What kind of impact will Ruffin McNeill have on the N.C. State program?
Jason Wilkes was at home on Wednesday when his phone rang.
Wilkes, the varsity football coach at Cary High School, definitely wasn’t expecting to hear from the man on the other end of his cellphone.
Greeting Wilkes was the newest member of the N.C. State football staff, none other than Ruffin McNeill. Less than 24 hours after he accepted a position as the special assistant to the head coach, McNeill was already making his rounds with high school coaches.
“He just wanted to touch base and make sure I had his number,” Wilkes told the News & Observer. “What stood out to me after the conversation was he told me if I ever wanted to talk football give him a call and if I ever want to talk life give him a call. That’s not very common. I think that says a lot about who he is.”
On one hand Wilkes was a little shocked to hear from McNeill. One of Wilkes’ former players, Davin Vann, is a freshman for the Wolfpack. There’s some connection, but still not enough that McNeill expected a call so soon. Then again, hearing about McNeill’s reputation through the years, Wilkes actually wasn’t that surprised.
“What he’s accomplished as a coach wasn’t by accident,” Wilkes said. “It’s because of his work ethic and how he builds relationships with those around him.”
The return of McNeill, a native of Lumberton who played (1976-80) and coached (2010-15) at East Carolina, was the talk of the town when the school made the announcement on Tuesday. Since 2017, McNeill served as the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator at Oklahoma. In January, McNeill returned to North Carolina to help care for his elderly father. When McNeill arrived, one of the first phone calls he received was from Dave Doeren. The two old friends didn’t talk about a job for a while, but when the position became available, Doeren said adding McNeill to his staff was a “no-brainer.”
Doeren wanted a person who, as a former head coach, has been in that seat. He was looking for someone to bounce ideas off of, a sounding board of sorts, who can handle the responsibilities of the head coach, in absence of the actual head coach.
Throughout the course of his career, McNeill has served as a coordinator and position coach. But his value goes way beyond X’s and O’s.
A COACH’S COACH
When McNeill returned home to coach ECU in 2010, Brian Overton was hired as the director of football operations. Overton served in that role during McNeill’s five years in Greenville.
He was McNeill’s right hand man, and saw first hand, what he brings to the building everyday.
“It’s kind of hard to explain, that might sound crazy, but it’s kind of hard to explain because he was such a coach’s coach and a players coach,” Overton told the N&O. “He cares so much about everybody else and in college football, unfortunately, that’s rare these days. It’s a lot of ego involved. But it was never about him, it was always about us as a staff or the kids. Those players came first.”
On a Zoom call with the media on Tuesday, Doeren talked about not underestimating “the power of positivity” and surrounding himself with individuals who generate that. He knows without a doubt he has found that in McNeill.
Last season was a tough one around the Murphy Center at N.C. State, with the Wolfpack finishing 4-8 and winning just one ACC game. Overton wouldn’t speak to the moral surrounding the N.C. State program, but he knows McNeill’s presence brings an immediate boost.
“It can’t do anything but elevate them,” Overton said. “He just uplifts everyone he’s around. It’s hard to have a bad day when you’re around him. I think he can only raise the whole level of professionalism and intensity in the whole building. It’s hard to put into words unless you’re in there. Once you start talking to those players and coaches once he’s been in there for a while, you’ll see the impact for sure.”
McNeill has spent most of his career on the defensive side of the ball, and it’ll be interesting how fast fans see an improvement from his input. Last season Oklahoma was second in the Big 12 in sacks and had the second best overall defense in the league. The Wolfpack finished sixth in the ACC, but only had one less sack (35) than the Sooners. But away from the field, many feel McNeill’s value comes with his ability to connect with players on the roster as well as assistant coaches.
“I don’t think it matters yet that we don’t really know what kind of role he’s going to hold,” Trent McGee, host of 90.3 The Game in Greenville told the N&O. “He’s going to be that football figure that the players can go to. Especially right now, there’s so much uncertainty with college football, it’s going to be key to have someone like Ruffin McNeill, Someone to keep the players, and the coaches and the fan base grounded in a time of uncertainty, I think that’s huge.”
