The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Matt Viator

Followed Todd Berry. Matt Viator held UL Monroe at Regional Program V for 5 seasons.

19–39

2016–2020 · 1 stint

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.

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).

UL Monroe, 5 seasons

−1.2

Regional Program V → Regional Program V.

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.

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

UL Monroe19.0pt#14 of 258 · more than most

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.

1–9 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Blake Anderson.

Rivalry record

1–9

10.0% · 2 rivals

One-score games

7–9

43.8% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Arkansas State0–50%

Louisiana1–420%

The toughest matchup

vs. Blake Anderson0–5

5 meetings, 2016–2020

’16 L’17 L · blew a 7-pt lead’18 L’19 L · blew a 18-pt lead’20 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

Power Program

0–5 0.0%

National Program

1–6 14.3%

Regional Program

13–25 34.2%

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

-0.11

#203 of 319 · a typical amount

Defense marginal impact

-0.54

#321 of 325 · less than most

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2016–2020

UL Monroecaretaker

Regional Program V → Regional Program V

Matt Viator held UL Monroe at Regional Program V for 5 seasons.

7th-best UL Monroe tenure of 11 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.

Offense vs. talent

+4.4 pts

#91 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

-24.7 pts

#187 of 208 · less than most

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.

Followed Todd Berry (2010–2015) · succeeded by Terry Bowden (2021–2023).

Season	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Record & result
Record	4–8	4–8	6–6	5–7	0–10
Postseason	—	—	—	—	—
Recruiting rank	#122	#102	#117	#126	#120
Style — pass rate
Pass rate	41.6	46.8	48.3	47.4	60.6
Coordinators
OC	Matt Kubik	Matt Kubik	Matt Kubik	Matt Kubik	Eman Naghavi
DC	Mike Collins	Mike Collins	Mike Collins	Mike Collins	Scott Stoker
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	4	66	48	73	5
Defense	8	1	37	10	2
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%	32.2	43.9	49.4	45.6	54.6
Red-zone pass%	24.5	32.9	33.3	35.7	54.4
4th-down go%opp. territory	35.0	39.5	37.5	47.4	62.5

Does the system survive a coordinator change?

OC: Matt Kubik → Eman Naghavi · 2020

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

1st-down pass rate: 45.6% → 54.6% (+9.0 pts)

Confound, shown not hidden: only 37% of offensive production returned the year the coordinator changed — the roster turned over at the same time, not just the play-caller.

DC: Mike Collins → Scott Stoker · 2020

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

2 NFL Draft picks: Trey Caldwell (2016), Marcus Green (2019)

19–39