ACC Coaching Boards - Week 5

With the Navy win in Winston-Salem and the big Hokie win in Lincoln, there's a new No. 1 in the ACC Coaching Board.

1. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Huge win against the Cornhuskers this past week. Now the question is where would the Hokies be if Beamer had given the ball to Tyrod Taylor to open the season. That loss to East Carolina might be a W, and VaTech could be a Top 5 team.

2. Bobby Bowden, Florida State
As bad as Bobby's last few years have been, FSU has never dropped a home game to a service academy... of course, they haven't played one, but that's beside the point. A little surprised by the win in Jacksonville; going to have to give Jimbo Fischer a gold star for that win.

3. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
Apparently Grobe can't handle prosperity. At least he can't keep his players from enjoying it at least. No. 1 coach in the conference, with perhaps the conference's most competitive team, can't lose to Navy.

4. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Yellow Jacket faithful are excited about what's happening in Atlanta, and with two off weeks (Duke, Garner-Webb), the Jackets should be 5-1 heading to Clemson. Of course, Tech has struggled against the Blue Devils over the past few years. A loss this weekend would end those good feelings.

5. Butch Davis, UNC
Davis wouldn't have dropped much, if at all, if the Tar Heels hadn't gotten the game0-winning interception in Miami last week, especially given the way the team fought. But the win probably deserves moving Davis up a little higher in these rankings. I'm waiting to see how the handle unbeaten UConn and Notre Dame over the next two weeks.

6. Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
What a job being done by Fridge. If not for the horrible loss to MTSU, the Terps would be unbeaten and Ralph would have to be a lot higher in the rankings.

7. Jeff Jagodzinski, B.C.
This ranking is probably a little too high for Coach Jag, considering the coaches he listed above. Of course, the showdown between O'Brien and his former team this weekend will help decide this one.

8. David Cutcliff, Duke
Coach Cut ended the Blue Devils' 25-game ACC losing streak, but the blowout win over UVA shows that Cutcliff is attempting to do something that no one has done in Durham in 20 years - create a winning atmosphere.

9. Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State
O'Brien is a better coach than No. 9, but right now it's tough to move him up, especially with the job Cutcliff is doing at Duke, and how Johnson, Davis and Friedgen are working this year. It's questionable whether he should be at 7 instead of Jag.

10. Tommy Bowden, Clemson
At first I put Tommy at No. 12 as a way of penalizing him for the loss to Alabama, but now you've gotta think that he's a bottom tier coach, even in the ACC. How in the world with the amount of talent that he has (and has consistently) is this not an ACC front-runner? Where would this team be if FSU and Miami were as dominant as they were 7-8 years ago? Probably in the same position as their coach ranks.

11. Randy Shannon, Miami
The difference between Randy being No. 11 and No. 8 is a ball slipping through a receiver's hands. Hope that's not the difference between a bowl game and sitting at home for the Hurricanes.

12. Al Groh, Virginia
Wow, so Virginia is the new Duke. You've done a phenomenal job in your era, Al.