The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Chan Gailey

Followed George O'Leary. Chan Gailey held Georgia Tech at National Program I for 6 seasons.

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2002–2007 · 1 stint
Georgia Tech
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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 careerGEORGIA TECHPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyGeorgia Tech, 2002: 7-6, National Program I2002Georgia Tech, 2003: 7-6, National Program I2003Georgia Tech, 2004: 7-5, National Program I2004Georgia Tech, 2005: 7-5, National Program I2005Georgia Tech, 2006: 9-5, National Program I2006Georgia Tech, 2007: 7-5, National Program I2007-0.5One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached National Program in his 1st career season — faster than 41% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #1 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Georgia Tech, 6 seasons
−0.5
National Program I → National Program I.

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.

0–5 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Mark Richt.

Rivalry record
0–5
0.0% · 1 rival
One-score games
14–11
56.0% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
2–3
40.0%
Rivalry ledger
Georgia0–50%
The toughest matchup
vs. Mark Richt0–5
5 meetings, 2002–2006
’02 L’03 L’04 L’05 L’06 L
0% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
2–3 40.0%
Power Program
6–13 31.6%
National Program
14–9 60.9%
Regional Program
13–1 92.9%

Coaching career

2002–2007
Georgia Techcaretaker
National Program I → National Program I
Chan Gailey held Georgia Tech at National Program I for 6 seasons.

7th-best Georgia Tech tenure of 14 by the numbers.

Followed George O'Leary (1994–2001) · succeeded by Paul Johnson (2008–2018).

15 NFL Draft picks: Nick Rogers (2002), Chris Young (2002), Daryl Smith (2004), Tony Hargrove (2004), Keyaron Fox (2004), Nat Dorsey (2004), Jonathan Smith (2004), Gerris Wilkinson (2006) + 7 more

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