Stacking the ACC coaches against each other is an incredibly difficult task, and that's not just because there are now 17 teams in the league after the offseason additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU.
Heading into 2024, the ACC is a wildly disparate league when it comes to coach rankings; it's easy to pick out a couple names for the top and bottom of a ballot, but voters are left with more than half of the names packed into the middle class of the power conference coaches. There are four coaches among the top 25 of the 68, four coaches in the bottom 12 and a whopping nine coaches occupying spaces between Wake Forest's Dave Clawson at No. 30 and Georgia Tech's Brent Key at No. 54.
The differences between coaches in this range are impossible to parse as there is no standard for granting, the length of resume differs wildly and the standards for success change based on the school. Yet every year we try our best, one ballot at a time, to make an annual determination of relative coach ranking.
What we have below is a look back at the 2024 CBS Sports Coach Rankings with only the ACC coaches highlighted and sorted in order. We've accompanied that with some analysis based on why they landed were they landed as best we can, along with a note on where each coach stood among ACC coaches in 2023 when applicable.
Complete Power Five coach rankings: 1-25 | 26-68
2024 ACC Coach Rankings
| 1 |  |
| Dabo Swinney (No. 3 overall) : For all the chatter about Clemson's supposed downfall, the king remains the king in the ACC. Swinney and the Tigers have claimed seven of the last 12 ACC championships, most recently winning in 2022, and account for every one of the league's College Football Playoff appearances since 2015. Now there is certainly some urgency for bounce-back as last year's 4-4 conference record marks the program's worst since 2010, but expectations of ACC title contention remain heading into 2024. Last year: 1 in the ACC | |
| 2 |  |
| Mike Norvell (No. 8 overall): When title-winning programs like Florida State lose their way, it can be a process to climb back to the top of the mountain. Norvell has embraced that process, improving the win total every season at the helm with a 13-1 peak in 2023. His ranking here has climbed as the results have continued, and his embrace of the transfer portal has allowed the Seminoles to win fast and keep winning. Last year: 3 in the ACC | |
| 3 |  |
| Dave Doeren (No. 16 overall): A model of consistency in a league that has seem plenty of turnover, Doeren has won either eight or nine games in every season but one since the start of 2017. The Wolfpack have been a bowl team in nine of the last 10 years as well, and their player development has powered a steady production of NFL talent despite not always ranking among the top ACC teams on signing day. Last year: 5 in the ACC | |
| 4 |  |
| Jeff Brohm (No. 19 overall): With only one year at Louisville on his profile, Brohm is clearly (and deservedly) getting a lot of credit for his accomplishments at prior stops. Brohm got Purdue into the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2007, into the Big Ten Championship Game for the first time ever and with 17 wins between 2022-23 had one of the most successful back-to-back campaigns the Boilermakers have seen since the Joe Tiller days. The coaching chops showed up with the Cardinals, too, leading the team to a 10-win season and ACC title game appearance in Year 1. Last year: 7 in the ACC | |
| 5 |  |
| Dave Clawson (No. 30 overall): Revered for his ability to establish a culture and winning standard at Wake Forest, Clawson does take a step back in this year's ranking after a disappointing 4-8 showing in 2023 that included seven ACC losses. Three of those conference losses came by five points or less, including a 17-12 grinder at Clemson, but the record remained and it was the worst the program has seen since Clawson's second season back in 2015. Last year: 2 in the ACC | |
| 6 |  |
| Mario Cristobal (No. 35 overall): While a 12-13 record in two seasons at Miami is not at all what was envisioned after Cristobal was hired away from Oregon , he gets credit from our voters for his ability to recruit at a high level and construct a roster that's good enough to win against every team on the schedule. The path forward for Cristobal in these -- and other rankings -- is converting that on-paper advantage into more consistent on-field results. Last year: 8 in the ACC | |
| 7 |  |
| Mack Brown (No. 37 overall): This is frankly a stunning drop for one of the few active head coaches with a national championship, but when we reached out for clarification, it became clear there are few coaches more divisive than Brown. Since returning to Chapel Hill, Brown has led the Tar Heels to five bowl games in five seasons and won eight or more games three times. But the late-season slip-ups and inability to capitalize on opportunities to break through nationally have resonated with some voters in a way that's negatively impacted his ranking. Last year: 4 in the ACC | |
| 8 |  |
