Let’s talk about Dave, and ourselves, if we can

A big problem that we have sometimes as fans is we get stuck in the same cycle: coach gets hired, coach gets a grace period, coach finds or loses additional grace based on what he does against his rivals. Dave Doeren did an exceptional job getting NC State back on its feet, but it was a process that didn’t have any large payoff for fans. We don’t see the work, we just want to see the team beat Clemson. It didn’t work that way. It was frustrating!

We get spoiled very quickly.

I just want to talk about this real quick:

On if he’s more “CEO” now than a decade ago

“I was a lot younger, a lot more involved. I was coaching more on the defensive side of the ball then. I still work with special teams when I can to help out. But the way this game has changed, staff sizes have gotten so much bigger. As a head coach, it’s hard to be a play-caller, in my opinion, and run the organization the way it needs to be run. I also have a tremendous staff. I have such a great group of guys that coach under me. I feel like I need to be that. I can be more of a recruiter, more of a motivator, more involved in the players on a day-to-day [basis] and making sure that people around me have what they need to be successful.”

The thing we miss sometimes—what we can’t really tell—is not only that a coach is a smart guy, but he’s genuine, that he’s capable of owning his own mistakes, and also, once he isn’t worried about getting fired every weekend, he can really get to work.

Watching the last 20 years of NC State sports, and also observing the fan behavior that’s gone with it, I’ve found one bit of clarity, and Dave’s the reason for it: There’s not some particular Five Year Clock on this. That’s very dumb that we do that.

The build, as far as people are concerned, in the end, never really matters, if The Results aren’t there in Year Important. That’s goofy, particularly for a place with a historically .500 football team. What, we’ve got a fancy scoreboard so we’re important now?

I’m ranting now but the distillation is this: when you stop treating every single game as a referendum on the head coach, not only can you achieve peace, but the team might just manage to surprise you, too. It’s not an easy lesson to learn, but it sure does help, just, in general.

I’m thinking about this moving forward. Just not going to be this guy anymore.