N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren now has made arguably his three biggest hires.

The Wolfpack announced Saturday that Matt Canada has joined Doeren's staff as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.  Canada comes to the Pack from Wisconsin, where he spent the 2012 season in that same position.

The Pack on Friday announced that Dave Huxtable had been hired to be defensive coordinator. Ryan Nielsen was Doeren's first hire and will coordinate recruiting. He also will serve as defensive line coach.

"Matt Canada has one of the most creative offensive minds in the country and he does a great job of utilizing strengths and hiding weaknesses," Doeren said in a statement.  "I had the privilege to work with Matt when he was on the staff of our first conference championship team at Northern Illinois and to coach against him when he was the offensive coordinator at Indiana. "

RALEIGH — Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie took advantage of an undersized Cleveland State team to lead N.C. State to a 80-63 win at Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday.

Howell had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Leslie had 19 points and eight boards. The No. 25 Wolfpack put together perhaps its best half of the season, taking a 47-32 lead at the break and then closed out the Vikings in the second half.

Howell had a double-double for the third time in four games as Cleveland State's bigs, both listed at 6-7, couldn't keep up with either Howell or Leslie.

The athletic departments at Florida State and Virginia generated the most revenue among ACC schools during the 2011-12 fiscal year, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Education.

Colleges and universities that sponsor sports programs are required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act to report their revenues to the Department of Education. Schools use different accounting methods to report the data, and those varying reporting methods make it difficult to compare numbers.

Dave Doeren said recruiting would be a top priority at N.C. State and his first hire on Friday was his recruiting coordinator.

Ryan Nielsen joined Doeren's staff at N.C. State on Friday as the recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach. Nielsen held the same jobs on Doeren's staff at Northern Illinois and was also the Huskies' co-defensive coordinator.

It took time, and some technological sleight hand, but Tor Ramsey, with the help of Chris and Stewart Corchiani, boiled 60 years of N.C. State basketball into a three-hour DVD.

The 3-year old project became a reality on Thursday with the release of "Running With The Pack," a DVD directed by Ramsey, a former team manager, and produced by Corchiani, the former star point guard, and his wife.

The subtitle of the project, "A Complete History of N.C. State Basketball," is no exaggeration.

NEW YORK — Jim Valvano made a career, and won a national title, out of winning close games for N.C. State.

In only its second appearance in the Jimmy V Classic, N.C. State honored Valvano in the most appropriate way possible, a close win over Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.

Richard Howell scored 13 points and Lorenzo Brown added 16 to lead the No. 25 Wolfpack to a 69-65 win over the Huskies on Tuesday night.

N.C. State's football team will end up on the same field as James Franklin after all.

The Wolfpack will face Franklin's Vanderbilt team in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31 (noon, ESPN) in Nashville, Tenn.

N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow has described Franklin as a "good friend" and previously hired him at Maryland. Early speculation after Tom O'Brien was fired focused on Franklin but Yow eliminated him from the process a week ago and hired Dave Doeren from Northern Illinois on Saturday night.

RALEIGH — When Dave Doeren walked out of his introductory press conference at N.C. State on Sunday, he was told his former team, Northern Illinois, was headed to a BCS bowl.

Doeren, who led the Huskies to 23 wins in two years and a spot in this season's Orange Bowl, believes he can turn N.C. State into a "special" program.

"I wasn't going to leave (Northern Illinois) for just anything," Doeren said.

Updated: 4:35 p.m.

Dave Doeren will be N.C. State's new football coach. The school has scheduled a 4 p.m. press conference for Sunday to introduce Doeren.

Athletic director Debbie Yow traveled to DeKalb, Ill. on Saturday to meet with Doeren, who led Northern Illinois to the Mid-American Conference title on Friday night.

Doeren, who turns 41 on Monday, has signed a five-year contract worth $1.8 million annually with N.C. State.

Northern Illinois faces Kent State in the Mid-American Conference championship game tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2) in Detroit. N.C. State's next football coach could come from one of those schools.

The Wolfpack's coaching search has turned to the young MAC coaches, Dave Doeren of Northern Illinois and Darrell Hazell of Kent State. Both teams are 11-1 and both are ranked in the top 25 in the AP poll.

N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow has said she wants Tom O'Brien's replacement to have the Wolfpack in annual contention for the top 25 and to regularly compete for the ACC title.