It seemed to be the annual rite of ACC conference basketball season. Clemson’s Brad Brownell, Pitt’s Jeff Capel, NC State’s Kevin Keatts, and Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner are on the hot seat.
As losses added up frustration mounted for fanbases of these schools.
With over 25 years of ACC coaching experience between the four, there were just TWO NCAA tournament wins. Between Capel, Keatts, and Pastner there were just two NCAA appearances. Brownell has three appearances, but it took him twelve years to do it.
Pastner to his credit has an ACC Title. Brownell has a Sweet 16, but as a group, these coaches are more than 50 games under .500 in the ACC.
Something weird happened this year as these coaches were more likely to be updating their resumes than eyeing NCAA tournament bids this year.
They got better.
Clemson in stunning fashion leads the ACC by 2 games with a 15-3 (7-0) record, and just knocked off the Duke Blue Devils and sits 5-1 against the Q1/Q2 opponents on their schedule. Fire Brad Brownell? – He’s probably the leader for ACC COY.
Who’s right behind them? How about Jeff Capel and Pittsburgh at 12-6 (5-2)? Since starting the year 1-3, the Panthers have gone 11-3 with wins at Northwestern, NC State, and home wins over North Carolina and Virginia. This has been done largely without C John Hugley who is now out for the year. Capel has a team that you don’t want any part of.
What about surging NC State at 14-4 (4-3) fresh off a win over top 20 Miami? The Wolfpack showed flashes early this year. They gave Kansas all they could handle in a 80-74 loss, and had decent OOC wins with Dayton, Butler, and Vanderbilt but got off to a 1-3 start in the ACC. This team has some real scoring ability with Terquavion Smith among others, but it wasn’t translating into ACC wins. Now it is as NC State blew out Duke, won at Virginia Tech, and beat Miami. The Wolfpack is getting hot at the right time.
That leads us to Josh Pastner. Georgia Tech was picked to finish last in the ACC, and if not for Louisville that’s where they would be. Josh Pastner is more entrenched in his hot-seat than ever. Pastner is 6-21 in his last 27 ACC games. Georgia Tech finished 14th in the ACC last year and is likely to head toward another 14th or 15th-place finish. While I considered it unlikely Georgia Tech would fire Pastner this year due to football coach Geoff Collins being fired, can you afford to retain a coach that’s probably going to lose more than 30 ACC games in 2 years?
Notre Dame’s Mike Brey is probably feeling some heat too, but he is only a year removed from a 24-11 season that had 2 NCAA tournament wins so he’s probably in more trouble next year.
That’s three ACC coaches who’ve worked to cool off their seats, and one whose seat gets hotter with each passing game.
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