The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Bobby Wilder

Bobby Wilder held Old Dominion at Regional Program I for 6 seasons.

31–42
2014–2019 · 1 stint
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerOLD DOMINIONNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelOld Dominion, 2014: 6-6, Regional Program I2014Old Dominion, 2015: 5-7, Regional Program II2015Old Dominion, 2016: 10-3, Regional Program II2016Old Dominion, 2017: 5-7, Regional Program III2017Old Dominion, 2018: 4-8, Regional Program III2018Old Dominion, 2019: 1-11, Regional Program IV2019+0.0One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Old Dominion, 6 seasons
+0.0
Regional Program I → Regional Program IV.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

40%50%Old Dominion2014–2019▼ 8.9pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)
How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.

Typical stint7.010.2 median13.9middle half of all stints
Old Dominion12.9pt#76 of 258 · a typical amount

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–1 against his rivals. Just 1–5 against Doc Holliday.

Rivalry record
0–1
0.0% · 1 rival
One-score games
12–9
57.1% · margin ≤8
Rivalry ledger
Liberty0–10%
The toughest matchupNemesis
vs. Doc Holliday1–5
6 meetings, 2014–2019
’14 L’15 L’16 W · wire to wire’17 L · blew a 3-pt lead’18 L’19 L
Performance by opponent class
Power Program
1–2 33.3%
National Program
1–13 7.1%
Regional Program
22–26 45.8%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
-0.19
#237 of 319 · a typical amount
Defense marginal impact
+0.00
#150 of 325 · a typical amount

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2014–2019
Old Dominioncaretaker
Regional Program I
Bobby Wilder held Old Dominion at Regional Program I for 6 seasons.

1st-best Old Dominion tenure of 2 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent
-5.8 pts
#135 of 208 · a typical amount
Defense vs. talent
+0.8 pts
#98 of 208 · a typical amount
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Succeeded by Ricky Rahne (2020–2026).

Season201420152016201720182019Trend
Record & result
Record6–65–710–35–74–81–11
PostseasonW bowl
Recruiting rank#77#110#120#124#126#115
Style — pass rate
Pass rate55.751.942.843.253.046.8
Coordinators
OCBrian ScottBrian ScottBrian ScottBrian ScottBrian ScottBrian Scott
DCRich NagyRich NagyRich NagyRich NagyRich NagyDavid Blackwell / Grady Brown
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense78327412323
Defense83046344041
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%50.249.139.138.252.446.3
Red-zone pass%53.142.940.927.942.033.8
4th-down go%opp. territory69.035.143.935.739.132.6
Does the system survive a coordinator change?
DC: Rich Nagy → co-David Blackwell / co-Grady Brown · 2019
40th pct41st pct0th100th
1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.
Where the roster comes from, by position
Grows Tight end from high school
100%
#164 of 188 stints
Grows Edge from high school
100%
#191 of 208 stints
Postseason detail2016: Beat Eastern Michigan 24–20 Popeyes Bahamas Bowl

2 NFL Draft picks: Oshane Ximines (2019), Travis Fulgham (2019)

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