The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Aaron Henry.

Defensive coordinator · 3 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.01#226 of 458 · a typical amount

The tenure clock

Every stop re-aligned to its own first year, so the stops stack instead of scrolling past each other. The gray dashed line is a reference, not a path: each point is the median of whoever was still in the job that year, across every real OC/DC stint since 2014 at that role, and the pool shrinks year over year because surviving to a later year means not having been fired.

100th — best in the country90th — elite — top 10%75th — top quarter50th — national median25th — bottom quarter0 — worst in the countryHis defense’s national rank, by year of tenureYear 1Year 2Year 3Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218median still in the jobnot a pathIllinois, year 1: 44th percentileIllinois, year 2: 41st percentileIllinois, year 3: 44th percentileIllinoisNotre Dame: just hired
Illinois 2023–2025
Notre Dame 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Illinois, 3 years
+0.5
44.0 to 44.5 percentile.
Median defensive coordinator
+1.0
first season to last, across 239 stints of 3+ years. 52.3% improve at all.

Every stop on the calendar

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2023–2025Illinois98.144.044.5−7.6
2026–2026Notre Dameno record

Illinois 2023–2025: ranked 98th the year before he arrived, 44th at its best — went backwards.

Notre Dame: just hired, no season coached yet.

← Back to the Coordinators’ Climb