Mack Brown is back in the ACC with North Carolina. Is he really the No. 2 coach in the conference?
Sporting News answered that question in its annual 1-130 coach rankings. Today, we'll dig a little deeper into our ACC coach rankings.
Brown is ranked No. 2 among ACC coaches behind Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who has won two national championships in the last three years. Swinney is the runaway at No. 1 in this year's rankings. Brown, 67, is back after a five-year hiatus following his stint at Texas. We can defend this ranking, too.
MORE: ACC 2019 early conference primer
Brown is one of just five FBS coaches with a national championship. Brown made aggressive coordinator hires in getting offensive coordinator Phil Longo from Ole Miss and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman from Army. We have the feeling he's out to prove the game hasn't passed him by. That will translate to the Tar Heels competing for ACC Coastal Division championships sooner rather than later.
Plus, the rest of the field is lumped together. With that in mind, here is a look at our ACC coach rankings:
2019 ACC Coach Rankings
| Rank | Name | School | W | L | PCT. | OVR |
| 1 | Dabo Swinney | Clemson | 116 | 30 | .795 | 2 |
| 2 | Mack Brown | North Carolina | 244 | 122 | .667 | 24 |
| 3 | David Cutcliffe | Duke | 111 | 101 | .524 | 27 |
| 4 | Dino Babers | Syracuse | 36 | 28 | .563 | 34 |
| 5 | Dave Doeren | North Carolina State | 66 | 38 | .635 | 35 |
| 6 | Justin Fuente | Virginia Tech | 51 | 38 | .573 | 38 |
| 7 | Pat Narduzzi | Pittsburgh | 28 | 24 | .538 | 42 |
| 8 | Dave Clawson | Wake Forest | 60 | 66 | .476 | 45 |
| 9 | Bronco Mendenhall | Virginia | 115 | 65 | .639 | 47 |
| 10 | Willie Taggart | Florida State | 52 | 57 | .477 | 48 |
| 11 | Scott Satterfield | Louisville | 47 | 16 | .746 | 49 |
| 12 | Steve Addazio | Boston College | 38 | 38 | .500 | 61 |
| 14 | Manny Diaz | Miami | 0 | 0 | .000 | 68 |
| 13 | Geoff Collins | Georgia Tech | 15 | 10 | .600 | 69 |
MORE: SN's post-spring preseason top 25
Quick reads
— There is a strong argument to be made for Duke's David Cutcliffe in the top 25 (or even higher) knowing he has led the Blue Devils to five winning seasons in the last six years.
— N.C. State's Dave Doeren might be a touch underrated knowing the Wolfpack have a .641 winning percentage the last three seasons and have done an excellent job producing NFL talent.
— Mad about your coach's ranking? Don't be. Eight coaches are ranked from No. 34-49, starting with Syracuse's Dino Babers and ending with first-year Louisville coach Scott Satterfield. There's not much separation between those coaches and they likely will shuffle in this range again in 2020.
— Among returning coaches, Babers jumped 47 spots from last year's overall rankings for the biggest gain. Virginia Tech's Justin Fuente had an 14-spot fall for the biggest drop.