This happened very quickly. After falling to 3-4 on the season by way of Friday night's road loss at Stanford, North Carolina State decided to make a change. Long-time Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren has been let go. ESPN's Pete Thamel was all over the news of his termination on Saturday evening. Even though Clemson no longer plays its Textile Bowl rival annually, this firing is still jarring.
Doeren had been the second-longest tenured head coach in the ACC behind only Dabo Swinney. He went 98-74 overall and 52-58 in ACC play over parts of 14 seasons dating back to 2013. Yes, Doeren had gotten stale in Raleigh, but this season was especially damning for him. All four of his losses were varying degrees of rancid, from Virginia, to Vanderbilt, to Wake Forest, and on the road to Stanford.
From purely a Clemson perspective, this termination does put pressure on Dabo Swinney to evolve even more so at the helm of his program. Doeren tried to get more explosive over on offense, but the offensive line has been an issue for years. While his patented defense had not been up to standard of late, the late-game execution, or lack thereof, is a big reason why he was let go. It needed to happen.
NEWS: NC State has fired coach Dave Doeren. The firing comes in the wake of a loss at Stanford on Friday night.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 24, 2026
Dave Doeren is proof that Clemson can no longer settle for mediocrity
Any time a Power Four head coach gets let go, it is big news. Doeren now makes two Power Four teams without a full-time head coach, joining the Maryland Terrapins who fired Mike Locksley earlier in the week. While Swinney is the far more accomplished ACC coach, Doeren was the rough equivalent of Kentucky moving on from Mark Stoops last season. He was great for UK for a while, until he was not.
Fate would have it, Kentucky hired the perfect head coach for the Wildcats: Will Stein. He has Big Blue at No. 12 in the nation heading into their primetime kick with Vanderbilt. He did not even need a year to get it turned around in Lexington. Clearly, apathy is no longer going to be tolerated at NC State any longer. Look for the Wolfpack to hire someone more dynamic to help get this program out of its rut.
As for what this means for Clemson, a traditional rival is no longer going to continue to settle for mediocrity. NC State has had quality quarterback play over the years, but the Wolfpack never won the old ACC Atlantic, or ever played in the conference title bout. While they could have waited until the end of the season, they know what their standard is. Doeren was no longer good enough for NC State.
Right now, Swinney cannot afford to get complacent for even one more nanosecond. With two head coaches being let go, others will soon follow Locksley and Doeren out the door. Swinney's buyout is too high for him to be a serious candidate to be on the chopping block, but look at how quickly things changed in Raleigh. They care a little bit about football, but not to the degree that Clemson fans do.
Swinney should be in great shape to get to 2027 and beyond, but Doeren's firing is a wake-up call.
Add us as a preferred source on Google