At one point the ACC was just a basketball conference. Now ACC football boasts some of the best coaching and talent in the nation. How did that happen?
Let’s set the stage. It’s December of 2000. I’m in high school as a senior in middle of nowhere Florida enjoying the good life. I’m cruising in my Plymouth (yes, Plymouth) Neon with Jimi Hendrix in my Discman that’s plugged into my tape deck via an adapter. Cruising the mean streets of rural-transitioning-to-suburbia pausing only for a second at the flashing light as I make my way through town. Decembers in the Jacksonville area get pretty cold, and I remember heading to Subway for a footlong and being able to see my breath in the cold night air which still mesmerizes me being a Miami boy.
Since moving from Miami in the summer of 1998; the #Canes had risen from 5-7 in 1997, my final year attending games regularly at the Orange Bowl, to 11-1 and really should’ve been playing the Oklahoma Sooners for the BCS title in their home stadium for the Orange Bowl game on January 3, 2001. I came in as a laughing stock amongst the Gator and Nole fans and left on the cusp of the national title.
But I digress, in December a grown man named Chris Weinke all of a young and budding 28 years old took the kids to school. He won a Heisman Trophy with now-Cane head coach Mark Richt as his Offensive Coordinator. Since Mr. Weinke took home the big trophy in 2000, an ACC player hadn’t won the award until 2013 with Jameis Winston. But now, in 2017, two of the last four Heisman winners are from the ACC in a conference growing in talent, titles, and coaching credibility.
Head Coaches
When did the tide turn from the better-than-all SEC as the cream to the ACC being the conference to beat? I would have to say the first domino to fall was Jimbo Fisher. Coach Fisher came to FSU in 2007 just missing a chance at a national title with LSU. Fisher instead became a ‘coach in waiting’ under legend Bobby Bowden. In 2010, Fisher became the head coach and in 2013 he won the national championship with Heisman winner Jameis Winston at Quarterback.
More from ACC
- ACC Power Rankings: Can #4 FSU overthrow Clemson at Death Valley East?
- College Football Playoff: Projected top 4 after Week 3
- Biggest winners and losers from College Football Week 3
- #21 Duke Football: 3 takeaways from home against Northwestern
- Wake Forest football: 3 takeaways from comeback win at Old Dominion
Before Jimbo became the coach-in-waiting at FSU, the ACC was getting “also ran” type coaches. Miami had settled for career assistants like Larry Coker and Randy Shannon before going after Temple head coach Al Golden. A far cry from 2016’s big move to bring in Mark Richt who won 10 games like it was just supposed to happen. Golden now coaches TE’s for the Lions, and Shannon has been an assistant ever since. Coker was charged with starting the UTSA program and was fired, after he left they became viable.
The discovery of Dabo Swinney
In the mid 2000’s, Clemson saw Tommy Bowden resign midseason and promoted Dabo Swinney. Dabo hadn’t done much at the time and was seen as a laughable hire. Rival South Carolina had Steve Spurrier and other rival FSU had Jimbo taking over. Yet Clemson had to settle for Dabo. Dabo went 6-7 in 2011 before running off a string of 10+ win seasons before losing the title game in 2015 and winning it all in 2016.
Duke took cast off David Cutcliff whose career was seen as all but over. Then there’s Georgia Tech. The Jackets hire Flexbone option guru Paul Johnson. PJ was coming to Tech from football juggernaut Navy.
Needless to say, by the late 2000’s the ACC was in trouble. Then Georgia Tech upsets Miami and wins 10 games in 2009. From there 2013 is the ACC’s new day. Cutcliff pushes lowly Duke to 10-4, Clemson wins the Orange Bowl, and FSU wins a national title and Jameis wins the Heisman. ACC schools were landing up and comers instead of retreads. Dave Clawson comes off a 10-3 season at Bowling Green in 2013 to take over Wake Forest in 2014. In 2014, Paul Johnson wins the Orange Bowl after an 11-3 season and an upset over FSU.
The rest of the coaching dominoes fall
Other moves made noise with a big name assistant like Larry Fedora coming to Chapel Hill in 2012 to change UNC’s culture. In 2015 Fedora’s Tar Heels squad went 11-3. Big name assistants around college football like Dave Doeren came to resurrect NC State who now has one of the best defenses in college football. Long-time Michigan State Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi left MSU for Pitt in 2015, and upset Clemson in an 85 point thriller.
What drives an upgrade in resources? Winning. Winning brings TV deals, donation dollars and merchandise sales.
The ACC started trying to keep up with the Joneses. It was no longer a basketball and baseball conference. There’s no better proof than Louisville pulling an SEC type move by brining Bobby Petrino back after his controversy at Arkansas. Petrino hasn’t posted double-digit wins but Lamar Jackson has won the ACC’s second Heisman in four years. Louisville is an SEC type school in athletic culture and Clemson and FSU are one in recruiting. These are the schools that don’t fit the “southern Ivy” stigma of most ACC programs. Then there’s the new influx of coaching talent in 2016
2016 saw former UGA head coach Mark Richt head south to Miami. Again, a massive upgrade over Coker, Shannon and Golden. Richt was the first proven winner Miami had hired, well, ever. Think back; Howard Schnellenberger was a top rated assistant but not a big name head coach, Jimmy Johnson wasn’t a big name, neither was Dennis Erickson. Miami was a tryout for Butch Davis and the next three aforementioned coaches before Miami could land Richt.
