College Basketball: Power Ranking the ACC Coaches with Syracuse, Pitt Included

While other conferences are still in the throes of realignment, the ACC seems to have stabilized for the time being. The 12-team conference will add Syracuse and Pitt at some unspecified future date, but there aren’t any other obvious changes in the offing.

The addition of Jamie Dixon and Jim Boeheim brings two coaching fixtures to a conference that has seen enormous turnover on the sidelines lately. Seven ACC teams will be led by a coach in his first or second season at the school in 2011-12.

Read on for a look at the best and worst in the ACC’s coaching ranks (assuming no further changes between now and the time Pitt and Syracuse arrive).

14. Tony Bennett, Virginia

After the departures of several struggling ACC coaches, no one enters 2011-12 on a hotter seat than Tony Bennett. The former Washington State head man (and son of coaching legend Dick Bennett) has very little to show for his two seasons in Charlottesville.

Bennett is 31-31 for his Cavalier career, and his teams haven’t made a postseason tournament of any kind. Although Bennett hasn’t had much time to bring in his own recruits, he would do well to give Virginia fans some hope that improvement is forthcoming.

13. Brian Gregory, Georgia Tech

Part of the latest round of mid-major coaches trying to move up to the big leagues, Brian Gregory arrives at Georgia Tech by way of the Atlantic 10’s Dayton Flyers.

Gregory led Dayton to five 20-win seasons in eight years, but the program managed just one NCAA tournament bid in that time.

Gregory, a former assistant under Tom Izzo, will need to prove he has more than a pedigree now that he’s joined the Yellow Jackets.

He’s in for a tough first season after the departure of NBA-bound Iman Shumpert, but he may not have too long of a honeymoon at a proud program that’s made just one NCAA tournament in four years.

12. Jeff Bzdelik, Wake Forest

Wake Forest fans weren’t all that thrilled about bringing in a coach coming off three straight sub-.500 seasons at Colorado, and Jeff Bzdelik’s debut didn’t do much to allay those concerns.

The Demon Deacons finished 8-24 overall and a disastrous 1-15 in conference play in 2010-11.

However, Wake has some reason for optimism, thanks to a strong performance from last year’s freshmen.

If Travis McKie (13 points, 7.7 rebounds per game) and company can get some help from 7' senior Ty Walker (2.5 blocks a night off the bench), Bzdelik may be able to get his program moving in the right direction.

11. Steve Donahue, Boston College

After turning a moribund Cornell program around with three straight Ivy League titles, Steve Donahue got a shot at the big time with Boston College last season.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Donahue’s debut wasn’t as impressive as they’d hoped, as the team finished 21-13 and had to settle for an NIT appearance.

Donahue more than proved himself as a recruiter by convincing talented players to come to Ithaca. As he brings in more of his own players at B.C., he may yet turn the Eagles back into a consistent NCAA-tournament team. 

10. Mark Gottfried, North Carolina State

After a couple of seasons as a TV commentator, Mark Gottfried returns to the sidelines in 2011-12 as the new coach of the Wolfpack. Judging from his performance in his last job at Alabama, Gottfried might be just what NC State’s program needs.

Gottfried, who led the Tide to five straight NCAA bids and seven straight postseasons overall, takes over a team that hasn’t made the big dance in six years.

The cupboard isn’t entirely bare—sophomore C.J. Leslie averaged 11 points and 7.2 rebounds a game last season—so it will be interesting to see what Gottfried is able to do in his first season in Raleigh.

9. Brad Brownell, Clemson

Brad Brownell’s Clemson debut came off admirably in 2010-11, as he led the Tigers to a 22-12 record and (barely) an NCAA tournament bid. He’ll face a rather different challenge this season, as the two star seniors he’d inherited—Demontez Stitt and Jerai Grant—are gone.

In his previous stints at UNC-Wilmington and Wright State, Brownell hadn’t had the luxury of the kind of athletic defenders he now has with the Tigers.

