ACC coach rankings for 2020: Mack Brown, Scott Satterfield trending up

Bill Bender

ACC coach rankings for 2020: Mack Brown, Scott Satterfield trending up image

You will be hard-pressed to find a ranking of ACC coaches that does not have Dabo Swinney at No. 1.  

The Tigers have made five straight College Football Playoff appearances and are 38-2 in ACC play in that stretch. Swinney was ranked No. 2 in our annual 1-130 rankings.  

Who's the next-best coach in the ACC?  

MORE 2020 COACH RANKINGS 
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That is a more open-ended question. Virginia's Bronco Mendenhall took the Cavaliers to their first ACC championship game last season. Mack Brown led North Carolina to a 7-6 season and remains hot on the recruiting trail. Louisville's Scott Satterfield has the Cardinals back on the upswing. Those are the coaches who took the next three spots, but what should the order be?  

Here's a deeper look at our ACC coach rankings (record at current school):  

2020 ACC Coach Rankings   

RANK COACH SCHOOL W L PCT OVR
1 Dabo Swinney Clemson 130 31 .807 2
2 Mack Brown North Carolina 76 52 .538 14
3 Bronco Mendenhall Virginia 25 27 .481 24
4 Scott Satterfield Louisville 8 5 .615 28
5 Dave Clawson Wake Forest 36 40 .474 31
6 David Cutcliffe Duke 72 79 .477 32
7 Pat Narduzzi Pittsburgh 39 29 .574 40
8 Justin Fuente Virginia Tech 33 20 .623 42
9 Dave Doeren North Carolina State 47 42 .528 43
10 Mike Norvell Florida State 0 0 .000 45
11 Dino Babers Syracuse 23 26 .469 55
12 Manny Diaz Miami, Fla. 6 7 .462 56
13 Geoff Collins Georgia Tech 3 9 .250 57
14 Jeff Hafley Boston College 0 0 .000 59

Quick reads   

— First-year Florida State coach Mike Norvell is ranked 11 spots higher than Miami's Manny Diaz in our overall rankings. Norvell had an excellent track record at Memphis, but it's on him to pull up a program that is 18-20 the past three years. Diaz, meanwhile, went 6-7 in his first year with the Hurricanes.  

— Wake Forest is tied for the second-best record in the ACC the past three seasons at 23-16. It's a testament to the remarkable job Dave Clawson has done there, and a reason why he jumped up 14 spots in our overall rankings.  

— Swinney, Brown and Satterfield were among the four ACC coaches who led their teams to bowl victories last season. The other? Pitt's Pat Narduzzi. The Panthers are 15-12 the past two seasons, but that includes a 10-6 record in league play. Look for Pitt to be in the mix in the ACC Coastal race this season.  

— Keep an eye on first-year Boston College coach Jeff Hafley. He learned from Ryan Day as an assistant at Ohio State last season, and he won't be at the bottom of these rankings for long. The 41-year-old coach should bring more success to the program.  

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.