Longtime NFL QB and former NC State QB Philip Rivers reportedly set to be Wolfpack's new head coach

Posted by Admin November 12, 2026 NFL

After multiple days of negotiations, Philip Rivers is set to become NC State’s new head football coach.

Per On3, the school will hire the former Wolfpack QB to take over at the end of the season. NC State fired Dave Doeren after a 3-4 start to the 2026 season that included a disastrous loss to Vanderbilt.

Rivers, 44, doesn’t have any collegiate coaching experience and is currently the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama. His son, Gunner Rivers, is St. Michael’s QB. Gunner Rivers is a longtime NC State commit and a four-star prospect in the class of 2027.

NC State is 4-5 after a loss to Duke in Week 10. The Wolfpack need to win two of their final three games under interim coach Todd Goebbel to make a bowl game.

Doeren had been NC State’s coach since 2013 and led the school to eight seasons of eight or more wins. The Wolfpack were 8-5 in 2025 but lost back-to-back games to Wake Forest and Stanford before Doeren was fired. In Week 3, QB CJ Bailey fumbled in the NC State end zone while trying to run out the clock to secure a victory. Vanderbilt recovered the ball and won 35-31.

Rivers was a four-year QB at NC State from 2000 to 2003 before he was the No. 4 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. He was drafted by the Giants and then traded to the Chargers, as Eli Manning didn’t want to play for San Diego.

Before he was drafted, Rivers was the 2003 ACC player of the year. He finished seventh in Heisman voting that season.

Rivers played 16 seasons with the Chargers before playing his final full NFL season with the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. He was then out of the league for four seasons before the Colts signed him near the end of the 2025 season because of Daniel Jones’ Achilles injury. Rivers started three games as the Colts attempted to make the playoffs, but Indianapolis lost all three and missed the postseason.