The college football season is at the halfway point and many programs are performing well below or above preseason expectations. For the underperforming teams, this is the time when fans and analysts start thinking about what it might look like if a new coach took over in the offseason.

In some cases, moving on from a coach is relatively painless – if the contract has already expired or if there isn't a large severance package for the remaining years – but in other cases it can be very difficult for a program to move on. if not highly unrealistic to do so.

There are three coaches in the ACC who are clearly being paid more money than they deserve based on their on-field performance, while there are also three coaches who have a good case for a raise this offseason.

Below is a look at these six coaches, starting with the overpaid trio.

(Coach salary information is not released for four ACC programs: Duke, Boston College, Syracuse and Stanford.)

Most overpaid

Mike Norvell – Florida State Seminoles ($10M)

Norvell has a huge buyout number of $63.7 million, making it a tall order for the Noles to give him the ax this season. But it needs to be at least a discussion after a terrible 1-5 start to the year, bad for any team but a nightmare for a program that was ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.

Dave Doeren – NC State Wolfpack ($5.9M)

Doeren has a more modest buyout of just under $16 million and is less likely to get the starting job thanks to a strong track record for the Wolfpack. But this year's 3-4 start, which includes back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and Syracuse, isn't making fans in Raleigh happy at all.

Mack Brown – North Carolina Tar Heels ($5M)

It's very likely that Brown's tenure in Chapel Hill will end after the season, as the 73-year-old is clearly past his prime. It was a great debut that propelled North Carolina to prominence in the 1990s and then led Texas to a national championship, but after a terrible 0-3 start in ACC play, it's time to call it a day. The 'Heels gave up 70 points to James Madison and 41 against Georgia Tech last weekend and need a fresh start.

Most underpaid

Rhett Lashlee – SMU Mustangs ($2.3M)

Lashlee is the lowest-paid coach in the ACC – among those with public salaries – and yet he has the Mustangs 5-1 on the year and 2-0 in league play after a road win over Louisville last week. SMU needs to do everything it can to keep Lashlee in Dallas, which will likely include a pretty significant raise.

Brent Key – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets ($2.9M)

Key took the Yellow Jackets to a bowl game in his second season in 2023 and appears on track to do so again this season after a 5-2 start to the season. The Yellow Jackets are a strong, physical team – no surprise since they are coached by a former offensive lineman – and are in line for a bowl game again this winter.

Tony Elliott – Virginia Cavaliers ($4.25M)

Elliott isn't as much of a bargain as Lashlee or Key, especially after a 3-9 season in 2023, but the Cavs are currently 4-2 and 2-1 in league play and are coming off a good win over Boston College. With North Carolina and Virginia Tech still on the calendar, Virginia has a good chance of appearing in a bowl game for the first time in Elliott's tenure – not bad for one of only three (known) ACC coaches with less than 4.5 Earn millions of dollars a year.