| Pat Narduzzi (No. 38 overall) : Pitt was running hot heading into 2023 with 20 wins, a pair of top-25 finishes and an ACC championship across the prior two seasons. But a wildly disappointing 3-9 campaign last fall has resulted in a slip in the rankings for Narduzzi, but he won't fall far thanks that 43-31 record in ACC play. Pitt's ability to beat teams at the margins has been a strength for much of the last decade, but the lack of offensive production a season ago created more of a gap than those margins could overcome. Last year: 6 in the ACC | |
| 9 |  |
| Rhett Lashlee (No. 45 overall): This space of the rankings, nationally, is where we find coaches on the rise and coaches on the decline fighting for the same spots on ballots. Lashlee's resume is thin, but his trajectory is firmly pointed upwards after 18 wins and an AAC title in his first two seasons as a head coach with the Mustangs. SMU enters the ACC with a nine-game winning streak against conference opponents, though it did finish last season with a loss to future ACC foe Boston College in the bowl game. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
| 10 |  |
| Manny Diaz (No. 48 overall): Diaz last appearance in these rankings saw him ranked No. 32 overall and No. 7 in the ACC as he prepared for what would be his last year with Miami in 2021. After two years as Penn State's defensive coordinator, Diaz is back, and with Duke he has an opportunity to build upon his previous experience in the league, albeit from a very different set of circumstances. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
| 11 |  |
| Brent Pry (No. 50 overall): It wasn't just that Virginia Tech went from three wins in Year 1 with Pry to seven in Year 2. It's also that Pry and his staff were able to retain most of the key pieces from last year's success, and there was plenty of obvious improvement in a campaign that saw the Hokies finish the year 5-2 over their last seven games with every win coming by at least 17 points. Last year: 14 in the ACC | |
| 12 |  |
| Bill O'Brien (No. 51 overall): Voters have a hard time placing O'Brien in line on a ballot because you're not really sure how to weight all the varying factors from his resume. It's been 11 years since he was a head coach in college, but he was just recently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for a Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama . Throw in the extensive NFL experience, and it's not exactly a profile with easy comparison points. Best we can tell, he's getting something close to a Year 1 treatment here after a long layoff in the coach rankings, with room for fast upward movement if the Eagles are winning under his watch. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
| 13 |  |
| Brent Key (No. 54 overall): Key was probably due for a bigger step forward after guiding Georgia Tech to a bowl game against a brutal schedule in just his first full season on the job in Atlanta. But while the highs are worth noting, like taking down a pair of ranked foes in Miami and North Carolina , so too are the lows like a home loss to Bowling Green . Last year: 12 in the ACC | |
| 14 |  |
| Justin Wilcox (No. 57 overall): Entering Year 8 at Cal, Wilcox boasts a 36-43 overall record with just three bowl appearances and no seasons with a winning record in conference play. But with 2023 feeling a step back in the right direction, Wilcox has a chance to reverse some of those trends with a strong debut in the ACC. He's got a veteran team and true star in running back Jadyn Ott, leaving the results of 2024 to tell us a lot about his future in these rankings. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
| 15 |  |
| Troy Taylor (No. 60 overall): The Cardinal took down Colorado in a double-overtime thriller in Boulder and beat Washington State in Pullman but failed to win a home game and had the worst average scoring margin (-18.0 points per game) among power conference teams in 2023. Taylor arrived with a big-picture plan that included some recruiting wins that have already come through, but on-field results need to follow. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
| 16 |  |
| Tony Elliott (No. 62 overall): The tragic conclusion to the 2022 season could have used an easier schedule draw for a bounce back in 2023, and that's not at all what Virginia faced. All 11 of Virginia's FBS opponents were bowl teams last season, and the only Group of Five team in that bunch was 11-win James Madison (who won in Charlottesville). Beating top-10 North Carolina in Chapel Hill showed the Wahoos they could hang with almost anyone in the league, and now they need to build on that for 2024. Last year: 13 in the ACC | |
| 17 |  |
| Fran Brown (No. 67 overall): A coach making his power conference debut will often appear near the bottom of a ballot in this process, and when it's also the first head coaching job it's going to be an even tougher hurdle to clear for a high ranking. Brown has made smart staff hires, worked the transfer portal and sowed the seeds for the future with his recruiting efforts. When the results follow the off-field momentum, there will be rapid upward movement in these rankings. Last year: N/A in the ACC | |
