The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach
Matt Barnes.
Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.22not distinguishable from zero
model fit as of 2026-09-04
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.
Memphis 2022–2023
Mississippi State 2024–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Memphis, 2 years
▼ 41.9
88.2 to 46.2 percentile.
Mississippi State, 2 years
▲ 3.5
10.1 to 13.6 percentile.
Median defensive coordinator
+0.5
first season to last, across 235 stints of 3+ years. 50.6% improve at all.
Every stop on the calendar
| Years | Program | Walked into | Year 1 | Best | Vs. talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–2023 | Memphis | 41.2 | 88.2 | 88.2 | ▲ 17.4 |
| 2024–2025 | Mississippi State | 73.3 | 10.1 | 13.6 | ▼ 46.3 |
Mississippi State 2024–2025: ranked 73rd the year before he arrived, 14th at its best — went backwards.