"Ranking the best coaches in the ACC"

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/ranking-the-best-coaches-in-the-acc/12704919/

This is an interesting list compiled by WRAL's Adam Gold.

1) Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech (86-55, 12th year)
2) David Cuttcliffe, Duke (65-69, 12th year)
3) Dabo Swinney, Clemson (40-21, 6th year)
4) Jimbo Fisher, Florida State (31-10, 4th year)
5) Larry Fedora, North Carolina (42-23, 6th year)

Beamer's missing from his top-5.

I find that odd given he ranks Paul Johnson as the best coach in the league in part because, "His teams have made it to 10 straight bowl games, he won the ACC in 2009 and he is the rare coach with a winning record away from home, having won 30 of 53 games on the road."

We all know about Virginia Tech's bowl game streak, 4 ACC Championships, impressive road record (26-9 against ACC opponents since 2004), not to mention Beamer's head-to-head record against Johnson. It seems sustained success is important to Gold, and in that case, Johnson has a neck cramp looking up at Beamer.

Albeit it's his opinion, and that seems to be his only standardized criteria here, the rest of the logic is laughable, which probably means I'm being properly trolled.

Cuttcliffe is second because, "Duke is no longer the laughing stock they've been for the last two decades. Plus, he's the best teller of stories in the league and I'd point out that Cut was over .500 in five years at Ole Miss, essentially the Boston College of the SEC."

Duke's ceiling should be Stanford / Vanderbilt / Northwestern success, not a step above being a "laughing stock". Coaching Duke to a bowl game is impressive, but far and away the program's marquee win under Cut was last year's thriller against UNC (an above average, 8-win team). The guy's got stories though.

I struggle thinking of Dabo as anything but a boob, but he has overhauled Clemson, and stomped out any leftover bitch mentality from the Tommy Bowden era. Some of the turnaround can be attributed to his coordinators, especially offensive maven Chad Morris, but credit Dabo for hiring them and Clemson for paying them well.

Give the amount of talent on last year's team, it was inexcusable for Jimbo to lose any ACC game aside from Clemson (which he won). The choke against NC State was the result of brain farts by de facto offensive coordinator Fisher, something that's happened repeatedly at FSU since Jimbo's taken over. While his in game decision make is often lacking, Fisher can recruit his tail off, and he's definitely re-stocked the cupboard at FSU.

As a Triangle media member, Gold's contractually obligated to have Larry Fedora somewhere in his top-5.

Obviously, there are a million different ways to measure and rank coaches. That's why these arguments are so fun. If I was ranking the league's coaches by how well they could recruit, Fisher, Dabo, and Golden would be my top three, and Mike London is knocking on the door. As far as the best minds in the league, I think Fedora, Johnson, Beamer, and Paul Chryst are tops. However, I don't think any coach is in the same class as Beamer when it comes to program building and management. Consistently winning over two decades given college football's changing landscape is quite an accomplishment. More importantly, he's won more in the ACC than any current coach. That's why he's at the top of my list.