NC State hired former Wolfpack and NFL quarterback Philip Rivers as its head football coach Friday on a five-year contract. Rivers spent six seasons coaching at an Alabama high school and has never coached in college.

The university's board of trustees approved the deal at a morning meeting, completing the final procedural step. Rivers, 44, has led St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, since 2021, but has no college or professional coaching experience.

Rivers succeeds Dave Doeren, who set the program's career wins mark before being fired midway through his 14th season. Under Doeren, NC State reached nine wins five times but never exceeded that total in a season.

The Wolfpack's lone 10-win season came with Rivers at quarterback in 2002, ending with a Gator Bowl victory over Notre Dame.

"In many ways, I feel like I'm coming home," Rivers said. "This is where it all began for me as an 18-year-old kid from Alabama, and now to return to this great place as head coach is beyond words."

"There's no denying that this is going to take hard work, but we're not scared of hard," Rivers said.

The Wolfpack have a 4-5 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season.

Athletic director Boo Corrigan said Rivers "is one of one and the right person to lead NC State Football into its next era." Speaking to reporters following the trustees' meeting, Corrigan said Rivers is "part of our DNA and who we are."

"He grew up a coach's son. As soon as he got done playing, started coaching," Corrigan said. "It was so good that he went back and played last year. I think it's a different progression, but I'm really excited about where we are."

Trustees chairman Ed Stack III called Rivers "a longstanding son of this university."

Rivers is the first former high school head coach to move directly into a college head coaching role since Trent Dilfer joined UAB ahead of its 2023 campaign, USA Today reported. Dilfer compiled a 9-21 record before UAB fired him midway through the 2025 season.

Dilfer told USA Today Sports that Rivers will know what a good team looks like. "But I would tell him, do not take a job unless they're committed," he said.

After his firing, Doeren said earlier that NC State is "a great job" and "also a very hard job." CBS Sports wrote that Rivers' first task will be rallying school donors to pay for transfer portal roster upgrades in the name, image and likeness era.

The Associated Press reported that NC State reached an agreement with Rivers after his high school team's season-ending playoff loss, exactly one week before the hire became official. Sources told ESPN that Rivers had told NC State he wanted to finish his high school season first.

His son Gunner, a four-star quarterback prospect coached by Rivers at St. Michael, committed to NC State on Feb. 23.

Rivers remains the ACC's career leader in both passing yardage and completed passes. At NC State, his career total of 95 touchdown passes is still the record.

Rivers played in eight Pro Bowls during an NFL career with the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts before retiring after the 2020 season. He returned from retirement in December 2025 and started three games for the Colts after quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard were hurt. He then went back to St. Michael.

NC State will formally introduce Rivers on Monday at a private, invitation-only event that will air live on the ACC Network.