Initially Dave Doeren's name was thought to be best associated with the opening at Purdue, however earlier today he was taken off the coaching market when N.C. State announced his hiring to replace the fired Tom O'Brien. This move comes on the heels of Doeren leading Northern Illinois to their 2nd straight MAC Championship. The official press conference will be held tomorrow at 4pm Eastern and streamed on the school's website.
Doeren leaves behind an impressive 23-4 record in his two years at the helm of the Huskies program, including a 17-1 record in MAC competition and 2 straight MAC championships as well. Under his watch the Northern Illinois team also became explosive on the offensive side of the field, averaging 40.8ppg, and ranking 9th in rushing offense, 10th in scoring offense, and 15th in total offense.
After letting go of Tom O'Brien following a 7-5 season and a bowl game coming up, Debbie Yow wanted someone more exciting and they found that in Doeren, who's a young and rising star in the coaching circles – about as opposite of Tom O'Brien in demeanor but also as committed to doing things the right way as O'Brien was. That was something Yow pointed out in announcing Doeren's hire.
"Coach Dave Doeren is a highly motivated overachiever who shares our goals to pursue aggressively a high level of achievement in the classroom and on the field of competition," stated Yow in the school's press release.
Obviously Doeren won't be coaching the Huskies in their bowl game and will be tasked with recruiting players to Raleigh that can get that program to levels it's only seen once – winning more than 9 games in a season. He was 23-4 in his two seasons at NIU and led them to an impressive 17-1 record in MACtion.
It has been expected that the architect of the NIU offense, Rod Carey, will lead the program on an interim basis and is in line to become their permanent head coach as well.
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