The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Kelly Poppinga.

Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%

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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122median still in the jobnot a pathVirginia, year 1: 72nd percentileVirginia, year 2: 11th percentileVirginia, year 3: 40th percentileVirginia, year 4: 16th percentileVirginiaBYU: just hired
Virginia 2018–2021
BYU 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Virginia, 4 years
−56.2
71.9 to 15.8 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
2018–2021Virginia41.271.971.9−16.5
2026–2026BYUno record———

BYU: just hired, no season coached yet.

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