At the ACC Football Kickoff event earlier this week, when a journalist asked him a question about his time coaching Kansas State, he wasn’t happy.
“I didn’t work for K-State. Kansas. I was at Kansas,” he said. “Those are rivals. That’s like saying I worked at UNC. Now, what’s the question?”
Doeren, who as a head coach at Northern Illinois was 2-0 against rival Toledo, said he doesn’t like to make a big deal out of the rivalry until the week of the game.
“The kids already hate ‘em,” Doeren said. “The week of the game, they’re our mortal enemy. Right now we need to get better and worry about us.”
While he doesn’t talk about the Carolina game, which will be at home on Nov. 2, that’s not to say he doesn’t mention the Tar Heels. “I tell our guys, ‘your job should always be to be better than them because they’re our rival.’ We don’t need to talk about the game.”
When the Pack gets to that week, there will be a lot of things said about Carolina, Doeren said, but right now that’s not what State cares about. “We need to beat Louisiana Tech.”
State opens the season at home against Louisiana Tech at 12:30 on Aug. 31.