Breaking Down Dave Doeren's Signing Day Press Conference

NC State's 2025 regular season is over, as the Wolfpack awaits Sunday's bowl selection to determine where the year will come to an end. However, preparation for the 2026 season season is already well under way, as head coach Dave Doeren and his staff were hard at work during the Early Signing Period securing the 2026 class.

As it currently stands, 25 of the Wolfpack's 27 hard commits have signed their letters of intent, helping the program rebuild on the fly as many seniors are set to leave.

On this episode of the NC State Insider Podcast, find out more about what Doeren had to say at his Early Signing Period press conference on Wednesday, digging deeper into his quotes and learning more about the direction of the program.

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Doeren's key points

Oct 25, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren reacts on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Finding future leaders for the Wolfpack

Many coaches around the country place tremendous emphasis on recruiting players out of high school who were considered leaders by the coaching staff and their teammates. Doeren is no exception to that trend and the Wolfpack's 2026 class certainly fell in line with that consistent tendency. Doeren's view extends to recruits who played multiple sports at the high school level.

"11 of these young men were captains of their football teams, which I love, and pretty cool to have so many," Doeren said. " I think it's 15 multi-sport athletes in this class, which is something I also love. Guys that are competing, not just in football, but year-round."

Here to stay

Doeren was asked about his status as the head coach at NC State and, once again, dispelled rumors of his potential retirement or exit from the program. After he did so in the week before the Georgia Tech upset victory, the rumor was essentially put to rest, but a confirmation from athletic director Boo Corrigan on Sunday confirmed Doeren would be back for a 14th season.

"As far as being here, I'm having fun and that's the thing I told everybody," Doeren said. "I'm enjoying myself. I love this team. I love these guys. We're fired up about our recruiting class. My staff chemistry is excellent. And so, you know, again, I think a lot of stuff was made out of somebody's comments that doesn't have the right to say those things. I mean, nobody called me and asked me."

Keep up with recruiting

As commits continue to sign on to be part of the Wolfpack, more and more is revealed about their recruitment process and status with NC State.

Check the NC State On SI Early Signing Day Tracker right here

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @WolfpackOnSI and @SennettTucker for more new episodes of the NC State Insider Podcast.

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