The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Chris Kiffin.

Defensive coordinator · 1 season · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.07#163 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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659median still in the jobnot a pathFlorida Atlantic, year 1: 63rd percentileFlorida AtlanticLSU: just hired
Florida Atlantic 2017–2017
LSU 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
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
2017–2017Florida Atlantic0.463.563.5+15.4
2026–2026LSUno record

LSU: just hired, no season coached yet.

← Back to the Coordinators’ Climb