NC State hires former Wolfpack, Chargers QB Rivers as head coach
AP Photo/Stephen Morton
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — N.C. State has officially hired former Wolfpack and NFL quarterback Philip Rivers as head coach, turning to a beloved figure as a first-time coach at the college level to spark its football program.
The school announced Rivers’ hiring Friday, coming after its board of trustees approved a five-year contract for Rivers in a morning meeting. That was the final procedural step to completing the hire; N.C. State had reached a deal with Rivers after his high school team in Alabama ended its season with a playoff loss.
Now, exactly one week after that loss, Rivers is the man in charge in Raleigh — where he set records as a four-year starter and had his No. 17 jersey retired.
“I am humbled and honored to be the next head football coach at N.C. State University,” Rivers said in a statement released by the school. “In many ways, I feel like I’m coming home. This is where it all began for me as an 18-year-old kid from Alabama, and now to return to this great place as head coach is beyond words.
“I gave it everything I had here as a player for 51 games and I will give it everything I have as the coach. There’s no denying that this is going to take hard work, but we’re not scared of hard. I look forward to getting after it every single day with an unbelievable coaching staff and a group of players who are dedicated to relentlessly pursuing victory.”
Rivers replaces Dave Doeren, who was fired midway through his 14th season in a tenure that saw him set the program’s career wins mark yet prove unable to make a breakthrough leap to higher success. Doeren’s teams routinely tallied eight or nine wins while going to bowl games, yet couldn’t become only the second Wolfpack team to reach the 10-win mark.
That only one to do so in program history came in 2002, with Rivers as the star passer leading the Wolfpack to an 11-3 mark in a year that included cracking the top 10 nationally.
RIVERS HIRING MARKS HOMECOMING
Rivers is now the headlining name in the Wolfpack’s effort to navigate the changing landscape of college athletics with increased player movement through the transfer portal and players being paid. There are also the broad financial pressures of schools trying to generate more revenue and keep up with one another, prompting Doeren to say after his ouster: “This is a great job, N.C. State. And this is also a very hard job.”
Rivers has coached the past six seasons as head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama. That included coaching his son, Gunner, a four-star quarterback prospect who committed to N.C. State in February.
He has never been a coach in the college or professional ranks, though he interviewed for the Buffalo Bills’ head coaching job in January before removing himself from consideration. But hiring the 44-year-old Rivers brings a buzz for N.C. State fans who have kept unwavering affection for Rivers nearly two dozen years since his final college snap.
It also brings home a coach who understands everything about the school, from a rabid fan base to the local rivalries with neighboring schools in the Triangle region of North Carolina. That much was acknowledged during Friday’s trustee meeting, with board chairman Edwin J. “Ed” Stack III calling him “a longstanding son of this university.”
“He’s part of our DNA and who we are,” athletic director Boo Corrigan told reporters after the meeting.
LONG PLAYING CAREER LEADS TO RAPID COACHING CLIMB
Rivers was a four-year star (2000-03) under the late Chuck Amato. He set Atlantic Coast Conference records for most career passing yards (13,484), completions (1,087) and attempts (1,710) while setting school records for most career passing TDs (95).
Then, after being the No. 4 overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft, Rivers went on to be an eight-time Pro Bowler who ranks in the top 10 in NFL history with nearly 64,000 passing yards to go with 425 touchdown throws. He played 16 seasons with the NFL’s San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers franchise, then played one year with the Indianapolis Colts before retiring after the 2020 season.
There was one detour from coaching last December when Rivers came out of retirement to rejoin the Colts due to multiple QB injuries. The Colts signed him to the practice squad, then started him three games before he retired again and returned to St. Michael.
“It wasn’t like there was a number of other opportunities to be a (graduate assistant) and do all those things,” Corrigan said of Rivers’ NFL experience. “He grew up a coach’s son. As soon as he got done playing, started coaching. It was so good that he went back and played last year. I think it’s a different progression, but I’m really excited about where we are.”
The school is scheduled to hold Rivers’ introductory news conference Monday.