Longtime NFL QB and former NC State QB Philip Rivers reportedly set to be Wolfpack's new head coach
· Yahoo Sports
After multiple days of negotiations, Philip Rivers is set to be NC State's new coach.
Per On3, the school will hire the former Wolfpack QB to take over at the end of the season. NC State fired Dave Doeren after a 3-4 start to the season that included a disastrous loss to Vanderbilt.
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Rivers, 44, doesn't have any collegiate coaching experience and is currently the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama. His son, Gunner Rivers, is St. Michael's QB. Gunner Rivers is a longtime NC State commit and a four-star prospect in the class of 2027.
NC State is now 4-5 after a loss to Duke in Week 10. The Wolfpack need to win two of their final three games of the season under interim coach Todd Goebbel to make a bowl game.
Doeren had been NC State's coach since 2013 and led the school to eight seasons of eight wins or more. The Wolfpack were 8-5 in 2025, but lost back-to-back games to Wake Forest and Stanford before Doeren was fired. In Week 3, QB CJ Bailey fumbled in the NC State end zone while trying to run out the clock to secure a win. Vanderbilt recovered the ball and won 35-31.
Rivers was a four-year QB at NC State from 2000-2003 before he was the No. 4 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Rivers was taken by the Giants and traded to the Chargers as Eli Manning didn't want to play for San Diego.
Before he was drafted, Rivers was the 2003 ACC player of the year and was seventh in the Heisman voting that season.
Rivers played 16 seasons with the Chargers before playing his final full season with the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. He was out of the league for four seasons until the Colts signed him near the end of the 2025 season because of Daniel Jones' Achilles injury. Rivers started three games as the Colts attempted to make the playoffs, but Indianapolis lost all three and missed the postseason.