Dabo Swinney still runs the ACC, and a few coaches settle in neatly behind the Clemson coach to round out conference’s top five.
Bill Belichick once ruled the NFL, but he’ll have to prove himself at North Carolina before climbing into top tier of list of ACC coaches.
Florida State’s Mike Norvell absorbs a hit on his stock, while Brent Key’s stock is rising at Georgia Tech.
Dabo Swinney still runs the ACC. He reclaimed his grip last season, and he’s built another team poised to contend for a College Football Playoff berth.
Only three active coaches have won a national championship. Swinney joins Georgia’s Kirby Smart as the only active two-time winners.
A few coaches settle in neatly behind Swinney to round out the ACC’s top five, before the pecking order becomes murky – and open to much debate – in the Nos. 6 through 14 range.
Here’s how I rank ACC coaches, from No. 1 to No. 17:
1. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” would be an appropriate soundtrack for Swinney’s career. His sign, develop and retain method still gets results. Clemson won the ACC last season after not adding a single transfer. Clemson did add a few transfers this offseason, but if you’re going to mostly kick it old school, do it with a coach who develops rosters as well as Swinney. At his peak, Swinney won 55 games and two national titles in a four-year span, behind great quarterbacks and wide receivers. He won’t recreate that, but Clemson remains nationally relevant.
2. Jeff Brohm (Louisville)
Brohm makes programs better. Western Kentucky, Purdue and now Louisville greatly improved under his guidance. He’s produced eight winning seasons in 11 years, and that’s a bigger compliment when you consider he coached Purdue for six seasons. His steady hand for offense translates from school to school and conference to conference.
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LOOKING AHEAD: Big Ten leads too-early Top 25 after spring
3. Rhett Lashlee (SMU)
Lashlee smoothly transitioned SMU from the American Athletic to the ACC with the Mustangs qualifying for the College Football Playoff in their first season in a Power Four conference. Lashlee showed some steeliness when he benched Preston Stone, his incumbent quarterback, in favor of Kevin Jennings. That move propelled his offense. Lashlee last lost a regular-season conference game in 2022. That’s a formula for annual playoff contention.
4. Mike Norvell (Florida State)
Call a spade a spade: Florida State’s 2024 campaign became a monstrous flop on the heels of Norvell’s career-best season. His transfer-fueled formula went belly up, but one pitiful season should not entirely erase his track record. He’s recruiting well and reloaded with a fresh batch of talented transfers. Tommy Castellanos from Boston College provides a quarterback upgrade after Norvell whiffed on DJ Uiagalelei. Norvell’s roster overhaul positions him to clean up last year’s mess.
5. Mario Cristobal (Miami)
No ACC coach matches Cristobal’s recruiting chops. He accelerated Miami’s offense behind transfer Cam Ward, then replaced Ward with Carson Beck, another premier transfer quarterback. Cristobal’s coaching is open to criticism, though. Oregon improved after replacing Cristobal with Dan Lanning. Miami assembled enough talent to win the ACC last season, but it squandered its chance with losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. To be considered a top-tier coach, Cristobal must become more than an ace recruiter.
6. Brent Key (Georgia Tech)
Key beat Cristobal in back-to-back seasons and took down Norvell last year, and his Yellow Jackets nearly toppled Georgia. He transformed the roster with significantly better recruiting hauls than Georgia Tech previously experienced. He’s 14-12 through his first two full seasons. The returns are still early, but all signs indicate Key is the right hire to elevate this program.
7. Pat Narduzzi (Pittsburgh)
Narduzzi isn’t flashy, but he’s consistent. Count on him to produce winning seasons with a defined floor and ceiling. He’s a middle-of-the-pack recruiter who knows how to squeeze the fruit for its juice. Like a lot of veteran coaches, Narduzzi stated an opposition to the transfer portal, but he embraces the reality of it to address roster needs. The biggest concern with Narduzzi? His usually reliable defenses tailed off the past two years. That showed in the record.
