The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Andrew Thacker.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.10#305 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 4Year 5Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122n=67median still in the jobnot a pathTemple, year 1: 66th percentileTempleGeorgia Tech, year 1: 28th percentileGeorgia Tech, year 2: 44th percentileGeorgia Tech, year 3: 7th percentileGeorgia Tech, year 4: 72nd percentileGeorgia Tech, year 5: 23rd percentileGeorgia Tech
Temple 2018–2018
Georgia Tech 2019–2023
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Georgia Tech, 5 years
−5.1
28.1 to 22.9 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
2018–2018Temple71.265.865.8+17.8
2019–2021Georgia Tech11.928.144.5−30.1
2022–2022Georgia Tech6.572.172.1+14.2
2023–2023Georgia Tech72.122.922.9−33.7

Temple 2018–2018: ranked 71st the year before he arrived, 66th at its best — went backwards.

Georgia Tech 2023–2023: ranked 72nd the year before he arrived, 23rd at its best — went backwards.

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