NC State officially hires Philip Rivers as football coach

The NC State board of trustees finalized a five-year contract for former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers to become head football coach at his alma mater, athletic director Boo Corrigan announced Friday.

"I am humbled and honored to be the next head football coach at NC State University," Rivers said in a statement. "In many ways, I feel like I'm coming home. 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."

He will be formally introduced Monday as head coach.

"He's part of our DNA and who we are," Corrigan told reporters after the trustee meeting.

Rivers, who played quarterback at NC State from 2000 to 2003, is in his sixth season as coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama. He built the program from ground up and guided the Cardinals to the state semifinals in 2024 and 2025.

"I gave it everything I had here as a player for 51 games and I will give it everything I have as the coach," Rivers said. "There's no denying that this is going to take hard work, but we're not scared of hard. I look forward to getting after it every single day with an unbelievable coaching staff and a group of players who are dedicated to relentlessly pursuing victory."

Sources told ESPN that Rivers, 44, had told NC State he wanted to finish his current high school season, which ended Friday.

In the early stages of the search, Rivers emerged as the favorite to replace Dave Doeren, who was fired Oct. 24. Another former Wolfpack and NFL quarterback, Russell Wilson, was also in discussions about the position.

"Philip Rivers is one of one and the right person to lead NC State Football into its next era," Corrigan said in a statement. "His accomplishments as a player at the collegiate and professional levels speak for themselves. But throughout this search process, what stood out to me most was his exceptional leadership ability, his character, the way he connects with people and his vision for this program."

Rivers broke nearly every NC State and ACC record during his career, throwing for 13,484 yards with 95 touchdowns. He led the Wolfpack to four straight bowl games under Chuck Amato, winning three of them. Amato died last month at 80 years old.

Rivers' son Gunner committed to play for NC State on Feb. 23. Ranked 168th in the SC Next 300, Gunner Rivers threw for 10,847 yards with 119 touchdowns at St. Michael before his high school career ended due to a knee injury.

Philip Rivers played 17 seasons in the NFL, all but one with the Chargers, before retiring after the 2020 season. Last year, he came out of retirement to start three games for the Colts after starter Daniel Jones and backup Riley Leonard were hurt.

In January, Rivers interviewed for the Bills' head coaching vacancy but later removed himself from the search.

Information from ESPN's David Hale was used in this report.