The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach

David Duggan.

Defensive coordinator · 5 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.16not 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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=730n=430Southern Miss, year 1: 41st percentileSouthern Miss, year 2: 78th percentileSouthern MissArkansas State, year 1: 39th percentileArkansas State, year 2: 29th percentileArkansas StKent State, year 1: 6th percentileKent Statemedian still in the job
Southern Miss 2014–2015
Arkansas State 2019–2020
Kent State 2023–2023
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Southern Miss, 2 years
▲ 36.7
41.0 to 77.7 percentile.
Arkansas State, 2 years
▼ 10.1
38.8 to 28.7 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
2014–2015Southern Miss23.641.077.7▲ 29.6
2019–2020Arkansas State76.538.838.8▼ 10.0
2023–2023Kent State31.75.65.6▼ 32.6

Arkansas State 2019–2020: ranked 77th the year before he arrived, 39th at its best — went backwards.

Kent State 2023–2023: ranked 32nd the year before he arrived, 6th at its best — went backwards.

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