The Zeitgeist List · coordinating

Tyson Summers

Defensive coordinator across 4 programs, 6 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.

How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from coordinator_journeys(); head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from staff_assignments. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.

The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Tyson Summers

Followed Willie Fritz. Tyson Summers held Georgia Southern at National Program III for 2 seasons.

5–18

2016–now · 2 stints

Georgia Southern Colorado State

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In his own words

Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.

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 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 Southern, 2 seasons

−1.7

National Program III → Regional Program II.

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)

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.

Rivalry record

0–1

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

3–2

60.0% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

App State0–10%

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

0–2 0.0%

National Program

0–2 0.0%

Regional Program

4–2 66.7%

Coaching career

2025–now

Colorado State

too new to grade yet

17th-best Colorado State tenure of 18 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

-11.1 pts

#154 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

-37.4 pts

#202 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.

Roster construction · portal era

A typical amount of portal roster-building.

Portal arrivals

3.0★ avg rating

Portal departures

left via the portal

Net portal flow

#51 of 187 FBS stints

Who they bring in

Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.

Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.

Avg. size (raw)

6′2″, 230 lbs

across 16 of 18 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix

Size vs. position-typical

+3.7 lbs

#130 of 255 · a typical amount

Avg. class year

#16 of 255 · more than most

Top states: TX (3), GA (3), MD (2), CO (2), NJ (2)

Who won the portal our read

Talent added

45.2

position-weighted

Talent lost

33.7

position-weighted

Net

+11.5

arrivals minus departures

Best addition: Tahj Bullock (QB) from Akron

Biggest loss: Caleb Goodie (WR) to Cincinnati

Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.

Where the roster comes from, by position

Buys Cornerback via the portal

100%

#1 of 236 stints

1 NFL Draft pick: Tory Horton (2025)

AI Narratives — “Colorado State — stat check”.

0–5

2016–2017

Georgia Southerncaretaker

National Program III → National Program III

Tyson Summers held Georgia Southern at National Program III for 2 seasons.

2nd-best Georgia Southern tenure of 5 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

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

Offense vs. talent

-5.4 pts

#133 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

-3.3 pts

#118 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.

Followed Willie Fritz (2014–2015).

Season	2016	2017
Record & result
Record	5–7	0–6
Postseason	—	—
Recruiting rank	#77	#106
Style — pass rate
Pass rate	30.3	23.2
Coordinators
OC	David Dean / Rance Gillespie	Bryan Cook
DC	Lorenzo Costantini	Lorenzo Costantini
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	48	29
Defense	44	38
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%	20.1	13.7
Red-zone pass%	25.0	14.1
4th-down go%opp. territory	25.0	32.5

Where the roster comes from, by position

Grows Edge from high school

100%

#191 of 208 stints

Grows Running back from high school

100%

#196 of 208 stints

2 NFL Draft picks: Antwione Williams (2016), Ukeme Eligwe (2017)

5–13