The Sporting News Ranks Justin Wilcox Near the Bottom of ACC Coaches

The Sporting News recently presented its rankings of all 136 FBS coaches, and it was not kind to Cal coach Justin Wilcox.

Wilcox is ranked 61st overall and 13th in the 17-team ACC, and he barely edged out three other ACC coaches.  Wilcox is just one slot ahead of Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry at No. 62, two spots ahead of new Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert, who is 63rd in the nation, and four places ahead of Stanford’s Frank Reich, who sits at No. 65.

Ranked last in the ACC is Virginia’s Tony Elliott, who, at No. 77 nationally, is the lowest ranked head coach from a Power Four conference.

Wilcox was also ranked 13th among ACC coaches by the CBS Sports coaches rankings released earlier this summer, ahead of the same four ACC coaches.  Wilcox is ranked 55th nationally in the CBS Sports rankings, but that only included the 68 Power Four conference coaches.

Interestingly, The Sporting News ranked Bill Belichick as the third-best head coach in the ACC, even though he has never been the head coach of a college team before.

Here are The Sporting News rankings of ACC coaches (with their national ranking in parentheses):

---1. Dabo Swinney, Clemson (No. 3 nationally)

---2. Jeff Brohm, Louisville (15)

---3. Bill Belichick, North Carolina (18)

---4. Rhett Lashlee, SMU (23)

---5. Mario Cristobal, Miami (24)

---6. Mike Norvell, Florida State (28)

---7. Bill O’Brien, Boston College (30)

---8. Dave Doeren, North Carolina State (35)

---9. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh (37)

---10. Fran Brown, Syracuse (42)

---11. Brent Key, Georgia Tech (48)

---12. Manny Diaz, Duke (50)

---13. Justin Wilcox, Cal (61)

On3 Comment on Wilcox: California head coach Justin Wilcox seems to be clinging to his job, as he has led the Golden Bears to just a 42-50 (23-43) record since he took over in 2017.

In the seasons that he has reached a bowl game, he’s 1-2 with a lone win in the 2019 Redbox Bowl (Illinois). His best season came in 2019, when he led Cal to an 8-5 record. He rose two spots from last year’s rankings, where he came in at No. 63.

---14. Brent Pry, Virginia Tech (62)

---15. Jake Dickert, Wake Forest (63)

---16. Frank Reich, Stanford (65)

---17. Tony Elliott, Virginia (77)

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