The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach

Michael Scherer.

Defensive coordinator · 3 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.33not 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.

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=730n=430UNLV, year 1: 2nd percentileUNLV, year 2: 76th percentileUNLVPurdue, year 1: 3rd percentilePurduemedian still in the job
UNLV 2023–2024
Purdue 2025–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
UNLV, 2 years
▲ 74.6
1.9 to 76.5 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

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2023–2024UNLV39.31.976.5▼ 3.2
2025–2025Purdue1.13.33.3▼ 49.4
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