Coordinator Changes: What do we think of State's new OC and DC?

Replacing assistant coaches is nothing out of the ordinary in college football, it happens every year at many schools across the country. Staff retention has been something that Dave Doeren has prided himself on during his tenure at NC State, maintaining position coaches and going through minimal coordinator changes. Coaches such as Joe Deforest (recently retired), Charley Wiles, Todd Goebel, and multiple others had been on staff at NC State for several years. Two coaches that fell into that same category heading into the 2024 season were defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and Robert Anae. Gibson was hired in Raleigh in the spring of 2019 while Anae entered his 2nd season in Raleigh. Fast forward to December 2024, and NC State finds itself needing to fill both of those coordinator roles.

The outlook and mindset for both the coordinator positions was viewed differently across the fanbase. Gibson was a solid defensive coordinator during his time in Raleigh. The Wolfpack defenses lead by Gibson during his time in Raleigh were arguably some of the best in school history, 2021 through 2023 especially. Not only were the defensive units as a whole good, but State saw players such as Payton Wilson, Drake Thomas, and Alim McNeill really dominate under Gibson's tutelage.

The offensive outlook from Anae had quite the different feel though. The hiring of Anae had many fans excited about the future on that side of the football, unlike the Gibson hire ironically. Anae was seen as an offensive mastermind, bringing in unique concepts and sets that were difficult to stop for defenses. Anae brought in graduate transfer Brennan Armstong, whom he coached at Virginia, to lead the offense at quarterback. Armstrong was previously an All-ACC level player and led the conference in passing yards in 2021 with Anae as his OC. The recipe for success looked good on paper but just didn't pan out the way many thought it would. We all remember how that went. Armstrong struggled initially, eventually losing his starting job to MJ Morris (who also struggled), just to see Morris announce his intention to red shirt and no longer play in the '23 season. That move then gave the reins back to Armstrong who led the Wolfpack to 5 wins in a row to close out the regular season. As fun as that late season run was, there was no denying that the play calling and style was not what many fans had hoped. With the emergence of Kevin Concepcion (KC) in 2023 and the multiple transfer portal additions to the offense in the offseason, 2024 was set up to be an offensive explosion for the Pack. Boy was it not (see the 2024 season recap for the details on that). It was obvious a change was needed and indeed a change would occur.

Sticking with the offense to open up the discussion of the new hires. On December 30th it was announced that Anae would not return to the Wolfpack coaching staff and that Kurt Roper had been promoted to offensive coordinator. Roper has been part of Doeren's staff since 2019, serving as QB coach and RB coach at different points. Roper has spent time as an OC earlier in his career. He served as OC at Duke from 2008-2013 and Co-OC at South Carolina for 2 years in 2016 and 2017. He also served as the OC for the Wolfpack in the 2022 Duke's Mayo Bowl against Maryland, a 16-12 loss. His numbers as an OC aren't flashy, they don't jump off the page. While at South Carolina, Roper served under Will Muschamp. The Muschamp experiment for the Gamecocks did not work out to put it mildly. While at Duke, serving under David Cutcliffe, Roper did see some success. In the 2010 season, Duke averaged 381 yards per game, the most since 1989 for the Blue Devils. Roper was also a Broyles Award finalist in 2013. It was rumored that Roper was disappointed about not receiving the nod to be OC at NC State in both 2019 (McDonald and Kitchings serving as Co-OC) and again in 2020 (Tim Beck). Roper has spent several years on the Wolfpack coaching staff and if he was not given his shot at OC, who knows if he would've stayed in Raleigh or not. Roper served as the QB coach this past season and built a solid relationship with CJ Bailey, a big positive to Bailey returning. Many believe that the OC serving as the QB coach as well is beneficial for the offense, Anae was with the WR's. Roper will remain with the QB's. In a perfect world, State would have pursued and landed some young buck, hot shot OC, but instead hired from within. This move has received mixed results from the Wolfpack faithful. I for one don't hate the move, but also don't love it. Doeren's track record from hiring within hasn't been great. On the other hand, Roper has been loyal to the program and deserves a shot. This hiring doesn't have much risk. I worked for Roper in the spring of 2019 and can attest that his football IQ is high. I am willing to give Roper a shot at running the offense. Those who point to the '22 bowl game I do not agree with. The talent in that unit was borderline P5 AT BEST and had the 4th string quarterback, Ben Finley, taking the snaps. In other words, the cabinet was all but empty for that offensive unit. There are 2 primary aspects I would like to see Roper change up. If he can do away with, or even limit, the constant in-game rotation of players at the skill positions I believe the likelihood for success jumps substantially. Secondly, the pace of play has to speed up. State ran one of the slowest offenses in the country under Anae and we saw in multiple losses this season how an extra possession or two could have done wonders for the Pack. If those things are done, then I believe Roper could be successful as State's OC.

