Virginia Cavaliers head football coach Tony Elliott has been selected as the ACC’s 2025 Coach of the Year. In his fourth year at the helm of the Wahoo program, Elliott has led the Cavaliers to a 10-2 record
(the third 10-win season in program history), a 7-1 mark in the ACC, an ACC Championship berth, and the No. 17 spot in the College Football Playoff Ranking at the conclusion of the regular season.
Elliott has UVA a win away from its first outright ACC title and its first appearance in the College Football Playoff, all after going 11-23 in his first three years in Charlottesville.
It would’ve been hard to imagine this after Elliott ended the 2024 season very much on the hot seat. The ‘Hoos were picked to finish 14th in the ACC before the season. They finished first. An all-time transfer haul and a re-imagined culture have sparked one of the best seasons in program history this fall.
Elliott becomes the sixth Virginia coach to win the award, following in the footsteps of Bill Elias (1961), George Blackburn 1968), George Welsh (1983, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1995), Al Groh (2002, 2007), and Mike London (2011). The 14 year gap between when London won in 2011 and this year is the longest the program has gone without winning the award since between Blackburn winning in 1968 and Welsh winning his first in 1983.
The ACC Coach of the Year race wasn’t particularly close. Other than Elliott, only Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert (13) received double-digit votes. Georgia Tech’s Brent Key (5) and Duke’s Manny Diaz (2) were the only other coaches who received multiple votes.
ACC Coach of the Year Voting
Tony Elliott, Virginia – 57
Jake Dickert, Wake Forest – 13
Brent Key, Georgia Tech – 5
Manny Diaz, Duke – 2
Mario Cristobal, Miami – 1
Dave Doeren, NC State – 1
Pat Narduzzi, Pitt – 1
Rhett Lashlee, SMU – 1
