The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach
Dave Patenaude.
Offensive coordinator · 7 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Offense−0.06not 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.
Temple 2017–2018
Georgia Tech 2019–2021
Buffalo 2024–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Temple, 2 years
▼ 5.4
55.0 to 49.6 percentile.
Georgia Tech, 3 years
▼ 1.5
13.5 to 11.9 percentile.
Buffalo, 2 years
▼ 25.6
37.7 to 12.1 percentile.
Median offensive coordinator
+0.5
first season to last, across 222 stints of 3+ years. 50.9% improve at all.
Every stop on the calendar
| Years | Program | Walked into | Year 1 | Best | Vs. talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–2018 | Temple | 59.8 | 55.0 | 55.0 | ▲ 4.7 |
| 2019–2021 | Georgia Tech | 67.3 | 13.5 | 45.3 | ▼ 33.3 |
| 2024–2025 | Buffalo | 7.9 | 37.7 | 37.7 | ▼ 11.4 |
Temple 2017–2018: ranked 60th the year before he arrived, 55th at its best — went backwards.
Georgia Tech 2019–2021: ranked 67th the year before he arrived, 45th at its best — went backwards.