ACC Coaching Hires We’d Like To See

Just a bit of fun speculation

On Tuesday, we looked at ACC coaching and how it affects ACC performance. We thought to follow that up, we’d look at ideal replacements for current ACC coaches if those jobs were to open up. Duke, Clemson and Louisville are excluded. Let’s go!

• Wake Forest - Luke Murray. He’s ready and he’s a brilliant offensive coach. Or possibly Alan Huss. He’s put in two years at High Point and has won 27 and 25 games so far. That’s not easy to do at High Point. Or possibly VCU’s Ryan Odom follows in his father Dave’s footsteps.
• SMU - Chris Beard. Andy Enfield is in no danger at the moment, but Beard would just kill it at SMU, baggage and all. He’s probably holding out for a better job though.
• UNC - Hubert Davis and UNC just revealed an extension through 2030, but if they were to part ways...Mark Byington from Vanderbilt. Unless of course Wes Miller turns it up at Cincinnati and allows Carolina to keep it in the family one last time.
• Stanford - Tommy Amaker. Stanford has little wiggle room with admissions and who could navigate that better than Amaker?
• Pitt - Sean Miller comes home. His kind of cheating is legal now.
• Georgia Tech - how about Robert Jones of Norfolk State? Winning there - consistently - is not easy. He’s done quite well. If not, perhaps Lane Odom.
• Virginia Tech - Josh Schertz from St. Louis. His first year there has been blah but he’s a quality coach.
• Florida State - Samford’s Bucky McMillan. Do it if for no other reason than the football team sucks. He’ll excite fans.
• Notre Dame - Do you get the sense that Ben McCollum wants to stay in the Midwest? Well, we’d certainly call him first. After his epic run in D-II ball, he’s 25-3 in his first season in D-I. What’s that you say? Of course he’s winning? He just brought his D-II players with him? To D-I? He’s winning IN D-I WITH D-II PLAYERS?? Get the checkbook, toss a bunch of zeros in and sign that MoFo no matter what it takes. Don’t let Virginia get there first!
• Virginia - Ben McCollum. It’d be a tough get but he’d be ideal for that program and he’d win fast.
• Syracuse - Asheville’s Mike Morrell. The guy is a builder and what does he care about the weather? Asheville is no easy town in the winter.
• Cal - This is a tough one. You’d probably want a coach who is familiar with the West. How about Niko Medved? Now at Colorado State, he’s done well everywhere he’s been. If not, perhaps Richard Pitino, who has done a nice rehab tour at New Mexico.
• NC State - Furman’s Bob Richey. He’s been outstanding there and has won consistently which ain’t easy to do in the SoCon. Alternatively, and this would go over huge in Raleigh, NCCU’s LeVelle Moton. A native son, coming home to Raleigh might be very tempting to Moton and he’s clearly an excellent coach and a good man. Give him better talent and he can compete with anyone. The more we think about it, the more we like it.
• Boston College - Bowling Green’s Todd Simon. He has a serious life-long health issue which is related to muscular dystrophy but that hasn’t stopped him yet and his teams play fast as hell. They’d love him and could afford him.
• Miami - Looks like Duke assistant Jai Lucas but if not, Joe Pasternack from UCSB would be a good fit. He’s widely considered a rising star and Miami might be a good perch for him.