Recruiting no longer just for coaches. NC State, Doeren turn to NFL model in overhaul

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

As a young assistant coach, Dave Doeren's job title typically included a slash.

At Montana, he was secondary coach/recruiting coordinator. At Kansas, he was linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator. At Wisconsin, the same. Slash was just part of the job description.

"Recruiting was just on the assistant coaches," said Doeren, wrapping up his 11th season as NC State's head coach. "That was part of my side gig, I guess. I was coaching a position, but I was the recruiting coordinator. I oversaw all that: our mailings, our calling schedule, everything."

Times have certainly changed. No one on the Wolfpack coaching staff carries that title anymore. In fact, it is a cadre of support staffers that handle much of the duties that assistants such as Doeren used to be responsible for.

"Coaches don't do that anymore," Doeren said.

NC State's football program has a general manager, a director of player personnel, two assistant directors of player personnel, a director of football scouting, a director of high school relations, a director of recruiting operations, a director of college personnel and scouting, a director of football visual production, scouting and analytics, a director of creative media and content strategy and two assistant directors of creative media for football.

All play an important role in the recruiting process. NC State signed 24 high school and junior college players on Wednesday, a class that ranks in the top 30 nationally. The Wolfpack will get an influx of collegiate transfers when the spring semester starts.

If it seems like an NFL model, it's because it is.

NC State is not alone. UNC head coach Mack Brown deferred comment Wednesday about the individual members of the Tar Heels' recruiting class to Pat Suddes, the team's general manager.

At NC State, the personnel office identifies potential recruits. The coaches evaluate in-person and develop relationships via phone calls and video calls. The recruiting office puts together plans for getting recruits to campus and making sure they see what they want to see.

"It's not a cookie-cutter thing," Doeren said. "It's individualized for each kid and their families. You really want to stress the things that matter to them, not to us, because each person has a different path to the school they're going to. We'd be foolish not to try to do that."

The recruiting office scours recruits' social media accounts, seeking any bit of information that might help with their pitch, such as favorite foods. It charts what a prospect has seen on campus, so as not to duplicate during visits.

"Every time someone steps on campus, it could be the last time they come," Doeren said. "If we don't do our jobs, they may never come back here. So we have to treat it that way. Each visit is a critical visit."

The creative media office handles the photo edits that populate recruits' social media feeds. And the videos that accompany each signee on signing day. And much more.

"It's all hands on deck when you recruit," Doeren said.

Some of those pieces have been in place. But Doeren revamped the office a year ago after getting caught off-guard by the transfer portal.

"We felt completely unprepared for a lot of the things that happened," he said. "Guys go to the portal. In a lot of cases, when they become legal to recruit, they've already got their top three schools."

So this year, NC State identified a large universe of players that could potentially enter the portal and might have interest in the Wolfpack. Maybe they're from the area or they'd been offered previously. Maybe they've been on campus. The personnel department tracked them, evaluating tape.

"How are they doing out there?" Doeren said. "If they went in, would they be guys that we would consider? So that if that happens, we're sitting there ready instead of, 'Oh my gosh, this guy went in?' We did a lot of background for the 'what ifs' in that office."

NC State has commitments from eight players in the portal. Six played at Power 5 schools. Several grew up or played high school ball nearby. Quarterback Grayson McCall, a three-time Sun Belt player of the year, is expected to start for the Wolfpack next year.

NC State's transfer haul, which is not yet official, ranks seventh, according to 247Sports.

"The results are obvious," Doeren said.