North Carolina State football is hiring former quarterback Philip Rivers as its next head coach, USA TODAY Sports confirmed on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
The NC State board of trustees is expected to finalize a contract this week, reportedly on Friday, Nov. 13, that will bring Rivers back to coach his alma mater.
It’s a bold, outside-the-box hire for the Wolfpack. Rivers has never coached at the college level, but the program’s all-time leading passer and one of the NFL’s most accomplished quarterbacks of his era has been the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama since 2021.
Rivers replaces Dave Doeren, who provided stability during his 14 seasons
at NC State but could never quite push the program to another level. The Wolfpack never won more than nine games in a season under Doeren.
In that sense, Rivers represents almost the exact opposite: a swing for upside rather than stability.
Rivers’ leadership has long been one of his calling cards. The 44-year-old even briefly returned to the NFL in 2025, making three starts for the Indianapolis Colts four full seasons after initially retiring following the 2020 season.
“Philip is one of the best leaders I’ve been around,” said Brian Bratton, a former Indianapolis Colts assistant coach who worked with Rivers and now wide receivers coach at Stanford. “Of course, it’s documented and has been evident throughout his career. The way he prepares, the way he leads, the way he motivates, it all gives you hope.
“He showed confidence and conviction and that’s what you want in your leader. The energy changed when he came into the building. We didn’t win a game, but I believed every week we were going to. He was great to be around and watch lead."
Rivers' son, Gunner Rivers, is also a four-star quarterback prospect committed to the Wolfpack. Rivers coaches his son at St. Michael Catholic.
At NC State, Rivers made 51 consecutive starts, won ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2003 and was eventually drafted No. 4 overall by the then-San Diego Chargers in the 2004 NFL Draft. His No. 17 was retired by the school after throwing for 13,484 yards in college.
Rivers would be the first former high school head coach to make the jump straight to college since fellow former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer did the same with UAB before the 2023 season. Dilfer went 9-21 before being fired midway through the 2025 season.
The track record of coaches making the jump Rivers is making isn't great. Dilfer believes Rivers is cut out for the job, though.
“Because he’ll be relational, he’ll be able to identify a good player from an overvalued recruit or player,” said Dilfer, who after three seasons at UAB now has returned to the high school ranks in Tennessee. “There’s tons of overvalued recruits. I think what we know from our NFL days is what true value is. It’s then having the resources to pay that number.
“If NC State’s willing to go all in on that, then Philip will be a home run because he’ll be able to evaluate them, recruit them, and now pay them. We could evaluate them as good as anybody. That’s true, just based on all the guys we had at UAB that are now Power-Four starters. We could recruit them because it’s relational, and we’re good at. We just couldn’t keep them. We couldn’t pay them, and we couldn’t get the ones out the portal because you don’t have the money.”
USA TODAY Sports reported Nov. 4 that Rivers had begun assembling a staff. ESPN had previously reported fellow former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson had interviewed for the head coach vacancy, but that meeting occurred after Rivers had already started building his staff.
USA TODAY Sports has learned former NFL player Jerricho Cotchery is expected to be a candidate to join Rivers’ eventual staff at NC State.
A Birmingham, Alabama native, Cotchery starred alongside Rivers at NC State. He’s now in college coaching, serving as the passing game coordinator at NCAA Division II program North Greenville University.
Additionally, multiple individuals with knowledge of the proceedings believe another former NC State quarterback, Jatavis Sanders, is in the mix for a front-office role with the Wolfpack.
Sanders, currently Alabama’s director of recruiting strategy, previously worked at his alma mater as director of recruiting. He also spent time as Rivers’ backup quarterback at NC State.
Current NC State tight ends coach Gavin Locklear is another intriguing potential holdover. An alum of the school, Locklear appeared in nearly 40 career games at tight end for the Wolfpack.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NC State takes massive gamble, hires Philip Rivers as football coach
