Sapakoff: Ranking ACC, SEC football coaches 1-28; a Kirby Smart move

8-10 minutes 6/11/2023 It’s a tougher room going into the 2023 season. Harder to move up in the annual combined ranking of SEC and ACC football head coaches, unless you’re Josh Heupel, Shane Beamer or maybe Mike Novell. Easier to slip and fall like former Clemson student Jimbo Fisher. Sapakoff: Seeing 3 NCAA baseball regionals in 1 state in 1 day Tweaked debates at the top: Kirby Smart vs. Nick Saban, Smart vs. Dabo Swinney, Smart vs. the world. There are hot seats at the bottom of the list, in Chestnut Hill and The Other Columbia. The room gets even tougher going into 2024, when Steve Sarkisian of Texas and Brent Venables of Oklahoma join the list. Roll call: 1. Kirby Smart, Georgia In simple 1-28 ranking math, two straight national titles equals No. 1. Recruiting keeps rolling, too. SEC rank: 1 2022 rank: 3 2. Nick Saban, Alabama SEC rank: 2 2022 rank: 1 Still the GOAT. Still just one loss to Smart. If new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees gets the quarterback situation figured out, it’s national championship No. 8 for Saban, Inc. 3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson ACC rank: 1 2022 rank: 2 Slippage is a 10-3 season followed by an ACC Championship while going 11-3 after six straight College Football Playoff appearances and two national titles. A 2-2 mark vs. Saban with both wins coming in national championship games, and the 0-1 vs. Smart was a 10-3 loss in the 2021 opener in which Georgia didn’t score on offense. 4. Brian Kelly, LSU SEC rank: 3 2022 rank: 4 Nice start in Baton Rouge for Kelly, 10-4 including an SEC West title and a win over Alabama. 5. Josh Heupel, Tennessee SEC rank: 4 2022 rank: 15 Beat Alabama and almost everyone else with one quarterback (Hendon Hooker), clobbered Clemson in the Orange Bowl with another (Joe Milton). Gets South Carolina in Knoxville after the 63-38 debacle in Columbia. 6. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh ACC rank: 2 2022 rank: 6 Quietly followed an ACC Championship season with a 9-4 season, including an overtime loss to Tennessee. 7. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest ACC rank: 3 2022 rank: 7 If it’s not easy to win at Pitt, it’s harder in Winston-Salem. The body of work is incredible: Success at Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and 5-2 over seven straight bowl appearances at Wake. Sapakoff: The impact of Dakereon Joyner’s faith after Texas A&M loss Beamer jumps Jimbo 8. Mack Brown, North Carolina ACC rank: 4 2022 rank: 9 Made the 2022 ACC Championship Game, though that gets harder to do now with the overdue death of the Coastal Division. T9. Dave Doeren, N.C. State ACC rank: 5 2022 rank: 12 So similar to Mark Stoops at Kentucky with a methodically built brand that has limitations, but belies “basketball school” labels. T9. Mark Stoops, Kentucky SEC rank: 5 2022 rank: 8 And if Kentucky and N.C. State are not similar enough, the Wildcats will try to improve on a 7-6 season with N.C. State transfer Devin Leary at quarterback. 11. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss SEC rank: 6 2022 rank: 10 Flirtation with Auburn, soaring NIL collective donations at Ole Miss and more Kiffin quips. Just another Lane Train ride aside The Grove. 12. Shane Beamer, South Carolina SEC rank: 7 2022 rank: 16 What a vault, from No. 27 as the new guy in 2021 to No. 16 after a 7-6 season (with upsets of Florida and Auburn) and bowl win to No. 12 (after an 8-5 year including wins that knocked Tennessee and Clemson out of the playoff). 13. Hugh Freeze, Auburn SEC rank: 8 2022 rank: NR Some dazzling days at Ole Miss and Liberty but that baggage. And the Flames might be better off with Jamey Chadwell. 14. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M SEC rank: 9 2022 rank: 5 It’s come to the attention of some astute observers that Fisher hasn’t won big as a head coach without Jameis Winston at quarterback. FSU, Florida and Miami 15. Jeff Brohm, Louisville ACC rank: 6 2022 rank: NR This ranking says as much about the drop-off in ACC head coach viability as Brohm’s 36-34 record at Purdue before returning to his alma mater. 16. Sam Pittman, Arkansas SEC rank: 10 2022 rank: 14 Fragile Fayetteville is such that only a 55-53 triple-overtime Liberty Bowl victory over Kansas saved the Razorbacks (7-6) from a losing season one year after Pittman was being hailed a great hire coming off a 9-4 season. Four losses by three points or less means hope, and pressure. 17. Mike Norvell, Florida State ACC rank: 7 2022 rank: 20 Norvell, Billy Napier and Mario Cristobal are bunched together as a Sunshine State trio with triple-tasks: Get recruiting on a consistent roll, please fans with great expectations, make “The Seminoles (or Gators or Hurricanes) are back” something more than a punch-line. 18. Billy Napier, Florida SEC rank: 11 2022 rank: 18 Somehow beat Utah and walloped South Carolina (38-6) while going 6-7 with a 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. 19. Mario Cristobal, Miami ACC rank: 8 2022 rank: 13 A 5-7 Coral Gables debut with a home loss to Middle Tennessee. 20. Mike Elko, Duke ACC rank: 9 2022 rank: 25 Sweet debut season as a head coach, 9-4. But a small sample size. Aside from a 34-31 upset of Wake Forest, the Blue Devils were bottom-feeders. Hot seats at Mizzou, BC 21. Zach Arnett, Mississippi State SEC rank: 12 2022 rank: NR Arnett, a 36-year-old former New Mexico linebacker and Hail State defensive coordinator, did a great job holding the team together for a ReliaQuest Bowl win. Must build help around star quarterback Will Rogers. 22. Dino Babers, Syracuse ACC rank: 10 2022 rank: 24 Such extremes. Babers went 5-21 in ACC play after stunning Clemson in 2017 and going 10-3 overall in 2018. The 7-6 record of 2022 came with a 6-0 start. 23. Brent Key, Georgia Tech ACC rank: 11 2022 rank: NR The 44-year-old former Georgia Tech guard and Alabama assistant went 4-4 after taking over as interim head coach on The Flats, where there’s a dark Bulldog shadow these days. 24. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt SEC rank: 13 2022 rank: 28 Movin’ on up, from the basement. Vandy (5-7) upset Kentucky and Florida in November. T25. Tony Elliott, Virginia ACC rank: T12 2022 rank: 17 Another pairing here for two Commonwealth programs in need of a re-set. Virginia in Elliott’s first season as head coach went 3-7 and cancelled its last two games, against Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech, after a shooting in which a former player killed Virginia’s Lavel Davis Jr. (Woodland High School), D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler and wounded team member Mike Hollins. T25. Brent Pry, Virginia Tech ACC rank: T12 2022 rank: 26 The Hokies in Pry’s debut year opened with a loss at Old Dominion and finished 3-8, beating only Boston College in the ACC. 27. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri SEC rank: 14 2022 rank: 22 Three years at Mizzou, no winning seasons. But Drinkwitz is 4-0 against South Carolina, including a 2015 road upset while at Appalachian State. 28. Jeff Hafley, Boston College ACC rank: 14 2022 rank: 23 From 6-5 in 2020 to 6-6 to 3-9 at BC. A soft non-conference schedule (Northern Illinois, Holy Cross, Army, UConn) might not save Hafley’s job.