ACC Hotseats

In his latest Mailbag, Stewart Mandel listed the college football coaches most likely to get fired. Former BC staffer and current Virginia Head Coach is No. 2 on the list.  London's ties to BC are deep (TOB is his OC and Spaz's son is walking on this fall). He was also a candidate for the BC job after Gene fired Jags. I preferred him to Spaz at the time, but it looks like he would have struggled at BC too. But London's situation is a reminder that more coaching changes are coming to the conference. They always do. And if we are holding steady with Addazio, coaching changes can be good things for BC.

Fired coaches usually mean a few things. The first is a bad season. Bad seasons from other ACC teams are good things for BC. It opens up bowl slots and can lead to easy wins. A fired coach can also mean a rebuild. Rebuild often lead to more bad seasons. Of course there is always the chance of a quick turnaround, but I expect Wake to struggle this year and it looks like NC State will still be rebuilding under their second year coach.

The majority of ACC coaches are safe. Fisher can do whatever he wants at FSU. Swinney still has good will from his most recent run (but he's got to start beating South Carolina). Duke and Pitt might have ceilings with their current coaches, but their respective consistency makes them safe. Syracuse, Louisville, Wake and UNC have enough invested in their current coaches, that changes are unlikely this season. I think Golden is safe but he's always a candidate for another job. Beamer is safe too, but his transition to retirement is looming.

The only other ACC Coach to truly join London on the Hotseat is Paul Johnson. I like Johnson and think Tech should hang on to him, but he's rubbed enough people the wrong way over the years that his goodwill might run out. There is also the perception among a group of their fans that his offense will never lead to a National Championship.

Virginia and Georgia Tech are not in division, so a shakeup at either place doesn't benefit BC directly. However, we recruit similar types of players and have moved recruiting deeper into both states under Addazio. If either coach gets fired, BC should be able to poach a reluctant recruit or two.

I am glad BC is out of the Hotseat circle for at least another year. Who knows? Maybe Addazio will be a winner and a lifer. For now, I just hope he takes advantage of the chaos at other programs.