NC State hires Joker Phillips as wide receivers coach

It didn’t take long for N.C. State to fill the vacancy on its football staff.

Joker Phillips, who served as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Maryland, has been hired to replace George McDonald as the Pack’s wide receivers coach, the school announced Wednesday.

McDonald, who had been at NCSU since 2015, left last week to take a job at Illinois, his alma mater.

Phillips, 57, was head coach at Kentucky from 2010 to 2012, compiling a 13-24 record, and was wide receivers coach at Cincinnati before going to Maryland in 2018. While an offensive quality control assistant at Ohio State in 2016, he coached with Tim Beck, the Pack’s offensive coordinator.

Phillips inherits a lot of receiving talent at N.C. State, with wideouts Emeka Emezie, Devin Carter, Thayer Thomas and Porter Rooks among the players expected to return to the Pack for the 2021 season.

This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 12:48 PM with the headline "NC State hires Joker Phillips as wide receivers coach."

Chip Alexander

The News & Observer

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In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.