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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
