The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach

Clint Bowen.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.26not distinguishable from zero
model fit as of 2026-09-04

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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=730n=430n=235n=124n=76Kansas, year 1: 21st percentileKansas, year 2: 4th percentileKansas, year 3: 53rd percentileKansas, year 4: 23rd percentileKansas, year 5: 35th percentileKansasNorth Texas, year 1: 0th percentileNorth Texasmedian still in the job
Kansas 2014–2018
North Texas 2020–2020
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Kansas, 5 years
▲ 13.5
21.5 to 35.0 percentile.
Median defensive coordinator
+0.5
first season to last, across 235 stints of 3+ years. 50.6% improve at all.

Every stop on the calendar

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2014–2014Kansas54.021.521.5—
2015–2017Kansas21.54.352.7▼ 22.3
2018–2018Kansas23.535.035.0▼ 13.8
2020–2020North Texas31.90.40.4▼ 44.8

Kansas 2014–2014: ranked 54th the year before he arrived, 21st at its best — went backwards.

North Texas 2020–2020: ranked 32nd the year before he arrived, 0th at its best — went backwards.

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