Editor’s Note: This entire column was inspired by a tweet from Jai Kumar, who you can follow on Twitter at @TheRealJaiKumar.
Dave Doeren is out.
Technically the Wolfpack head coach still has a job, but unless he pulls off two wins against some combination of Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina, it feels like he may be dead in the water.
N.C. State dropped a heartbreaker last Saturday to East Carolina in Greenville, 33-30, and the normally rational and even-keeled Wolfpack faithful are calling for Doeren’s head.
FIRE DAVE DOEREN
— Will Thompson (@thrillis4) September 10, 2016
cancel the season, athletics. Disgrace. AWFUL. Done. Fire Dave Doeren. AWFUL. Move down to Div III
— Brian McMahon (@B_Mac1982) September 10, 2016
Fire Dave Doeren. Don’t let him on the bus
— Matthew Brizzee (@LastNameBrizzee) September 10, 2016
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A Triangle football team needs a high-profile coach to come in and turn the program around immediately while its rival is flourishing down I-40.
Only one man can save you, Wolfpack fans. And you’re not gonna like it.
Meet the answer to all of your problems: N.C. State head coach Butch Davis.
I KNOW, I KNOW. You just threw your smartphone down a well or broke your laptop in half just reading that sentence. SportsChannel8’s legal team is already preparing for the lawsuits from the estates of people who literally died looking at that image.
But hear me out.
Butch Davis is a program fixer. He takes the job in 2017, and you’re finishing 8-4 with a win over Clemson. In 2018, you’ll remember what expectations feel like. In 2019, you’ve officially reached national “sleeping giant” status and cracked the preseason Top 25.
N.C. State football will be BACK under Coach Davis.
Sure, some shady things might go down in your program. An ill-advised rap lyric tweet by a player here, a Snapchat of a shiny new car there. Maybe Mark Emmert brings his investigators around for a conversation or two. All that means is that you are RELEVANT.
It makes too much sense not to happen. Your AD may or may not have a reputation for being hard to work with at times. The ACC Atlantic isn’t the most attractive coaching destination given the strength of Florida State and Clemson on a yearly basis. Unless the athletics department has a clear-cut candidate of its own for the job, it may be difficult to get someone to consider the job.
Butch Davis is so desperate to get back in the game that he will take that job before you even call him expressing interest. And if you can’t beat them for four years straight, join them, right?
Plus, you know damn well that despite UNC football actually being better now than it was six years ago, those Carolina fans miss him. They really do. Is there anything more gratifying than taking your worst enemy’s old mans and know he’s doing better now?
He’s not the hero you want, but he’s the hero you damn well deserve.
Make N.C. State above average again. Hire Butch Davis.
