NC State has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since the league's inception in 1953.
NC State won the 1979 ACC Championship with a record of 5–1 in conference play.
As of 2022, the 1979 NC State team is the last bowl-eligible Power Five conference champion to not play in a bowl game.
Rein accepted the head coaching position at LSU on November 30, 1979.
He never coached a game in Baton Rouge, perishing January 10, 1980 when the private aircraft he was traveling in flew well off course and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia.