 18 years of his coaching career working under Cutcliffe at Tennessee, Ole Miss, Tennessee (again), and Duke. At Duke, he was the Offensive Coordinator from 2008-2013, leaving after the Blue Devil’s 10-4 season which saw them win the ACC Coastal Division (before getting pummeled by eventual national champion Florida State in the ACC Championship Game). Roper was a 2013 finalist for the Broyles Award, the award given to the top assistant coach in college football.

After breaking free from Cutcliffe, Roper moved on to Florida as the OC in a failed attempt to save Will Muchamp’s job there, before following Muchamp to South Carolina to again serve as his OC for two years. At Colorado, Roper joined another former Cutcliffe assistant, Mike McIntyre. Roper served as the interim coach for the Buffalo’s last regular season game of 2018 following the firing of McIntyre, a game Colorado lost 33-21 at California.

This is an excellent hire by Doeren for three reasons:

1. Roper has spent all but two of his 23 years as a coach in the southeast, with 15 years of experience in the SEC and six in the ACC. That should allow him to hit the ground running in recruiting.
2. He’s an easy sell to both the current QBs on the roster and to recruits due to his experience working with high performing QBs, including being the QB coach at Ole Miss for former #1 overall NFL Draft pick Eli Manning.
3. With nine years of experience under his belt as an Offensive Coordinator, he will be a great resource for newly minted NC State Co-OCs Des Kitchings and George McDonald, who only have four years of experience between them at the position.