The rise of the up-and-coming coaches
Last season also saw two fast rising star coaches in Justin Fuente (Memphis) and Dino Babers (Bowling Green) head to the ACC. Fuente took over perennial good team Virginia Tech while Babers was tasked with fixing the Syracuse problems that had persisted since the departure of Donovan McNabb. Also in 2016- Bronco Mendenhall, a head coach of Richt’ian stature, left BYU where he had won 99 games (to only 43 losses) and came to UVA of all places. That’s a cross-country move into the cellar of college football.
What drove these coaches to the ACC? The ACC started upgrading facilities and offering more money. What drives an upgrade in resources? Winning. Winning brings TV deals, donation dollars, and merchandise sales. FSU winning the national title and Winston’s Heisman run got eyeballs on the conference and dollars in the coffers. You can’t draw if you cant’ win. Especially not in places with beaches, golf, and basketball as secondary options to spend your money on.
Assistant Coaches
This influx of higher quality ACC head coaches has also brought on an influx in the quality of coordinators. With larger budgets for assistants the quality of the ACC staffs has increased. Mark Richt brought in rising star defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. Justin Fuente was able to keep Bud Foster on staff in Blacksburg. Jimbo was able to bring in Jeremy Pruitt for a national title run. The Jackets have brought in Ted Roof as DC.
Even the O-Line coaches are high quality with guys like Rick Trickett (FSU) and Stacy Searels (Miami) in the ACC. Mark Richt even poached Defensive Line Coach Craig Kuligowski from the SEC’s Missouri Tigers- a guy Bill Belichick came to meet with at Miami’s Pro Day.
With increased budgets and an increased focus on football, the ACC is now able to hire great head coaches who can hire either fast rising assistants or top of the line assistants. FSU and Clemson have had some success with staff continuity while Miami and Richt have brought in a hell of a staff to Coral Gables.
As a head coach you want to hire guys with the talent and ambition to became head coaches themselves and Manny Diaz has to be a fast riser after the drastic turn-around he performed at The U in ‘16. Don’t forget Clemson DC Brent Venables who has to be on that trajectory as well- he’s considered the top assistant in college football by many.
Offensive Scheme
The thing I love most about ACC Football heading into 2017 is the variety in offensive scheme. Syracuse and UVA are running forms of the Air Raid offense. Georgia Tech is running PJ’s Flexbone triple option offense, while Miami, Clemson, FSU and Pitt will run a more “modern pro style” attack.
UNC, Virginia Tech, Duke and Louisville are running what you might call the NCAA Offense. But then again Clemson and Miami are running some of that as well. The NCAA Offense is a predominance in the shotgun and pistol with inside zone lead being the base and inside zone read being a compliment. Add to that Run Pass Options (RPO’s) as well and a propensity to use an H-Back in varying ways.
Seeing drop back passers like Deondre Francois (love his toughness) and Deshaun Watson (he’s gone, but Clemson will replace him with a pro style QB) in the ACC then having the GT triple (camp battle between Matthew Jordan and TaQuon Marshall) and shotgun option QB’s like Daniel Jones, Lamar Jackson who will run the option whether it’s zone read, gun triple, or power read, and Brandon Harris (LSU transfer) at UNC adds variety.
Whoever Miami starts it won’t be someone that will look to run the football first- but they will have the athleticism to pull and run or pick up a first with their legs.
Playmakers
Miami has been NFL U for quite some time, but a recent fall off in talent at the end of the Golden era really hurt. Turn to 2017- Miami will be begging their defensive line not to leave early as guys like RJ McIntosh and Kendrick Norton look to have All-ACC type seasons. Mark Walton could be the ACC’s best tailback and speedy WR Ahmmon Richards are dynamic playmakers.
FSU has elite safety Derwin James that will do a bit of everything ala Jabril Peppers. Clemson, FSU, NC State, and BC have D-Line studs in Christian Wilkins, Bradley Chubb, Harold Landry, Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns. The ACC is loaded with defensive talent, where a top 50 caliber NFL draft pick in Micah Kiser, the ILB from UVA, isn’t even a top 15 player in the conference.
On offense; the ACC has studs like Richards and Walton, but also Jackson, WR Nyqwan Murray, WR Deon Cain, WR Cam Phillips, and athletes like Quadree Henderson, Jaylen Samuels and Syracuse QB Eric Dungey, as well as Duke’s Jones.
Then there’s Cam Akers the Noles true freshman and answer for Dalvin Cook heading to the NFL. If you aren’t excited to see Miami’s Jeff Thomas and FSU’s Akers you don’t have a pulse- and to see how offensive gurus like Richt and Fisher get them involved early will be a treat.
Next: Ranking the top 50 players in college football in 2017
The SEC has gotten all the notriety and hype over the course of the past decade. The Clemson Tigers and Dabo Swinney officially put them on notice. This wasn’t just a fluke. It was a changing of the guard. ACC football is here to stay.