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Defensive coordinator Huxtable leaves Pitt for N.C. State
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Defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable is leaving the Pitt Panthers to assume the same role at North Carolina State, according to a release Friday on North Carolina State's website.
Huxtable coached Pitt's defense for one season, joining the program when head coach Paul Chryst was hired a year ago.
Dave Doeren was hired as North Carolina State's head coach Dec. 1, and is in the process of filling his staff.
Huxtable lead the Panthers to the 16th-ranked defense in Division I-A this year, allowing 325.8 yards per game. The Panthers were 21st in scoring defense, giving up 19.7 points per game.
"Dave is an ACC veteran coach with a great track record of fundamentally sound, tough, hard-nosed defenses," Doeren said in a statement on North Carolina State's website. "He and I have similar defensive philosophies. We know a lot of the same people and they all say that he is tremendous as a coach, a person and a technician."
Huxtable gained his Atlantic Coast Conference experience in a six-year stint at Georgia Tech from 1992-97, the final two years of which he served as the Yellow Jackets defensive coordinator. He also coached North Carolina's linebackers from 2001-03, and served as the Tar Heels defensive coordinator from 2002-03.
Doeren and Huxtable have ties to the Wisconsin program, though they have never overlapped at coaching stops. Doeren was the Badgers' defensive coordinator from 2006-10, and Huxtable held that position in 2011 before joining Chryst at Pitt.
"We appreciate Hux's contributions to our program this year and wish him the best in his new opportunity," Chryst said in a statement.
Pitt did not release any information about Chryst's plans for naming a new defensive coordinator, either as an interim coach for the BBVA Compass Bowl Jan. 5 against Mississippi, or long term.
First Published December 15, 2012 12:00 am
