Philip Rivers, a high school coach with no college experience, is in the mix for NC State's job

NC State fired Dave Doeren on Saturday, less than a day after a 31-28 loss at Stanford dropped the Wolfpack to 3-4, and within an hour Philip Rivers' name was attached to the opening.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that along with the usual coaches and coordinators, the former NC State quarterback is expected to be in the mix. CBS Sports put Rivers on its initial list of candidates, and USA Today wrote that he is one name being raised in multiple reports.

Rivers has never coached in college. He has been the coach at St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Alabama, since 2021, according to CBS Sports. His star player there is his son, Gunner Rivers, a four-star quarterback in the Class of 2027 who is committed to NC State.

The school named running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel interim coach and said a national search starts immediately. Doeren, who will be owed $10.3 million according to ESPN, leaves with 98 wins, the most in program history, but never won more than nine games in a season.

Here is the RANT take. Hiring Rivers would be a nostalgia pick with a recruiting bonus attached, and nostalgia doesn't run a roster in the NIL era. CBS Sports made the same point more politely: whoever gets this job has to handle personnel, NIL and fundraising as well as the playbook. Rivers is a respected football mind and the program's most famous quarterback, and his 2002 team is still NC State's only 10-win season. But going from an Alabama high school to an ACC rebuild is a huge jump, and keeping one quarterback recruit is a thin reason to try it.

If NC State is serious, the better version is Rivers as part of a staff built around an experienced head coach. CBS also listed sitting head coaches such as UNLV's Dan Mullen and Cincinnati's Scott Satterfield, whose team beat No. 8 Texas Tech on Saturday.