Three-Point Stance: Grading the ACC coaching performances

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s Three-Point Stance is here with grades for the ACC coaches, the verdict on Oregon's hire of Willie Taggart and a suggestion for the perfect fit for USF.

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Professor Farrell is back and it’s time to grade the job the Power Five coaches did this season, continuing today with the ACC. Here are my SEC grades.

ACC ATLANTIC

Clemson: B+ - Yes, Dabo Swinney made it to the College Football Playoff and won the Atlantic Division as expected, but he gets no A grade here because of the loss to Pitt, the should-have-been loss to NC State and the Tigers' erratic play all year.

Louisville: B+ - Picked to finish third, Louisville finished tied with Clemson in conference record and took the Tigers to the wire head-to-head. Bobby Petrino finished with a loss to Kentucky, but Louisville had a great season.

Wake Forest: B+ - Picked to finish dead last in the division, Wake Forest and Dave Clawson won six games and, despite lacking an impressive win, finished well above where everyone had them pegged.

Florida State: B- - Jimbo Fisher’s team started off badly with the thumping by Louisville and loss to North Carolina but finished pretty strong. I just expect more from the Seminoles than 9-3 and 5-3 in conference.

NC State: C - NC State finished where it was projected but I expected better than 6-6 and a 2-5 finish down the stretch after the Notre Dame win. Had the Wolfpack finished the job against Clemson, the season may have had a very different outcome, but Dave Doren was unable to turn it around after that emotional loss.

Syracuse: C - Dino Babers had a B- grade a month ago and then his team lost four-straight to close the season. The offense was exciting but the defense was awful.

Boston College: C- - Boston College was projected to finish fifth in the division and did make a bowl game, but I'm not terribly impressed by wins over UMass, Wagner, Buffalo, NC State, UConn and Wake Forest.

ACC COASTAL

Virginia Tech: A - A division title in his first year gives Justin Fuente the best grade in the conference. There were some clunkers and close calls, but for a first-year coach, he did much better than projected.

Pitt: B+ - Pat Narduzzi’s team was erratic at times and the defense wasn’t good, but wins over Penn State and Clemson, the Big Ten and ACC Champs, means a lot.

Georgia Tech: B+ - With a lesser record in conference than teams behind him, why does Paul Johnson get a better grade? Because Georgia Tech was projected to finish sixth in the division and he was supposed to be fired by now. Instead, the Yellow Jackets are 8-4 with a win over Georgia.

Miami: B- - Mark Richt had some solid wins over teams like Pitt and Georgia Tech but not enough to be higher than this.

North Carolina: C+ - Larry Fedora's Tar Heels were projected to win the division and losses to Duke and NC State are bad, so this wasn’t a great year despite the eight wins.

Duke: D - We’ve come to expect better from David Cutcliffe and Duke in recent years, so 4-8 is bad.

Virginia: D - I had Bronco Mendenhall at a C grade a month ago, but finishing 2-10 with seven-straight losses isn’t pretty even for a first year coach.

I’m not a big fan of “fish-out-of-water hires”. From Bret Bielema at Arkansas to Charlie Strong at Texas to Mendenhall at Virginia and most recently Matt Rhule to Baylor, guys without strong ties to a program or region of the country puzzle me. But, these hires don't always turn out bad as evidenced by Nick Saban at LSU and Chip Kelly at Oregon.

So can former USF coach Willie Taggart be the solution at Oregon? Taggart hails from Florida and played at Western Kentucky, but he did coach at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh from 2007-29. Essentially Oregon is getting a coach with few ties to the West Coast and just one spectacular season under his belt. Taggart's overall record as a head coach is an unimpressive 40-45, but he reportedly came with highest recommendations from great coaches like Harbaugh, Tony Dungy and NCAA administrator Oliver Luck. Those are some smart football minds, smarter than me, but something about this hire makes me wonder if it will work out.

The Oregon job is a big deal. I was expecting perhaps a West Coast guy, a current Power Five coach or big-name assistant (e.g. Lane Kiffin). Instead, the Ducks hired someone with an overall losing record at the Group of Five level. Maybe Oregon knows something I don’t and is landing the next rising star in college football, but to me this hire lacks pizzazz. It doesn’t make a ton of sense for a program just a few years removed from the national title game.

Charlie Strong would have been a better fit replacing Derek Dooley at Tennessee or Al Golden at Miami, but instead he landed the Texas job. Things obviously didn't work out in Austin, but Strong has a chance to land on his feet with a program that fits his strengths: USF. He’s the perfect fit for that program.

With his recruiting ties to South Florida, the lack of pressure in the AAC compared to juggernaut Texas and Strong’s defensive abilities, he could turn USF into a perennial AAC contender.

Lane Kiffin is interesting and Greg Schiano also has recruiting ties to the area, but this is a job made for Strong to rebuild his reputation. This should happen.