Sports
COUNTDOWN
• 1 day until men’s basketball takes on Connecticut at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden.
INSIDE
• Page 13: A look inside men’s basketball’s road gear.
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 14 • EXAM ISSUE 2012
FOOTBALL
Doeren ready to elevate Pack to new heights Jeniece Jamison Sports Editor
The Tom O’Brien era of N.C. State football was plagued by a lackluster offense, mediocre recruiting and good — but not great — finishes. While each of these served as the pitfalls of O’Brien’s six-year tenure at State, Director of Athletics Debbie Yow seems to, at least on paper, have found the remedy to those issues in DeKalb, Ill. Six days after O’Brien was removed from the head-coaching seat, a new chapter began for the program with the hiring of Dave Doeren, former head football coach of Northern Illinois, to the same position. Any change in major college football is all associated with one statistic as the bottom line— wins and losses. Despite O’Brien leading the Pack to a 7-5 record this season, three consecutive bowl games and five-straight wins against rival North Carolina, it wasn’t good enough. Where O’Brien was below par, Doeren excelled. Doeren’s Huskies went 23-4 over-
all while he was at the helm and 17-1 against Mid-Atlantic Conference opponents. This season, they reached a No. 16 national ranking, a school-record 12-win season and captured the MAC championship over Kent State. The Huskies are the only Football Bowl Subdivision team to win 21 of its last 22 games. “If we want to be the champions in this office, which I know we do, if we want to be consistent top-25 program, then we’re going to have to be tireless workers and understand that’s our charge,” Doeren said. “And we will be.” Like the hectic 24 hours between winning its season finale against Boston College and O’Brien’s departure for the Wolfpack, Doeren has also had to make a life-changing adjustment in a short period of time. His former school earned a bid to the Orange Bowl and will play Florida State. Doeren will not coach NIU in the bowl game, but he said leaving the team at this time was a difficult decision. Doeren brings experience as a recruiting coordinator at Wisconsin
to a program that has struggled to bring top-rated classes into Raleigh. The 2011 class was the worst under O’Brien, ranked last in the conference according to Rivals.com. Doeren said he would honor each of the current 2013 commits under O’Brien if they choose to stay committed to State. “To see all of these great freshmen in the state of North Carolina starting off their careers at other schools is upsetting,” Doeren said. While O’Brien’s office was plagued by dropped passes and a disjointed rushing attack all season, Doeren again provides a flip of the coin in the offensive category as well. NIU ranked 15th in total offense and scored 40.8 points per game this season. State averaged 28.4 points per outing. But in an era full of highpowered offenses this isn’t good enough, ranking State 72nd overall. As the Doeren era begins, for the price tag of $1.8 million per year in a five-year contract, Yow is expecting him to push the program to national prominence, refusing to accept the status quo.
COURTESY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Dave Doeren paces the sidelines during a game. Doeren, former head coach at Northern Illinois, was named the head coach at N.C. State Dec.1.
Making the grade with fall sports T
he end of the semester is here and, along with it, many of the Wolfpack’s fall sports have come to a close. As the Technician Sports staff prepares to take its exams in the classroom, it decided to put N.C. State’s athletic programs to the test. Here are the final grades the staff assigned to each of
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B Luke Nadkarni Staff Writer
Staff Writer
sophomore running back Tony Creecy and freshman running back Shadrach Thornton had to step up in the ground game, and until Thornton took over the majority of the carries, the rushing attack was minimal. Senior wide receiver Tobias Palmer bloomed late for the Wolfpack, earning surplus receiving yardage as well as performing well as the kickoff return specialist. Junior cornerback David Amerson fell from grace at the midway point of the season but improved at the tail end, including the 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against
Boston College. The team had high hopes for the season with a possible conference championship bid in the works. These aspirations climaxed following the upset of then No. 6 Florida State, but after dropping potential victories to UNC-Chapel Hill and Virginia, the hype died, and with it, the support of O’Brien. Offensive coordinator and interim head coach Dana Bible will look to finish the season as best as can be managed, but the damage to the once-promising season has been done.
Women’s golf
B Sean Fairholm Deputy Sports Editor
The No. 19 Wolfpack only played three events during the fall and will have some room for improvement this spring. None of the starting five players averaged
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Football
Daniel Wilson
The strength of the football team did not reflect the outcome of the season, culminating in the firing of head coach Tom O’Brien on Nov. 25. Graduate student quarterback Mike Glennon set major milestones during this season, but he was also plagued with poor performances where interceptions and fumbles superseded high passing yards. The rushing game suffered throughout the course of the 2012 campaign with senior running back James Washington injured and sophomore running back Mustafa Greene dismissed from the team. Redshirt
Volleyball
the fall sports. Golf will have an opportunity to rise, or fall, in the spring and football is preparing to play its bowl game. But for the majority of the fall season sports, this is the final verdict. While some programs got a passing grade, others might need to get back the drawing board.
below 73.3 in six rounds and the team failed to crack the top-5 in the trio of opening tournaments that featured plenty of talented teams ranked ahead of State. After breaking through for the program’s first top-25 ranking and first NCAA Tournament appearance, the autumn was a very small sample size. The once-young roster should regain its footing in the spring behind talented sophomore Augusta James and senior leader Amanda Baker. Starting in February, State begins a stretch of traveling to Puerto Rico, Florida, California, Louisiana and then back home to North Carolina.
The volleyball team soared to new heights in 2012, earning its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1987. Behind the outstanding leadership of its senior captains, setter Megan Cyr and libero Alexa Micek, the Wolfpack finished 22-9 overall with a 12-8 mark in ACC play. Cyr also garnered All-ACC honors. The 22 wins are the program’s most since 1982. The team started off hot, opening the season by winning five straight matches and 15 of 16
overall. The Pack cooled off considerably in the thick of conference play, but still ended up doing just enough to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a quarter century. Highlights of the season included home wins over Tobacco Road rivals Duke and North Carolina. It’s evident that head coach Bryan Bunn has the program headed in the right direction through his first three years.
Men’s golf
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B Sean Fairholm Deputy Sports Editor
While the team was a slight disappointment throughout the fall, a pair of individual wins from Albin Choi cemented his place as one of the best golfers in program history. Choi started the semester with a win at the Tar Heel Invi-
tational and ended it with a November victory in Hawaii at the Warrior Wave Princeville Intercollegiate; his record of six career titles is the second most in school history behind Matt Hill, who won 10 times at N.C. State.
PHOTOS BY RYAN PARRY WOMEN’S GOLF PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY N.C. STATE ATHLETICS
REPORTS continued page 12