Doeren hired five new assistant coaches since the end of the 2019 season - four on defense. Tony Gibson, who was the co-defensive coordinator last season, will be the primary defensive coordinator in 2020. Since being fired from ECU in 2015, McNeill has coached the defensive line for one season at Virginia, and the defensive tackles and outside linebackers at Oklahoma.
IMPACT ON RECRUITING
At one point, Dave Doeren seemed to have a pretty tight handle on dominating in-state recruiting. Then Mack Brown returned to North Carolina in December of 2018 and there was a sudden and noticeable shift back to the Tar Heels.
In his first full recruiting class Brown brought in 14 players from North Carolina. Of his class of 2021 verbal commitments, he already has as many in-state (14) out of the 17 commitments. By comparison, the Wolfpack had just eight in-state commitments in the class of 2020. Doeren has eight in-state verbals so far in the class of 2021. Many expect McNeill to have a huge impact on recruiting, thanks to his relationships with in-state coaches, especially in Eastern North Carolina.
In his first full recruiting class in 2011, McNeill signed 14 native North Carolinians. He also inked 12 in 2013.
“They (N.C. State) brought in a guy who is going to really open up some doors for them in the state,” Paul Cornwell told the N&O.
Cornwell coached football at Ayden-Grifton, right in ECU’s backyard, for 16 years. He’s currently the assistant principal at Farmville Central.
“He’s going to really open up some doors for them in the state,” Cornwell added. “Coach McNeill has built great relationships with high school coaches throughout the state when he was at East Carolina. They recruited the state very well and I think you will see that will help N.C. State with their recruiting.”
In his role, McNeill said he won’t be going off campus to recruit athletes, but he can serve as the perfect closer for Doeren once families come on campus.
“I do think he will be a guy that Dave Doeren can say, listen, talk to Ruffin McNeill then come back to me and let me know what you think about coming to N.C. State,” McGee said. “I think he’s going to be very beneficial in terms of recruiting guys who are right there in N.C. State’s backyard, the local Wake County schools and further down east. He has a strong footprint with Eastern North Carolina schools. That didn’t change when he left.”
If anything, McGee explained, his footprint expanded. Sure, he kept those connections in North Carolina, but McNeill also built new relationships while recruiting for Virginia and Oklahoma. McGee wouldn’t be surprised if McNeill started luring players in from those regions as well.
During his time at Oklahoma, the Sooners had the No. 2 class in the Big-12 twice and the top class in 2017.
AN ELITE HUMAN BEING
Wilkes doesn’t have as many personal interactions with McNeill as some other coaches in the state. When Wilkes was starting his coaching career, at Coastal Carolina, he worked under David Bennett. McNeill and Bennett worked together at Clemson during the 1985-86 season.
Wilkes said Bennett always spoke highly of McNeill. That seems to be the constant whenever his name is mentioned. McGee was around McNeill during his entire tenure in Greenville. He’s always talking to coaches, college and high school, and would probably be more successful finding life on another planet than tracking down someone to badmouth McNeill.
“I’ve never heard one person say one bad thing about Ruffin McNeill,” McGee said emphatically. “It’s hard to find a coach like that in this day and time. They can’t find anything negative to say about Ruffin McNeill.”
Niceness and kind words don’t win football games. If football were about popularity, McNeill probably would have never been shown the door in Greenville. His presence at N.C. State doesn’t automatically equal a quick turnaround and a return to a bowl game. And if things get bad in Raleigh fast, it’ll be Doeren’s head, not McNeill’s, that fans will be calling for.
For the time being, having McNeill on board looks like a win. And N.C. State appears to have one of the good guys on their side.
“It doesn’t matter what he’s doing in the building,” Overton said. He’s probably going to be one of the top two human beings you’ve ever met. He’s just an elite human being who happens to be coaching.”
