FSU football: Ranking all top coaches in the ACC (2024)
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football head coach Mike Norvell was near the bottom of most ACC coaching rankings going into his first season at FSU. He had a great run at Memphis, but it wasn't in a Power 5 conference, and taking over a program with multiple issues while enduring a global pandemic did Norvell no favors.
FSU football head coach Mike Norvell was near the bottom of most ACC coaching rankings going into his first season at FSU. He had a great run at Memphis, but it wasn't in a Power 5 conference, and taking over a program with multiple issues while enduring a global pandemic did Norvell no favors. As he enters his fifth season at FSU, that will no longer be the case. The Noles went 13-0 last season and won the ACC for the first time since the 2014 season. FSU had 10 players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, the most in the ACC. FSU has gone 28-6 in its last 34 games, and there's a reason Alabama wanted to hire Mike Norvell when Nick Saban retired. I did this exercise a year ago, but the landscape of the ACC changed drastically with the additions of SMU, California, and Stanford a few months back. None of those additions are what I'd call football powerhouses, but SMU had some potential, and FSU will travel there this fall. How would I rank the best and worst coaches in the ACC?
You came to the right place:
No. 17: Fran Brown (Syracuse) 0-0 overall
No. 16: Tony Elliot (Virginia) 6-16, 3-12 ACC
No. 15: Justin Wilcox (California) 36-43 overall
No. 14: Troy Taylor (Stanford) 33-17 overall
No. 13: Mario Cristobal (Miami) 74-73, 6-10 ACC
No. 12: Bill O'Brien (Boston College) 15-9 overall
No. 11: Manny Diaz (Duke) 21-15 overall, 16-9 ACC
The group of coaches above consists of either brand-new coaches, or coaches who are getting back into head coaching, or guys who haven't won at a high level. Diaz ranks highest here because he has a 16-9 record in the ACC as a head coach while at Miami less than five years ago.