The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Graham Harrell.

Offensive coordinator · 9 seasons · 4 stints · 4 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Offense−0.01#245 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 3Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=691n=405n=203median still in the jobnot a pathNorth Texas, year 1: 25th percentileNorth Texas, year 2: 80th percentileNorth Texas, year 3: 54th percentileNorth TexasUSC, year 1: 84th percentileUSC, year 2: 50th percentileUSC, year 3: 48th percentileUSCWest Virginia, year 1: 52nd percentileWest VirginiaPurdue, year 1: 37th percentilePurdue, year 2: 6th percentilePurdue
North Texas 2016–2018
USC 2019–2021
West Virginia 2022–2022
Purdue 2023–2024
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
North Texas, 3 years
+28.8
25.4 to 54.2 percentile.
USC, 3 years
−36.2
84.2 to 48.1 percentile.
Purdue, 2 years
−30.9
37.2 to 6.3 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
2016–2018North Texas1.225.479.6+15.6
2019–2021USC45.884.284.2−6.8
2022–2022West Virginia37.351.551.5−3.6
2023–2024Purdue30.237.237.2−33.7
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