NIU gave NC State’s Dave Doeren his first head coaching job. ‘A great learning experience’

The Northern Illinois athletic department’s motto is, “The hard way.”

Now-N.C. State coach Dave Doeren learned that firsthand one week into his tenure as the Huskies head coach.

Northern Illinois linebacker Devon Butler had been struck by a bullet during a drive-by shooting in April 2011 while he was visiting friends at their apartment.

Paramedics took Butler to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois, about 40 minutes from campus in DeKalb. Butler spent two weeks in the hospital after the shooting left him in critical condition. Doeren, in his first job leading a program, visited Butler “every couple of days.”

Now, 13 years after the shooting, the Wolfpack faces Doeren’s former program at Carter-Finley Stadium. The matchup gave him time to reflect on his two seasons with the Group of Five team.

Doeren remembers how the role shaped him as a coach, and the shooting that pushed him into the throes of leading a program.

“There’s a million things that go on in a head coach’s seat, and you really don’t understand it until you get into it,” Doeren said. “I learned a lot about delegating, the importance of your staff. Learned a lot about time management, balance.”

Northern Illinois plays at N.C. State on Saturday.

The Huskies are all about being resilient and pushing through adversity. NIU wants to be the hardest-working team on whatever field it steps onto. Doeren said that’s not just talk.

To have success, the program had to be better, tougher and more determined. It doesn’t have the amenities or resources afforded to his current players and staff — it has to do more with less. But NIU doesn’t use that as an excuse. It prides itself on toughness and doing the little things right. No one is too big to move a table or pick up trash. There’s no entitlement.

That mindset is why the Huskies have a wall dedicated to celebrating wins over power programs. This year they’ve already beaten No. 16 Notre Dame, 16-14.

“I have so much respect for the MAC conference, for Northern Illinois and for the folks there,” Doeren said. “It was a great experience for me, a great learning experience as a coach.”

Doeren’s teams in 2011 and 2012 won the Mid-American Conference Championship, earning bowl game berths both seasons. Though Doeren didn’t coach in it, he guided his team to the 2012 Orange Bowl, the best FBS bowl game for an MAC program.

He finished with a 23-4 record in two seasons at the helm, which included two straight wins over Army. It also went 1-1 against Kansas.

Doeren coached two Campbell Trophy Finalists, a Wuerffel Trophy finalist, and two MAC Offensive Players of the Year, including quarterback Jordan Lynch (2010-13) during his stint.

Lynch was a two-time Manning Award finalist and two-time Heisman Trophy candidate (2012-13), two-time National Player of the Week (2012), MAC Offensive Player of the Year (2012) and became the AT&T All-America Player of the Year, Davey O’Brien finalist, and Johnny Unitas finalist in his senior season after Doeren’s departure.

“He took the program to heights that were never seen before and haven’t been seen afterward,” current NIU coach Thomas Hammock told the News & Observer. “He did tremendous things in his two years with the program … and really laid the foundation for future success. Although his time was short, he had a major impact on NIU throughout his tenure.”

Even though Doeren hasn’t been in DeKalb for more than a decade and only coached a couple of seasons, his impact is felt to this day.

“When you look back at what he was able to do, it motivates you as a coach to say, ‘OK, these things can be done here,’” Hammock said. “Obviously, college football has dramatically changed over the last 10 or 12 years, but you still can navigate and find a way to have success at a high level.”

The Wolfpack and Huskies face each other on Saturday in Raleigh. Doeren hopes to use his experience and lessons from NIU to guide N.C. State to an important, much-needed win. Hammock would like to embody the spirit Doeren imparted in the program by upsetting the former coach.

“It’s a program that takes a lot of pride in beating Power Four football teams, and I was a part of that experience while I was there,” Doeren said. “Obviously, we’ll spend time educating our team on that, but this game is a lot about us. We have to respond the right way. We have eight games in this season remaining; a lot of football on the table, a lot of things that we can do better, and I look forward to the opportunity to do that.”