The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach
Jay Niemann.
Defensive coordinator · 5 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.06#167 of 458 · 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.
Northern Illinois 2014–2015
Rutgers 2016–2018
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Northern Illinois, 2 years
+30.5
42.6 to 73.0 percentile.
Rutgers, 3 years
+9.4
37.1 to 46.5 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
| Years | Program | Walked into | Year 1 | Best | Vs. talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2015 | Northern Illinois | no record | 42.6 | 73.0 | +30.4 |
| 2016–2016 | Rutgers | 10.5 | 37.1 | 37.1 | −16.2 |
| 2017–2017 | Rutgers | 37.1 | 40.4 | 40.4 | −12.6 |
| 2018–2018 | Rutgers | 40.4 | 46.5 | 46.5 | −4.7 |
No prior-season record for the first stop (Northern Illinois, 2014) — the data floor starts there.