On3's Andy Staples ranked Mario Cristobal as the No. 1 head coach in the ACC entering the 2026 season, putting the Miami coach ahead of Virginia Tech's James Franklin, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, SMU's Rhett Lashlee and Louisville's Jeff Brohm.
Staples built the list around where the ACC coaches stand right now entering 2026.
NEW: ACC head football coach rankings📈
— On3 (@On3) June 17, 2026
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Mario Cristobal lands at No. 1 in ACC coach rankings
The Hurricanes set a school record for single-season wins in 2025, made their first College Football Playoff appearance and reached their first national championship game since the 2002 season.
Cristobal took heat early in Coral Gables, and some of it was fair. The Hurricanes had late-game issues and painful losses that stuck with the fan base, but the program was continued to climb each year, posting back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2002-03.
Taking a look at the rest of the ACC coaching rankings
The rest of Staples' list also shows how strange the ACC coaching picture has become. Franklin is No. 2 before coaching a game at Virginia Tech, Swinney is No. 3 despite being the most accomplished coach in the conference, Lashlee is No. 4 after pushing SMU into the upper tier of the conference, and Brohm is No. 5 after Louisville was in and out of the top 25 last year.
Former Miami coach Manny Diaz is No. 6 at Duke, ahead of Pitt's Pat Narduzzi, Virginia's Tony Elliott and Georgia Tech's Brent Key. Wake Forest's Jake Dickert rounds out the top 10. Dave Doeren is No. 11 at NC State, followed by Florida State's Mike Norvell at No. 12.
Fran Brown is No. 13 at Syracuse, Bill O'Brien is No. 14 at Boston College, Tosh Lupoi is No. 15 at Cal, Bill Belichick is No. 16 at North Carolina and Tavita Pritchard is No. 17 at Stanford.
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