2024 Preseason ACC Coach Rankings

18. Fran Brown- Syracuse

Whenever you are making a list like this one ranking coaches, someone unfortunately has to be last, and in this case it is Syracuse Head Coach Fran Brown. While I believe Brown has a bright future and is doing a lot of good things early in his tenure at Syracuse, such as bringing in 19 new transfers including former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, he is still a head coach with no FBS coaching experience, so he slides into the 18th spot for now.

17. Tony Elliot- Virginia

Tony Elliot is a hard coach to judge when making these rankings. Obviously, with a 6-16 record at Virginia so far, wins have been tough to come by for Elliot. However, it's important to consider the whole picture of his tenure, including the tragic shooting that killed three Virginia football players in the final month of Elliott’s first season. Despite this, if wins don’t come soon for Virginia, Elliot may be looking for a new coaching gig outside of Charlottesville.

16. Troy Taylor- Stanford

When Stanford hired Troy Taylor, many others and I believed it to be a perfect hire. Not only had Taylor completely rebuilt a subpar football program in Sacramento State, but he was familiar with the area of California and had been recruiting in it for years. While his first season may not have seemed great on paper going 3-9, I still think the future is bright for Troy Taylor as Stanford’s Head Coach.

15. Manny Diaz- Duke

Manny Diaz has had something of a rollercoaster career. After doing a great job as Miami’s Defensive Coordinator from 2016 to 2018, he was then hired as Temple’s new Head Coach. However, just a couple weeks after signing a five-year contract, Diaz left Temple to become the next Miami Head Coach without having coached a single game for the Owls. His level of success at Miami kind of depends on who you ask. With a 21-15 record in Coral Gables, most Miami fans would say he underachieved and while he had them winning, didn’t have them relevant enough on a national stage. While this is may be true, I also think it is true that he was more successful than almost all the coaches Miami has hired since joining the ACC, and it will be very interesting to see how he does at Duke.

14. Bill O’brien- Boston College

It has been quite a long time since we have seen Bill O’Brien leading a team at the college level. The last time we saw him lead a team was in 2012 when he took over at Penn State following the Joe Paterno saga. Considering where that program was at the time and all the sanctions they faced, I think his 15-9 record there in two years is definitely an impressive feat. However, a lot has changed in the college football landscape since 2013 with the transfer portal, NIL, and much more, so we will see how well O’Brien adapts to this new world.

13. Brent Key- Georgia Tech

Taking over as an interim coach after the firing of Geoff Collins, Brent Key was put in a tough position to begin his coaching career. However, leading the team to an unexpected 4-3 record in conference play, Key earned a promotion as the next Head Coach at Georgia Tech. Then, led by a resurging quarterback transfer in Haynes King, Key not only had the Yellow Jackets bowling in 2023, but beat a pretty solid Central Florida team in the Gasparilla Bowl to finish off a solid second season. With a win total set around five wins in a new ACC, it’ll be interesting to see if Key can get Georgia Tech back to a bowl game in 2024.

12. Justin Wilcox- California

Coming in at number twelve, we have someone who may surprise a few people and that is California Head Coach Justin Wilcox. With just 36 wins over seven seasons, most fans might assume Wilcox is on the brink of getting fired. However, not only is he not on the hot seat, but he also turned down interest from Oregon in 2022 in exchange for a seven-year extension at Cal. California is an extremely difficult job due to the academic limitations that hinder recruiting and almost completely eliminate the transfer portal, so I believe Wilcox is doing about as good of a job as you can do at Cal in 2024.

11. brent pry- Virginia tech

This is the coach that I think may take the biggest leap from the 2024 rankings into the 2025 rankings next year. Brent Pry was an elite Defensive Coordinator at Penn State for six seasons before taking over a tough situation at Virginia Tech. After a brutal first season in 2022, the Hokies bounced back and went bowling last season marking a step forward in the new era at Virginia Tech. Not only that, but with a ridiculous amount of talent returning, the Hokies are set for a huge year in 2024 and if they meet or even exceed those expectations, expect Pry to take a massive leap in next year’s rankings.

10. Rhett Lashlee- SMU

In the new era of the ACC, SMU could be a very interesting team to follow moving forward. With a plethora of money and support from their boosters, it seems like the school is set on having a successful football program. It also seems like they have the right guy in charge. In two seasons so far at SMU, Lashlee went from 7-6 in year one to 11-3 in year two, including an AAC Championship. However, the move up in competition from the AAC to the ACC is a tough task so it will be intriguing to see how Lashlee and the Mustangs fare moving forward.

9. Pat Narduzzi- Pittsburgh

Pat Narduzzi is one of those coaches that are very hard to rank in these lists. Overall, his nine years at Pitt have been very strong. With six bowl appearances, five eight-win seasons, and even an ACC Championship in 2021 with Kenny Pickett, Narduzzi has seen his fair share of success. However, in my opinion, he continues to be limited by his refusal to adapt to modern offensive concepts. For example, Pitt’s most successful season under Narduzzi came in 2021 with Kenny Pickett, when they had one of the most electric passing offenses in the nation. Despite this success, Narduzzi clashed with Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple, who later left for Nebraska, because he didn’t run the ball enough. Two years later, Pitt reverted back to a more run-heavy offense and went 3-9, marking Narduzzi’s worst season at Pitt. While he has had a great career, we will see if Narduzzi can make quality changes to the Panthers offense in 2024 to try and recreate that success.

