The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Ben Arbuckle.

Offensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Offense−0.03#267 of 472 · 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 offense’s national rank, by year of tenureYear 1Year 2Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=691n=405median still in the jobnot a pathWestern Kentucky, year 1: 88th percentileWestern KentuckyWashington State, year 1: 42nd percentileWashington State, year 2: 86th percentileWashington StOklahoma, year 1: 14th percentileOklahoma
Western Kentucky 2022–2022
Washington State 2023–2024
Oklahoma 2025–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Washington State, 2 years
+43.7
42.5 to 86.2 percentile.
Median offensive coordinator
+4.7
first season to last, across 222 stints of 3+ years. 52.7% improve at all.

Every stop on the calendar

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2022–2022Western Kentucky98.188.288.2+41.3
2023–2024Washington State26.342.586.2+16.0
2025–2026Oklahoma28.714.314.3−49.8

Western Kentucky 2022–2022: ranked 98th the year before he arrived, 88th at its best — went backwards.

Oklahoma 2025–2026: ranked 29th the year before he arrived, 14th at its best — went backwards.

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