Since Dave Doeren was fired from NC State on Oct. 24, one name has been floated around constantly to become the Wolfpack's next head coach: Philip Rivers.
Considered to be the best player in program history before a long and illustrious NFL career, Rivers had head coaching experience albeit at the high school level. With his son Gunner, a four-star quarterback in the 2027 class committed to NC State
, talks of Philip Rivers taking the job have erupted into full blown theories and analysis pieces saying he should jump at the opportunity.Will he do it though? And just how hard of a jump is it to go from the high school level to college football?
Philip Rivers was named St. Michael Catholic's "head coach-in-waiting" in 2020 and once his NFL career
came to an end, he took over the program full-time in 2021. In six seasons, he's compiled a 49-18 record and have the Cardinals sitting at 6-3 this year despite Gunner missing most of the year with a knee injury.
Would that success translate over to the college level? It could — but it also couldn't.
If anyone would know about the high school-to-college jump, it would be former UAB head coach and current Lipscomb Academy (TN) coach Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer recently spoke with USA TODAY and spoke about the challenges he faced after arriving at UAB in 2022 following four standout seasons coaching the Nashville-area private school. He led Lipscomb Academy to a 43-10 record and back-to-back Division II-AA state titles during his first stint at the school.
“I think Philip has a history of being an incredible football mind, an elite leader, has strong conviction, and there’s going to be stuff he’s not ready for,” Dilfer told USA TODAY Sports on Oct. 26.
Dilfer's high school success did not translate at UAB. Dilfer coached in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2023-2025 and compiled a record of 9-21, never winning more than four games in one of his three seasons. He was fired from the position on October 12, 2025.
“I failed, but there was nothing in the entire time, including going to this new era of the transfer portal and not having resources, there was nothing you couldn’t figure out,” Dilfer said. “It was not hard. It wasn’t intellectually hard. It was frustrating more than hard. It was frustrating to know what a good team looks like, and to see what a good team costs, and know you couldn’t do it."
It didn't take long for Dilfer to return back to the position where he first found coaching success as he was rehired as Lipscomb Academy's football coach on Jan. 8. In the three seasons without Dilfer, the Mustangs had gone 11-20 and were coming off of a 3-8 season in 2025.
The move back to Nashville has proven to be success so far for the Mustangs and Dilfer. Lipscomb Academy is 6-3 with all three of its losses coming by six points or less.
They opened up the year with a one-point loss to McCallie (TN) but picked up notable double-digit wins throughout the season, including a 16-6 win over Ravenwood (TN) on Aug. 28 and a 49-14 win over former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck's Ensworth Tigers (TN) on Sept. 18.
Lipscomb Academy currently sits tied for second in DII-AAA West Region play and will close out the regular season on the road facing a national powerhouse in Brentwood Academy (TN).
Follow Sports Reporter Joe Spears on X at @joe_spears7 or via email: JSpears@usatodayco.com. For additional high school sports coverage, be sure to follow USA TODAY High School Sports on Instag
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Philip Rivers to NC State? What Trent Dilfer learned making the high school-to-college jump
