The question had to be asked.
The reporter even apologized for it, but they wouldn’t have done their job if they hadn’t pressed a fellow head coach in the Research Triangle about Bill Belichick’s impending arrival at the University of North Carolina.
Realistically, Duke’s Manny Diaz will eventually have to answer this question, as will other ACC head coaches like Dabo Swinney and Mario Cristobal. But NC State’s Dave Doeren got the first crack during a press conference ahead of his team’s Military Bowl preparations.
Clearly, Doeren would’ve preferred to be asked about literally anything else—his now-former players entering the transfer portal, revenue sharing, the New Jersey drone crisis or even what he’s gotten his relatives for Christmas.
Instead, it was about Belichick.
Before the reporter could even finish, Doeren smirked and cut in, “That’s the first question I’m going to get today?”
Shocker.
To Doeren’s credit, he still offered a somewhat thoughtful response, even if his annoyance was thinly veiled.
“Well, one, welcome to the ACC, and [I’m] excited to compete against coach,” Doeren said. “Obviously, all coaches in the business have a great amount of respect and know what he’s done in the profession. So, for me as a competitor, I’m excited to compete. And that’s about all I have to say about it because I’m really not thinking a whole lot about that program. I’m thinking about my own.”
It wasn’t the most expansive answer, but it got the job done — just like Belichick himself would probably prefer.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.