8. Dave Doeren (North Carolina State)
How did Doeren become the ACC’s second-longest-tenured active coach behind Swinney? By avoiding disaster seasons. Much like the coach listed one spot ahead of him, Doeren is a force of consistency in the absence of excellence. He’s delivered nine winning seasons in 12 years. The Wolfpack qualified for bowl games in 10 of the past 11 years. The typical Doeren season includes a win against rival North Carolina, followed by a loss in a bowl game.
9. Manny Diaz (Duke)
Diaz enjoyed a fine run as a defensive coordinator at multiple stops. Is he a good head coach? Jury’s still out. His Miami tenure didn’t go particularly well, but he enjoyed a career-best season in his Duke debut. His 9-4 record built on the success of predecessor Mike Elko. Diaz’s latest recruiting class ranked in the top one-third of the ACC and nipped at the heels of Swinney’s haul, a good sign.
10. Bill Belichick (North Carolina)
North Carolina made one of the most interesting hires in college football history when it tapped a coach with six Super Bowl titles to elevate a program that enjoys enough advantages to take a step up the food chain. We know Belichick, 73, can coach. Can he thrive in modern college football? That’s anyone’s guess. Running a college program differs from coaching pro ball. If you’re monitoring early indicators, UNC amassed a nice batch of transfers.
11. Fran Brown (Syracuse)
Anyone who’s a millennial or older remembers Syracuse being relevant. Well, how’s this for a throwback? Brown won 10 games in his debut season – just four years after Syracuse lost 10 games. Now, can Syracuse maintain success after the exit of one-year-rental quarterback Kyle McCord? Let’s tap the brakes on Brown rekindling the Paul Pasqualoni glory days until we see evidence of Brown elevating Syracuse’s recruiting.
12. Bill O’Brien (Boston College)
O’Brien steered the offense for both Belichick and Nick Saban, two all-time greats, but the most impressive line on his résumé occurred when he took Penn State’s reins after the Jerry Sandusky scandal and won 15 games in two seasons, bringing stability to a program in the midst of turmoil and debilitating NCAA sanctions. O’Brien’s 7-6 debut at Boston College offered more evidence of a reliable floor, but there also aren’t signs of a high ceiling.
13. Jake Dickert (Wake Forest)
Dickert went 23-20 in 3½ seasons coaching Washington State. That’s not bad and better when you consider he took over amid strange circumstances, after Washington State fired Nick Rolovich in the middle of the 2021 season for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Clearly, he’s not averse to challenging circumstances or a tough job. Good, because Wake Forest is a tough job. Will he succeed in the ACC? There’s no telling yet.
14. Justin Wilcox (California)
The best way to describe the Wilcox era? It is what it is. And what it is, is predictable. Toss out the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and he’s won somewhere between four and eight games in his other seven seasons with four bowl appearances. His last winning record came in 2019. He’s been better than predecessor Sonny Dykes, but not as good as Jeff Tedford. Cal riding it out with Wilcox suggests it doesn’t think it can do better than him. Maybe, it can’t.
15. Brent Pry (Virginia Tech)
Oh, for the Frank Beamer days. Heck, the Justin Fuente days look OK compared to this. As the Hokies spin their tires with Pry, they must ask themselves what they think their program can be. Previous coaches showed it can be more than this – with this being a fight to finish above .500. Pry is 1-12 in one-possession games after three seasons. That suggests ineffective coaching.
16. Tony Elliott (Virginia)
Elliott’s tenure shows no indications of progress, a bad sign for a coach entering his fourth season. Virginia lost six of its final seven games last season, cranking up the hot-seat thermostat. Despite Elliott’s background as a successful offensive coordinator, his teams consistently struggle to score. Elliott assembled a big batch of transfers for a final swing at this.
17. Frank Reich (Stanford)
Reich, 63, had never coached in college before Stanford hired him as interim coach in April to a one-year deal. He’ll pair with general manager Andrew Luck, who’s also working in a new capacity. Reich enjoys a low bar, at least, inheriting a program that finished 3-9 for four consecutive seasons. The Colts fired Reich in 2022. The Panthers fired him in 2023 after he started 1-10. Frank succeeding at Stanford would come against the odds.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com. Follow him on X @btoppmeyer.