It will be interesting to see whether he returns to his previous offense-first roots or continues to feature defensive pressure as he brings in more of his own recruits.

8. Jim Larranaga, Miami

Jim Larranaga’s first year with the Hurricanes will also be his first year in a major conference after 25 seasons of Division I coaching.

He performed adequately for a decade at Bowling Green, but it’s his subsequent work at George Mason that earned him national recognition.

Larranaga took the Patriots to five NCAA tournaments, including their spectacular Final Four run as an 11th seed in 2006.

Larranaga’s best teams have generally depended on balanced offense and ball movement rather than an individual star, and it’s an open question how successful that approach will be in the ACC.

7. Seth Greenberg, Virginia Tech

Under Seth Greenberg, the Hokies are 6-0 in postseason tournament openers. They would prefer, however, if five of those wins hadn’t come in the NIT.

Greenberg has made Virginia Tech a perennial bubble team, but usually not a lucky one. Still, after 151 wins in nine seasons in Blacksburg, he’s earned more national attention than this program had ever received before his arrival.

6. Mark Turgeon, Maryland

Another of the ACC’s ample supply of newly arrived head coaches, Mark Turgeon gets the unenviable task of replacing Maryland legend Gary Williams. Turgeon brings a fine track record, having led Texas A&M to at least 24 wins in each of his four seasons in College Station.

Turgeon turned the Aggies into one of the nation’s best man-to-man defensive units. With only one double-digit scorer returning to Maryland this season, the Terps’ new coach would do well to instill a similar defensive mindset in short order.

5. Leonard Hamilton, Florida State

Leonard Hamilton is coming off his best season in 25 years of coaching, so he’s going to need quite an encore. Hamilton’s Seminoles posted the best field goal defense of any team in the last decade on their way to a Sweet 16 finish (their best since 1993).

Overall, Hamilton’s FSU teams have made three straight NCAA tournaments with the help of NBA talent like Toney Douglas and Chris Singleton.

Extending that streak to four without Singleton's help won’t be easy, but Hamilton (who could win his 200th game at the school by season’s end) has a good chance to meet that challenge.

4. Jamie Dixon, Pitt

For all Jamie Dixon’s reputation for underachieving in the NCAA tournament, there’s no faulting his regular-season performance at Pitt. Dixon has led the Panthers to the NCAAs in all eight of his years as head coach, averaging 27 wins a year.

Dixon inherited a punishing man-to-man defensive style from predecessor Ben Howland, and that approach has served him brilliantly in the rough-and-tumble Big East. It’s hard to imagine it letting him down when the Panthers complete their move to the ACC.

3. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse

By the time Jim Boeheim led Syracuse to the 2003 national championship, he had done pretty much everything there is to do as a head coach.

In the years since, he’s improved his win total to a daunting 856 (all with the Orange), the fifth-highest total for any Division I coach.

Boeheim’s signature 2-3 zone has succeeded year in and year out, even against coaches accustomed to preparing for it. When the Orange arrives in the ACC, coaches used to this league’s free-flowing offenses will have a major culture shock ahead of them.

2. Roy Williams, North Carolina

Only once in Roy Williams’ coaching career has his team been eligible for the NCAA tournament without getting there. That’s not likely to change in 2011-12, as the Tar Heels look like a great candidate to bring Williams his third national championship.

Williams’ daunting fast-break offense has already earned him seven Final Four appearances, fourth-most all time. His finishing second on this list says far more about the man above him than it does about any shortcoming on Williams’ part.

1. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke

There’s an excellent chance that Duke will start the season 3-0, and if it does, Nov. 15 will mark a changing of the guard atop the all-time coaching ranks. With his third win of the season, Coach K will pass Bobby Knight for the most victories in Division I history.

Still going strong after 31 seasons at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski is just a year removed from his fourth national championship. Love or hate the Blue Devils, it’s hard to call him anything other than the best coach in the country.