8. Mack Brown- North Carolina

There is no doubt that Mack Brown is one of the most legendary coaches still left coaching college football right now. Serving as the Head Coach of Texas from 1998 to 2013, Brown had nine double-digit win seasons, including a 2005 National Championship. On top of this, Brown took over at North Carolina in 2019 looking to rejuvenate a proud program, and at first, it seemed like he was. He brought in extremely talented recruiting classes that developed future NFL draft picks such as Sam Howell, Javonte Williams, Drake Maye, and many more. However, despite all of this talent, Brown is still yet to win more than nine games at North Carolina, and it seems like the trajectory for the future is going down rather than up.

7. Mario Cristobal- Miami

Mario Cristobal came to Miami with an unprecedented amount of hype. Coming off a tenure at Oregon where he left with a 35-13 record, including a Pac-12 Championship (R.I.P) and a Rose Bowl victory, the hype for Cristobal’s return to his Alma mater was off the charts. However, with this extreme hype also comes extreme expectations that Cristobal has yet to live up to. As we talked about earlier with Manny Diaz, Miami fans expect to be one of the best programs in the country, and will accept nothing less. While Cristobal seems to be recruiting at that national championship level, the wins on the field have yet to come with just a 12-13 record in two years. With a relatively easy 2024 schedule, Cristobal must capitalize on this opportunity or he may receive the same treatment as Manny Diaz.

6. Marcus Freeman- Notre Dame

Yes, I am aware Notre Dame football does not play in the ACC, however, for the purposes of these rankings, we are going to pretend like they do. When Marcus Freeman was hired following the 2021 season, a lot of people were very excited, but also skeptical. Everyone in the coaching industry was singing Freeman’s praises and everyone thought he was the top up and coming coach in the industry. However, taking over at Notre Dame as Head Coach in your mid-thirties with no FBS coaching experience is a tall task. Nevertheless, I think Freeman has shown a lot of promise in his first two years with the Irish. Following a somewhat disappointing first season, he had a much better second year as he reached 10 wins. Similar to Miami, Notre Dame has a very manageable 2024 schedule so we will see how Freeman performs with potential playoff or bust expectations.

5. Dave Clawson- Wake Forest

Here is a name that may surprise the average college football fan. While it is true that outside of the 2021 season, Wake has struggled to be nationally relevant, it is also true that Dave Clawson has brought Wake more success than any other coach in school history. The simple truth of the matter is that in the current landscape of college football, where money trumps all, it is very difficult to win at Wake. Yet, Clawson has still found ways to be successful. Despite his best players entering the portal year after year to move up a step in the college football world, Clawson does what he can with what he has and finds ways to win. Add in the success he had at Bowling Green as well, and you can see why Clawson is one of the best coaches the ACC has to offer.

4. Dave Doeren- North Carolina State

When thinking of Dave Doeren and his time with North Carolina State, the phrase “smooth and steady” comes to mind. Hired in 2013 after going 23-4 at Northern Illinois, Doeren has brought a consistent level of success to the Wolfpack program. He has made a bowl game every single year except for one, since 2014, and has four nine-win seasons to go along with it. The only thing holding Doeren back from being ranked higher is his lack of national success, as he has yet to appear in an ACC Championship or win 10 games in a season. Despite this, Doeren is a shining example of consistency and looks to improve upon yet another nine win season in 2023.

3. Jeff Brohm- Louisville

To put it simply, Jeff Brohm is an elite ball coach. Beginning in his days as Head Coach of Western Kentucky where he went 30-10 over three seasons before taking the same position at Purdue, Brohm has won everywhere he’s been. At Purdue, Brohm went 36-34 which may sound pedestrian until you realize Brohm is one of only three Purdue coaches to have a career record over .500 since 1970. Not only this, but he got the Boilermakers into the Big Ten Championship game in 2022 over the likes of much stronger programs like Wisconsin and Iowa. Brohm has won every place he has coached and that didn’t change in his first year at his Alma mater going 10-4 and leading Louisville to their first ACC title appearance in school history.

2. Mike Norvell- Florida State

Now we are getting to the real top dogs of the ACC. Mike Norvell has done an amazing job rebuilding the Seminoles. When he took over in 2020, the program was a shell of its former self, and the rebuild may have taken longer than some fans expected. However, Norvell followed a disastrous 5-7 season in 2021 with a 10-win season in 2022, and of course, a 13-1 season capped off by an ACC Championship in 2023. Going into next season, the Seminoles still have high expectations despite the losses of stars like Jordan Travis, Keon Coleman, and Jared Verse. It seems that as long as Norvell is in charge, the Seminoles will see a lot of success and can maybe finally add another National Championship trophy to its collection.

Dabo Swinney- Clemson

Army, Air Force, Navy, and Clemson. While it may seem like a game of who doesn’t belong, that is actually a list of the only schools in the country to not take any transfers in the 2024 cycle. However, while this may be a very valid criticism of Coach Swinney, there is no denying the immense success that he has had as Head Coach at Clemson. After fully taking over in 2009, Swinney has had 12 double digit win seasons, eight ACC titles, and two National Championships. That is unprecedented success that Clemson had never seen before and I don’t think Dabo gets enough credit for this success, despite his stubbornness against the new era of college football. For example, you know you are doing a great job when a 9-4 season is looked at as a bad season. Moving into 2024, Clemson has high expectations once again with a defense that is projected to be elite, and an offense that returns once highly touted quarterback prospect Cade Klubnik.