The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Clay Patterson.

Offensive coordinator · 3 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Offense+0.02#194 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 pathColorado, year 1: 5th percentileColoradoKent State, year 1: 2nd percentileKent State, year 2: 31st percentileKent St
Colorado 2022–2022
Kent State 2024–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Kent State, 3 years
+28.6
1.9 to 30.5 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
2022–2022Colorado10.45.05.0−46.1
2024–2024Kent State6.41.91.9−31.9
2025–2026Kent State1.930.530.5−1.3

Colorado 2022–2022: ranked 10th the year before he arrived, 5th at its best — went backwards.

Kent State 2024–2024: ranked 6th the year before he arrived, 2nd at its best — went backwards.

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