WINSTON-SALEM -- Jim Grobe doesn't have an agent or his eye on another coaching job.

He does have the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coach of the Year honor, which was announced Tuesday.

Grobe, a sixth-year coach at Wake Forest, is taking his 16th-ranked team to the ACC championship game to play No. 20 Georgia Tech Wake Forest's turnaround from a 4-7 season to a 10-2 record is the same improvement as the one for Arkansas. Only Rice (1-10 to 7-5) has had a more dramatic upgrade among Division I programs this year.

Grobe said he isn't entertaining offers to direct other programs.

"I don't care to have my name out there," he said Tuesday. "I haven't put my name out there. I think anybody who knows me understands I'm perfectly happy at Wake Forest. ... There's probably some misunderstanding about how happy I am to be at Wake Forest." Grobe said he hasn't been contacted about other jobs. Alabama, Miami, Arizona State and North Carolina State are among major-college programs with coaching vacancies.

If Grobe's name has been associated with any opening, he doesn't know its source.

"All that stuff going on right night is BS," he said. "There's nothing to it." Grobe said he takes particular satisfaction in the sparkle in the eyes from those among the closeknit Wake Forest community because of the Demon Deacons' success. He goes to university functions and booster luncheons and senses the excitement. He doesn't need to be told.

"Some of these people have been paying dues a lot longer than we have," Grobe said.

Grobe's 36-34 record reflects the best six-year period for Wake Forest's football program in more than 50 years.

"He knows what it takes to have success," tight end John Tereshinski said.

Senior safety Josh Gattis said Grobe stuck to a vision for the program and the rewards are coming.

"He's real laid back and makes everybody feel comfortable," Gattis said.

That's what winning does.

The Demon Deacons were picked to finish last in the ACC's Atlantic Division in the summer. He said he didn't understand why others didn't see something more positive in the team, though he accepted the fact that Wake Forest hadn't proven otherwise with on-field performance.

"I came out of the ACC meetings back in July thinking maybe I'm a little goofy," he said. "We had 18 starters coming back. I was a little miffed." Now, it's the rest of the ACC that's confused.