After four ACC football programs changed coaches for the 2022 season, two more programs changed coaches for the 2023 season.'
Who are the best (and worst) college football coaches in the ACC? Here are rankings for all 14 coaches:
1. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
161-39 Overall; 11-3 in 2022 as ACC champion
What is there to say about a falling giant? Clemson was one of the defining programs of the last decade of football, and Dabo Swinney was the main architect.
The spoils: Seven ACC titles and two national championships from 2015-22, not to mention numerous Coach of the Year nods. Anyone would take those results.
Clemson has been to the mountaintop under Dabo, and it might get there again. But it's hard to ignore the gap between the national juggernaut Clemson was five years ago and the regional power it more closely resembles now.'
Among the reasons for such a decline: Brent Venables, a key championship piece, is over in central time.'
Coach Swinney might still be the best of the ACC, but this present iteration of Clemson is likely far from the best of Dabo.'
2. Dave Doeren, NC State
95-58 Overall; 8-5 in 2022
There's a real case to make that Dave Doeren is the best coach in the ACC. Doeren is coaching a football team at a basketball school with a middling budget and no real aspiration to become a true powerhouse.
In that role, Doeren has delivered eight winning seasons in nine years. He's also become one of the most consistent producers of NFL talent in the ACC. The guy just doesn't get the recognition he deserves.
3. Mack Brown, North Carolina
274-144-1 Overall; 9-5 2022 as Coastal Division champion
We know that the ceiling with Mack Brown is a championship-caliber coach and program. With Drake Maye and Sam Howell quarterbacking the offense as Heisman favorites, in addition to Brown's helmsmanship, North Carolina has been a real player in the Coastal Division.
If the ACC had better conference depth right now, Mack Brown and a good quarterback likely wouldn't be enough of a formula to compete. North Carolina's defense, for example, would need a big improvement to compete.
Instead, the ACC is in a downturn, and Mack Brown's retirement plan in Chapel Hill is a perfectly competent – if limited – conference contender.
4. Mike Norvell, Florida State
56-31 Overall; 10-3 in 2022
Norvell won 38 games at Memphis in four years, and he's improved his record at Florida State each year he's been there – from 3-6 in his COVID debut to 5-7 in 2021, up to a 10-win season last year.'
That was Florida State's first 10-win season since 2016, which was Jimbo Fisher's last full season in Tallahassee. It's clear that Mike Norvell knows what he's doing and that his formula for success has translated to FSU.'
Now, college football odds analysts must answer the obvious next question: Is the ceiling for Norvell's Seminoles the same as it was when Fisher was running the show?'
College football fans should get an early glance in one of the best games of Week 1.
5. Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)
67-67 Overall; 5-7 in 2022
There will be critics who hold Cristobal's first year at Miami against him. Historians and Hurricane apologists will point to the early 2000s and say that a good coach could kickstart that version of Miami quickly and cleanly.
I'm not that optimistic about a distracted Miami market. College football has changed a lot in the last 25 years, and the mysticism of The U just doesn't hold the same cultural resonance that it once did.
We know Cristobal is a good coach. He won a competitive Pac-12 at Oregon two years in a row; he won the Sun Belt with very little at FIU. He's been part of Saban's machine in Tuscaloosa; he knows the Florida recruiting scene extremely well.'
All the pieces are here. So how long does it take for Cristobal to execute? And what does modern success at Miami actually look like?
6. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
62-41 Overall; 9-4 in 2022
Since moving to the ACC 10 years ago, I've never really understood why Pitt hasn't seized control of the Coastal Division. Miami has been rebuilding for decades; Virginia Tech's run is over, undone by an explosion of competition for in-state recruits from newcomers like James Madison, ODU, and Liberty.'
There's a clear, longstanding power vacuum in this division, and Pitt has the history and fertile recruiting ground to step in and take control.
I think Narduzzi could be on his way to such a result. He's won 20 games and a conference championship over the last two seasons. The level of competition might not be all that tough, but empires have been built on less.'
7. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
149-132 Overall; 8-5 in 2022
Clawson, like Doeren, is simply grinding out winning seasons at a school that doesn't give him equitable resources to compete. Wake Forest has one of the smallest football budgets in the ACC.
Still, Clawson has delivered six winning seasons in the last seven years, including an ACC Championship Game appearance in 2021.'
I'm skeptical about how competitive the Demon Deacons will be in 2023, but Clawson's track record over the last decade is filled with much more good than bad.