The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Brian Lindgren.

Offensive coordinator · 12 seasons · 4 stints · 3 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Offense+0.03#176 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 3Year 4Year 5Year 6Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=691n=405n=203n=102n=58n=27median still in the jobnot a pathColorado, year 1: 39th percentileColorado, year 2: 25th percentileColorado, year 3: 17th percentileColorado, year 4: 37th percentileColoradoOregon State, year 1: 28th percentileOregon State, year 2: 67th percentileOregon State, year 3: 72nd percentileOregon State, year 4: 93rd percentileOregon State, year 5: 65th percentileOregon State, year 6: 74th percentileOregon StMichigan State, year 1: 24th percentileMichigan State, year 2: 32nd percentileMichigan State
Colorado 2014–2017
Oregon State 2018–2023
Michigan State 2024–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Colorado, 4 years
−2.1
38.7 to 36.5 percentile.
Oregon State, 6 years
+46.0
28.1 to 74.1 percentile.
Michigan State, 2 years
+8.5
23.5 to 32.0 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
2014–2015Coloradono record38.738.7−26.4
2016–2017Colorado25.416.836.5−24.6
2018–2023Oregon State21.928.193.5+14.5
2024–2025Michigan State1.923.532.0−28.4

No prior-season record for the first stop (Colorado, 2014) — the data floor starts there.

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