Posts Tagged ‘rod carey’

At the conclusion of the Orange Bowl press conference, Jimbo Fisher (who has obviously brought his team to Miami before) offered some advice to Northern Illinois' Rod Carey, who is coaching in his first bowl game as a head coach.

Keeping a bunch of college kids focused while in Miami is a handful by itself, so on the topic of curfews, Jimbo's advice to Carey was "Just know where they're at."

Carey laughed and thanked him for the advice before Fisher added, "Hey, I'm going to have the same problem. My problem is they know where to go."

On the same day Northern Illinois received the ultimate validation in the form of an Orange Bowl bid, offensive coordinator Rod Carey was annointed the leader of the Huskies' program. Carey was promoted to head coach one day after Dave Doeren accepted the same position at N.C. State.

In what has to be one of the most rare circumstances in college football history, Carey's first game as head coach will come in the biggest game in his school's history. If one press conference can be any indication, he'll be ready for it. 

Northern Illinois has stated it wants to become the Boise State of the Midwest, and days like today are how you get there. The Huskies have put together winning seasons in nine of the last 11 years and are 34-7 over the past three seasons. Carey's move will instill continuity and help the program establish an identity. Bringing back all-everything quarterback Jordan Lynch next season helps, too. 

Carey came across prepared and confident for his move to the big office. Jerry Kill left Dave Doeren a great foundation, and Doeren obviously did the same for Carey. The Huskies are 23-4 in the last two seasons with back-to-back Mid-American Conference titles. 

"It's not what you can change, it's what you can keep," Carey said. "We've got a good thing going. We're going to keep our offensive system, our defensive system, our special teams. Will there be differences? Yes. But they'll be so small you guys might not even see them."

Carey said he intends on keeping every coach on the staff. "No one is going to be wanting for a job on this staff, and that's the way it should be," said Carey. 

Carey arrived at Northern Illinois with Doeren in 2011, added run game coordinator responsiblities before this season and then assumed the role of offensive coordinator after Mike Dunlap stepped back due to health issues following the season-opener. A Wayzata, Minn., native, Carey played at Indiana from 1989-93 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Minnesota from 1998-99. He then became the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Division III Wisconsin - Stout from 2000-06 before moving on to coach offensive line at Illinois State (2007) and North Dakota (2008-10). 

For a guy who was a position coach at the FCS level as recently as three years ago, Carey suddenly has a very big, and very orange, opportunity ahead of him. 

We have learned that Northern Illinois head coach Dave Doeren has accepted the head coaching position at N.C. State.

"Coach Dave Doeren is a highly motivated overachiever who shares our goals to pursue aggressively a high level of achievement in the classroom and on the field of competition," stated N.C. State athletic director Deborah Yow.

Doeren, 40, took over as the Huskies' head in 2011 after Jerry Kill left for Minnesota. In two seasons, Doeren led Northern Illinois to a 23-4 record with back-to-back Mid-American Conference championships. Doeren accepted the N.C. State job one day after leading the 12-1 Huskies to a 44-37 win in double overtime over Kent State in the MAC Championship.

"I am honored and excited to join the Wolfpack. NC State has world-class facilities and fans that are second to none," Doeren said. "I want to thank Chancellor Woodson and Debbie Yow for this tremendous opportunity. My family and I can't wait to get to Raleigh and become Wolfpackers. While I look forward to our future at State, I want to acknowledge and thank the Northern Illinois players and fans for their support the last two years, especially President Peters and Jeff Compher [athletic director]."

We are told to look for offensive line coach Rod Carey to be promoted to head coach at Northern Illinois. 

Doeren played at Drake from 1990-93 and got his start in coaching at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Shawnee Mission, Kan. Doeren coached linebackers at Drake (1995-97), Montana (2000-01) and Kansas (2002-05), with a pit stop as a graduate assistant at USC from 1998-99, before taking the defensive coordinator position under Bret Bielema at Wisconsin from 2006-10. 

We aren't aware of any significant ties Doeren has to the immediate local area so look for him to hire some talented assitants with local connections. As always, we'll keep you posted on The Scoop.