The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

David Blackwell.

Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.24#393 of 458 · less than most

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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400median still in the jobnot a pathEast Carolina, year 1: 25th percentileEast CarolinaOld Dominion, year 1: 41st percentileOld DominionLouisiana Tech, year 1: 23rd percentileLouisiana Tech, year 2: 17th percentileLouisiana Te…
East Carolina 2018–2018
Old Dominion 2019–2019
Louisiana Tech 2020–2021
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Louisiana Tech, 2 years
−6.7
23.2 to 16.5 percentile.
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
2018–2018East Carolina0.425.025.0−21.1
2019–2019Old Dominion40.441.241.2+1.8
2020–2021Louisiana Tech86.523.223.2−27.4

Louisiana Tech 2020–2021: ranked 87th the year before he arrived, 23rd at its best — went backwards.

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