The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Brian Borland.

Defensive coordinator · 10 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.01#208 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 6Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122n=67n=39median still in the jobnot a pathBuffalo, year 1: 55th percentileBuffalo, year 2: 45th percentileBuffalo, year 3: 37th percentileBuffalo, year 4: 37th percentileBuffalo, year 5: 86th percentileBuffalo, year 6: 72nd percentileBuffaloKansas, year 1: 1st percentileKansas, year 2: 3rd percentileKansas, year 3: 45th percentileKansas, year 4: 29th percentileKansas
Buffalo 2015–2020
Kansas 2021–2024
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Buffalo, 6 years
+17.0
55.1 to 72.0 percentile.
Kansas, 4 years
+27.6
1.2 to 28.7 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
2015–2019Buffalo34.055.185.8+15.8
2020–2020Buffalo85.872.072.0+37.2
2021–2023Kansas21.71.244.7−33.4
2024–2024Kansas44.728.728.7−25.1

Buffalo 2020–2020: ranked 86th the year before he arrived, 72nd at its best — went backwards.

Kansas 2024–2024: ranked 45th the year before he arrived, 29th at its best — went backwards.

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