The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Jon Heacock.

Defensive coordinator · 12 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.12#134 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.

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 3Year 4Year 5Year 6Year 7Year 8Year 9Year 10Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122n=67n=39n=25median still in the jobnot a pathToledo, year 1: 73rd percentileToledo, year 2: 88th percentileToledoIowa State, year 1: 24th percentileIowa State, year 2: 68th percentileIowa State, year 3: 58th percentileIowa State, year 4: 40th percentileIowa State, year 5: 88th percentileIowa State, year 6: 56th percentileIowa State, year 7: 73rd percentileIowa State, year 8: 49th percentileIowa State, year 9: 21st percentileIowa State, year 10: 71st percentileIowa St
Toledo 2014–2015
Iowa State 2016–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Toledo, 2 years
+14.8
73.0 to 87.9 percentile.
Iowa State, 10 years
+47.1
23.8 to 71.0 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
2014–2015Toledono record73.087.9+41.1
2016–2025Iowa State31.623.887.8+3.3

No prior-season record for the first stop (Toledo, 2014) — the data floor starts there.

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