ATHENS - ESPN suggested over the weekend that Georgia football defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann was a candidate for the now-vacant NC State head football job.

Long-time Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren was terminated Sunday - leaving the job open in Raleigh.

“I want to thank Coach Doeren for his service and contributions to NC State, and for always representing the university with pride,” NC State AD Boo Corrigan said in a statement on Sunday. “I appreciate his leadership during his 14-year tenure and the passion he brought to this role.  We wish Dave, Sara and his family the best in the future.”

Doeren was 23-4 as head coach at Northern Illinois before taking over at NC State in 2013. He went 98–73 overall and 52–57 in ACC play while coaching the Wolfpack. NC State only finished ranked three times in 14 seasons. State never had a 10-win season under Doeren, but managed to win four bowl games.

The report from ESPN listed five candidates for the job. Many insiders feel that there is a significant push to bring in former Wolfpack quarterback Philip Rivers, who is the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School, where he coaches his son and NC State QB commit Gunner Rivers.

But Schumann is included in the other four candidates (Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield, Memphis coach Charles Huff and Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert) for the job. From ESPN:

“Kirby Smart's longtime protégé seems ready to lead his own program, and would not leave a great situation at Georgia for just any opportunity. Schumann was a serious candidate for the vacancy at nearby North Carolina in 2024 before Bill Belichick emerged. Schumann is just 36 but has been with Smart for the past decade at Georgia, after six years as a student assistant/graduate assistant for Nick Saban at Alabama. Schumann grew up in Georgia and attended high school in Texas. Schumann has been affiliated with six national championship teams.”

Its not surprising at all that Schumann would get attention for a job the level of NC State. At 36, Schumann would still be one of the younger head coaches in college football. v arrived in Athens with coach Kirby Smart at 26 to coach the Dawgs’ outside linebackers after working at Alabama under Nick Saban and Smart for about eight years.

The question with the NC State job is if Schumann is the right fit for it, and if NC State can make a legitimate push to win on the level Schumann has seen his entire coaching life. No one knows what Schumann would be like as a head coach, either, as he’s never held that position.

A slew of coaches have left Smart’s UGA to be the head coach elsewhere: Mel Tucker, Colorado; Dell McGee, Georgia State; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Sam Pittman, Arkansas; Shane Beamer, South Carolina; and Dan Lanning, Oregon.

All of those coaches left directly from UGA to the head coaching destination save Beamer.

NC State feels very much like the situations at Colorado and Arkansas - places that have been stuck near the middle of their leagues for a long time with coaches that have not been able to move them in a significant way. Tucker and Pittman are long gone from those schools, and yet those schools continue to struggle in a way they had before those two arrived.

It remains to be seen if Schumann would have genuine interest in the NC State job. Being interested in NC State is not the same as being interested in North Carolina - those are to very different jobs. One thing is certain, Schumann has only worked at places that have won, and have won big. So he’s seen in person what it looks like to succeed. That and his results on the field are the reason why NC State won’t be the only program interested in him this off season.