A+ Miami -- Mark Richt: Let's think about this for a moment. After firing Al Golden, some of the candidates mentioned for this job were former players who had gone 27-47 in their only stints as a coach elsewhere like Mario Cristobal, or a retread like Butch Davis, who had success at Miami but wasn't great at North Carolina and brought the NCAA to Chapel Hill with him. Then after all of that, the Canes ended up with a former player who has won 145 games as a coach, plus two SEC titles. Who was out there that would have been a better hire for Miami? If Richt can't get this team to an ACC title game, nobody can.
A+ Virginia Tech -- Justin Fuente: It was a strong hiring season for the ACC overall, and I'm not sure I liked any hire better than Fuente. Memphis may have faded a bit down the stretch, but you simply cannot deny the job Fuente did building the program to what it is today. Memphis had won three games in the two seasons before Fuente took over, and he won four games his first season, navigated the move from Conference USA to the more difficult AAC, and won 19 games the last two years. Oh, and Fuente also retained Bud Foster as defensive coordinator, which means that the Hokies are not only bringing their offense into the 21st century, but they'll be keeping the defense they've always been known for. The Hokies are on their way back.
A- Syracuse -- Dino Babers: The Orange have been an afterthought in the ACC since joining the conference, and they needed to make a hire that could revitalize the program and change the way we think of Syracuse football. Cuse did just that by hiring Babers, who will bring the same offense we see every week from Baylor -- that he utilized at both Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green -- to the Carrier Dome. The scoreboard will get a much stronger workout than it had been, which could lead to a lot more wins for the Orange. The only reason I'm not giving this hire a flat A is because Babers hasn't been a coach anywhere longer than two seasons, so he's yet to prove he can build and sustain a program.
B Virginia -- Bronco Mendenhall: This was one of the most surprising hires of the offseason, and also one of the most interesting. Make no mistake about it, Mendenhall is a good coach. The question is how well he'll be able to adapt to life at Virginia in the ACC compared to what he dealt with at BYU. Sure, he'll be dealing with a lot fewer restrictions with the Cavs, but Bronco's also spent the vast majority of his career west of the Mississippi River (he spent one season as defensive backs coach at Louisiana Tech in 1997), so he's not exactly familiar with the area.
