Barry Jacobs On Hot Starts By ACC Coaches

Until last season North Carolina's Roy Williams held the mark among active ACC men's coaches with six wins to start his league tenure. Williams' opening streak ended in a triple-overtime thriller against Wake Forest at the Smith Center on Dec. 20, 2003.

If you shop Amazon, please start here and help DBR
Available now!
Drop us a line

The Tar Heel alum's debut may not seem all that impressive, but at the time it was tied for third-best ever behind UNC's Bill Guthridge (17) and Clemson's Rick Barnes (10). Then came 2013-14, when two proven coaches led their programs into the conference and immediately prospered.

Pitt's Jamie Dixon notched 10 victories right off the bat. Then the Panthers fell 44-43 on December 17, 2013 to Cincinnati at Madison Square Garden.

That debut was nothing compared with the performance turned in by Syracuse and Jim Boeheim. The Orange, already a national power, reeled off 25 wins in a row before finally succumbing in overtime to Boston College.

This season Rick Pitino has taken Louisville into the ACC with five nonconference wins in five tries. One more victory, against Ohio State on December 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, would tie Pitino with Williams.

At the other end of the spectrum, every other active ACC coach won at least once as he began his league career.