The ACC keeps proving it can still matter on the national stage, even if the conference no longer gets grouped with the SEC and Big Ten quite the same way. Miami’s run to the national championship a season ago made that point clear, and the coaching carousel could spin again as programs chase that kind of success.
There was already movement after last season, with three coaching changes and the biggest one sending James Franklin to Virginia Tech. Looking ahead to 2026, more turnover feels inevitable.
Some coaches are staring at the hot seat. Others could be good enough to get plucked away.
Mike Norvell is the clearest name on the firing watch list at Florida State. The last two seasons have been rough enough to qualify as a disaster, especially when stacked against the undefeated regular season and ACC Championship he delivered in 2023. Going 7-17 over the two seasons since then is a steep fall, and it’s not easy to see a quick fix.
There is still a path for Norvell to right the ship through the transfer portal, but the outlook is shaky. The roster has real questions, especially at quarterback, and the schedule doesn’t do Florida State any favors. Alabama and SMU are waiting in the Seminoles’ first three games.
Bill Belichick’s first two years at North Carolina are trending in a similarly ugly direction. The Tar Heels went 4-8 in his first season, and that year was already overshadowed by offseason distractions tied to Belichick’s personal life. This offseason has brought more upheaval, including GM Mike Lombardi being put on leave.
Could North Carolina improve enough to save Belichick? Sure, that possibility exists.
But the broader picture is hard to ignore. The roster doesn’t look strong on paper, and Belichick has yet to look fully at home in the college game.
On the other side of the equation, Jake Dickert has positioned himself as a coach who could get hired away. He arrived at Wake Forest after one season in the two-team Pac-12, and the move flew under the radar in 2025. By the end of the year, though, Wake Forest had gone 9-4 and turned in an impressive season.
The challenge is that Wake Forest doesn’t have the same resources as many of its ACC rivals, which makes sustained success difficult. The Demon Deacons have only two conference championships in program history, and another strong season could put Dickert in line for a bigger opportunity.
Rhett Lashlee is in a similar spot at SMU, where his work has been impossible to miss. Since the program returned from the death penalty in 1989, it had never finished in the top 25 until Lashlee took over. He has since taken SMU to the CFP, brought the Mustangs into the ACC and kept them competitive there.
The only real question now is whether a larger job opens up and tests SMU’s ability to hold onto him. The school has the money to keep Lashlee happy, but there are still programs out there that could tempt him if they come calling.
In Other News...
Wake Forest Just Got Another ACC Message Fans Will Not Like
Wake Forests offseason message from the ACC came with little sugarcoating at kickoff in Charlotte, where credentialed media members slotted the Demon Deacons 13th in the preseason football poll. The vote, led overwhelmingly by Miami as the clear favorite, underscored how little confidence there is around a program that finished tied for seventh in Jake Dickerts first year and now has to spend the fall trying to prove that number wrong.
The ranking matters even more because the schedule offers few easy outs. Wake Forest will host Miami in Week 3 on short rest and also has to travel to several teams picked ahead of it, a setup that could quickly turn the preseason skepticism into a weekly storyline. For a team trying to climb the ACC ladder, the poll was a reminder that respect will have to be earned the hard way. [Read more 🡒]