As I began to write the portion of this article about the defensive coordinator move, the Pack saw 4 players from the secondary enter the transfer portal so the philosophy has changed significantly. The conclusion that many fans jumped to when seeing this news is that new defensive coordinator DJ Eliot made such a bad impression to the players that nearly the entire secondary jumped in the portal. While that may be in the realm of possibility, it is not entirely likely. When coordinator changes come about, it is quite common to see players hit the portal. Also, in today's age of college football, tampering and involvement from other schools is also a realistic possibility. The four players who entered the portal on Thursday night were Brandon Cisse, Devan Boykin, Temarcus Cooley, and Bishop Fitzgerald. All 4 of those players were projected to be key contributors for the Wolfpack defense in 2025, with Cooley being rated as State's best defensive player in 2024 according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). These impact players hitting the portal at the last minute means that rather from building the defense from the back forward, State now has to rebuild the whole defense. It was obvious State was confident and trusting in the secondary since Savage Wolves re-signed all 4 of the players mentioned earlier. The back half of the Wolfpack defense was experienced and had some talent with room to grow as well. The plan was to build it forward. Sean Brown, Caden Fordham, and Kamal Bonner were all re-signed at linebacker, plus the Pack added Norfolk State transfer AJ Richardson to the LB room as well. It was believed that with the departure of Davin Vann, the Pack would be active in the market for defensive end pieces in the portal as well and that appeared to be the focus moving forward. Eliot's defenses have historically been effective at going after quarterbacks so signing an edge rusher made even more sense when that is considered as well. With those 4 secondary pieces bouncing to the portal, now the Pack has to fill holes at all 3 levels of the defense.

What will the philosophy of DJ Eliot be now that the secondary is a major area of concern? Devon Marshall is practically the only CB left on the roster with substantial playing time. Obviously the position needs at cornerback and safety have to be addressed now, but are the losses of Cisse, Cooley, Boykin, and Fitzgerald as significant as some may lead folks to believe? The play time factor is obviously a big one. Between those 4 that is a ton of snaps that need to be replaced. But for the players themselves, they are not deemed irreplaceable, at least in my mind. Cisse was hurt multiple times this season and missed 4 games, Boykin hasn't played in over a year due to a torn ACL last season, Cooley will now be on third school in three years, and the Pack wasn't prepared to return Fitzgerald until just recently with the JUCO eligibility rules being implemented. The portal giveth, the portal taketh away. It definitely is possible for State to find quality replacements for these spots. Cooley and Fitzgerald were especially good for State late in the season, but were they complete defensive game changers like a Davin Vann? No they weren't. The task of building the defense got more difficult no doubt about that, but filling these holes with quality players is possible to do.

All of this circles back around to new defensive coordinator, DJ Eliot. Coach Eliot was going to change things up regardless, as he runs a 3-4 hybrid scheme. Lets be quite frank, aside from Vann and moments from some of the forementioned players, this State defense was pretty bad. The unit needed a refresher, a reset. Keep the Gibson scheme in mind of course, but getting to the quarterback was a major issue for the NC State defense this season. At every stop in Eliot's career, getting after the quarterback hasn't been a problem. Eliot's 2022 unit at Temple placed top 10 in the country in sacks and TFL's, while at Colorado his defenses were top 5 in the conference in sacks, and as defensive line coach at FSU in 2010 the Seminoles were tied for most sacks in the country with 48. Also, in 2012, Eliot saw his defensive ends tally up 31 TFL's and 24 sacks. State needs some d-line pieces, and those stats have to make me believe that is a position group that Eliot could be successful at bringing in some talent to boost the room. Now getting after the quarterback is all well and good, but the goal of a defense is to give up as few points as possible. Total defense and points allowed are the areas where I have questions regarding the Eliot hire. A positive in the total defense area is that in his 2014 season at Kentucky, he boosted the Wildcats total defense rank by 45 spots, while forcing 23 turnovers that season. The down side is in that same season, Kentucky allowed 31.2 points per game (PPG), good for 95th in the country. That's where the concern comes in. While at Kentucky, Eliot's defenses allowed 31.2 PPG in both of his first two seasons in Lexington and gave up 27.4 PPG and 31.3 PPG in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In his two seasons at Colorado, the Buffaloes allowed 28.2 PPG and 27.2 PPG, good for 78th and 70th rankings in that statistic. Those statistics aren't good, they aren't horrible, they are very blah. The last 3 seasons of him being a coordinator (2 at Kansas, 1 at Temple) are what really raises a red flag. At Kansas, his Jayhawk defenses allowed 36.1 and 46 PPG, which ranked 120th and 128th (dead last) in the category. In his lone season at Temple, the Owls averaged allowing 29.2 PPG, ranked 96th. Those statistics under Eliot don't give off the warm and fuzzies, but pure PPG statistics can be skewed. I apply that more to the middle of the pack seasons though. Being ranked in the 90s and 100s, or even DEAD LAST, in defensive PPG is not the result of allowing some fluky TD's. That's just plain bad. The total defense spike in 2014 (with the forced turnovers along with it) and the multiple examples of Eliot getting pressure on the QB are what give me some positives. But the outrageously low PPG rankings in his last couple of stops are the negatives.

Do I believe Eliot could be successful? Sure. Some guys just make it click in a new spot. He's shown that improvement can be made over the course of a year, but has shown his defenses can give up points and a lot of them at times. Prior to the exodus of secondary pieces, I think Eliot's track record of creating havoc in the backfield could potentially play well together with the veteran presence in the back half of the defense. With those secondary pieces entering the portal though, Eliot's job has truly transformed into rebuilding the entire defensive unit. His ability to replace what would've been returning pieces will really be tested in year 1. A positive spin to look at this spot is that Eliot will be able to pursue players that will be deemed as "his guys", hopefully fitting the scheme better. If those spots are not filled well though, that does not bode well for Eliot moving forward and puts even more pressure on his new colleague Kurt Roper as well. With the newly formed holes in the Wolfpack defense, even more emphasis on scoring points will be put on Roper and the NC State offense. Pressure makes diamonds, and both new coordinators will have some pressure on them in year 1 in Raleigh. The possibility for success is there for both of course, but Roper is set up better to succeed initially compared to Eliot. Time will tell, but both Eliot and Roper have their work cut out for them in their new roles.

-Bobby Black