Best
I’m not even sure this is close. Sitting 10-10 (2-7), then at the halfway point of their conference season 11-10 (3-7) the Hokies looked done. Then the Hokies started winning, winning some more, and kept winning all the way to an improbable magical ACC Title run. Young finished the 2nd half of the season by leading the Hokies to their 4th win over a top 10 team in his 3 years at Virginia Tech with the title game win over Duke. If I’m grading Mike Young in the 2nd half of the season, he’s getting an A+.
Brad Brownell – Clemson
At the end of a 6 game losing streak in February, Clemson was 12-15 (4-12). I understand that this was past Clemson’s halfway season point, but still, it was going to take quite a turnaround for Clemson to finish the season above .500. What sports betting odds would you have put on that happening? Well even despite the injury to star PJ Hall, Brad Brownell coached Clemson to play its best basketball of the season. They won 5 games in a row, including a victory over 23 win Wake Forest and red-hot Virginia Tech. It took a last-second shot for the Hokies to beat the Tigers in the ACC Tournament as Clemson finished the year 17-16.
Hubert Davis – UNC
North Carolina struggled with consistency all year. In the 2nd half of the ACC season, they largely found some. While the Pittsburgh loss was shocking, Davis didn’t let it derail the Tar Heels season. UNC went on to play their best basketball of the season winning their next 6 games. That included a stellar performance at Duke in ruining Coach K’s last home game. Yes, they lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament, but that didn’t take away from the fine 2nd half job from Davis.
Worst
Kevin Keatts – NC State
After the mid-point of the ACC season, NC State looked good for 30 minutes against ACC bottom-feeder Georgia Tech, and that was it. This team didn’t defend, and they didn’t win. Kevin Keatts got little to nothing out of his team in the 2nd of half of the season, but he’ll be back next year. This was a bad team, that showed no improvement as the season progressed.
Josh Pastner – Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech was another bad team and stayed bad all year. Like NC State, they simply didn’t get better in the 2nd half of the year. Pastner varied the lineups, switched defenses, and nothing worked. Getting down 30 at home to NC State, and horrible first halves against Notre Dame and Louisville were low points of a forgettable 2nd half of the year.
Jeff Capel – Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh beat Florida State, NC State, and North Carolina back to back to back. The win at North Carolina stunned the ACC. Outside of that, the 2nd half of the season had 7 double-digit losses. The Panthers ended the season on a 5 game losing streak and were blown out by Boston College in the ACC Tournament. Jeff Capel then threw players he recruited under the bus by saying he just needed better players. He’ll be back too. In the SEC coaches are getting fired left and right, but Kevin Keatts and Jeff Capel will return. At least Josh Pastner has the 2020 ACC Title.
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