The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Mark D'Onofrio.

Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.16#341 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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400median still in the jobnot a pathMiami, year 1: 68th percentileMiami, year 2: 41st percentileMiamiHouston, year 1: 77th percentileHouston, year 2: 5th percentileHouston
Miami 2014–2015
Houston 2017–2018
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Miami, 2 years
−27.3
68.4 to 41.0 percentile.
Houston, 2 years
−71.5
76.5 to 5.0 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
2014–2015Miamino record68.468.4−20.7
2017–2017Houston87.176.576.5+24.8
2018–2018Houston76.55.05.0−48.1

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

Houston 2017–2017: ranked 87th the year before he arrived, 77th at its best — went backwards.

Houston 2018–2018: ranked 77th the year before he arrived, 5th at its best — went backwards.

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