Tom Dienhart

Caution: Flammable.

Such is life in the ACC, which is home to more coaching hot seats than any conference in America.

It's possible to cool things down. Just ask Clemson's Tommy Bowden. For now, the flames are rising fast from the fannies of the following ACC coaches, who need to deliver this fall.

Chuck Amato, N.C. State
It's difficult to get fired up about Micronpc.com and Tangerine bowl trips anymore. Am I the only one who feels things aren't gonna get any better? But maybe N.C. State is what it is: a middling program that never will have much of an identity. Hey, alumnus Bill Cowher is moving back to the Raleigh area. Maybe . . .

John Bunting, North Carolina
One minute, his Tar Heels are beating Miami. The next, they're losing to Duke. I will say this: Bunting always has to play a brutal non-conference schedule. Still, at some point, consistency is needed. And Bunting has produced just two bowls in five seasons. Sorta makes you think Mack Brown's work in Chapel Hill was more impressive than anything he's doing in Austin.

Larry Coker, Miami
This looks like a program at a crossroads. I know, that sounds funny, considering the Canes are coming off a 9-3 season. But the 40-3 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl and subsequent shakeup of a staff that features six new coaches set off alarms. This isn't the Big East the Canes are playing in any more. The ACC is tough terrain. And the Canes have issues on offense.

Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
Remember those first three years, when the Fridge shocked the world by going 31-8 with an ACC title and two major bowl bids? Maryland has turtled, going 5-6 each of the last two seasons. Don't look now, but Friedgen has taken over playing-calling and breaking in a new defensive coordinator.

Al Groh, Virginia

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By winning the national title, Mack Brown has shed the label of "coach who does the least with the most." It's time for Groh to assume the throne. Time and again, he signs blue-chip recruits. And time and again, UVa marches off to the Who-Give-A-Crap Bowl. And sometimes loses! A New Year's Day bowl -- and ACC title -- should have been mixed in somewhere during the last four seasons. Didn't happen. And it sure isn't gonna happen this year for a program that faces myriad questions and is breaking in two new coordinators.

Status of the other ACC coaches
Institutions: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Bobby Bowden, Florida State

Looming icons: Tommy Bowden, Clemson; Tom O'Brien, Boston College

Holding steady: Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech; Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Ted Roof, Duke