LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — In college football, there is a season for everything.
Preseason. Regular season. Bowl season. Award season. Postseason. Recruiting season. Transfer portal season. Spring season.
Then, there is the season we celebrate this month:
List Season.
Did you know Dabo Swinney of Clemson is ranked the best head coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference, three spots ahead of Jeff Brohm?
Did you know Swinney also ranked second on another list — the Most Overrated Coaches in the ACC, a list of three that did not mention Brohm?
I’m not finished. Did you know that on another list (The 2024 Pressure Check Rankings), Swinney was awarded a pressure gauge evaluated as HIGH, second among 17 ACC head men coaches?
Imagine if Swinney had not won two national championships and taken the Tigers to two other national playoffs. He’d be working at Panda Express.
Or making lists about ACC coaches.
To properly celebrate list season, let’s roll through these three sets of rankings. First, the one that carries the most juice:
CBS Sports Rankings of the ACC Coaches by Chip Patterson.
This is an annual feature. The website also ranks the coaches in the other leagues, while also providing a national ranking.
Considering Swinney and North Carolina coach Mack Brown are the league’s only coaches to win national titles and that Brown lost his fastball in 2010, it’s no surprise that Swinney is on top.
The man averaged 13.8 wins from 2015-2019 while going 38-2 in the ACC. Nobody in the league has achieved anything close to those numbers.
Patterson put Florida State coach Mike Norvell in the second spot. He likes the way Norvell has worked the transfer portal while bringng the Seminoles back from 3-6 in 2020 to 13-1 last season. Without the knee injury suffered by quarterback Jordan Travis, FSU would have competed for the national title.
Who is the other guy ranked ahead of Brohm?
Patterson went with Dave Doeren of North Carolina State, who has put the Wolfpack in bowl games in nine of the last 10 seasons.
Doeren is a solid coach. But in 11 seasons in Raleigh, he has never won more than nine games. Brohm won 10 games in his first season at Louisville. He posted 12- and 10-win seasons at Western Kentucky.
And Brohm beat Doeren, 13-10, at NC State last season. But Doeren is third in the ACC and 16 In the nation while Brohm in fourth and 19th.
Thought I’d throw that out there in case anybody is making another list.
Let’s move to the next list:
This one was compiled and posted by Connor Muldowney of Saturday Blitz.
No. 3 is Pat Narduzzi of Pitt.
Maybe. Seems like a stretch, but I'm open to a discussion.
This will be Narduzzi's 10th season at Pittsburgh. He’s posted six winning seasons, one .500 season and two losing seasons. Narduzzi did his worst work last season as the Panthers sagged to 3-9, although one of the wins came against Louisville.
I think Brown in more deserving considering the way the Tar Heels have underachieved with quarterbacks like Drake Maye and Sam Howell, but it’s not my list.
Swinney is No. 2. Sorry, that does not compute. If Swinney was on the open market today, he would be hired in front of any coach in the league. Clemson fans who are grumbling have forgotten the Tommy Bowden and Tommy West years.
But I do agree with Muldowney’s pick as the league’s most overrated coach — Mario Cristobal of Miami.
The word is the Hurricanes paid $22.7 million to fetch Cristobal from Oregon in 2022 and another $7.7 million for him to coach Miami last season.
Their reward?
After going 5-7 in 2022, Cristobal bumped it up to 7-5 last season while finishing tied for ninth in the ACC. He threw in a 7-point loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl at no extra charge.
That brings us to the final list:
Cristobal is No. 1. He should also be No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5.
The man lost to Georgia Tech last season. He lost to Middle Tennessee his first season. He's 1-5 against ranked opponents.
The hype machine is parked behind the Hurricanes again this season. Phil Steele has Miami ranked No. 10 in his preseason yearbook. Athlon ranked Miami No. 20.
Cristobal was the only ACC coach to earn an EXTREME pressure rating from Jesse Simonton of On3.
Swinney (sorry, I disagree); Narduzzi (no); Brown (yes) and Tony Elliott of Virginia (no) were ranked behind him with the gauge set at HIGH.
Simonton ranked Brohm ninth in the pressure category with the gauge at MEDIUM.
That gauge is broken. Brohm should be closer to No. 17 than No. 9. Set the gauge on very low. Brohm did superb work during his first season at Louisville. He kept his entire staff together while assembling another solid team for 2024, a group that should start the season ranked in the top 30 -- or higher.
If you’re making a list of fan satisfaction with their head football coach, Brohm should be near the top.
I’ll check if somebody is working on that list.
More local sports stories:
- CRAWFORD | No "fight?" Louisville's Kelsey talks offense and defense, without the f-word
- BOZICH | Halftime Report: 5 Don't Miss Stories over the rest of 2024
- GREEVER | NWSL commissioner sees 'bright future' for Racing Louisville FC, looks for better exposure
- The Ville participants eager for another chance at the TBT
- Former Louisville star Donovan Mitchell reportedly agrees to max contract extension with Cavaliers
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.