The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Randy Shannon.

Defensive coordinator · 9 seasons · 4 stints · 3 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.05#177 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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218median still in the jobnot a pathFlorida, year 1: 89th percentileFlorida, year 2: 99th percentileFlorida, year 3: 60th percentileFloridaUCF, year 1: 57th percentileUCF, year 2: 87th percentileUCF, year 3: 43rd percentileUCFFlorida State, year 1: 66th percentileFlorida State, year 2: 86th percentileFlorida State, year 3: 28th percentileFlorida St
Florida 2015–2017
UCF 2018–2020
Florida State 2022–2024
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Florida, 3 years
−29.1
89.5 to 60.4 percentile.
UCF, 3 years
−14.4
57.3 to 42.9 percentile.
Florida State, 3 years
−38.0
66.0 to 28.0 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
2015–2016Florida98.089.598.8+31.8
2017–2017Florida98.860.460.4−1.1
2018–2020UCF54.257.387.3+10.7
2022–2024Florida State82.766.086.1−2.0

Florida 2017–2017: ranked 99th the year before he arrived, 60th at its best — went backwards.

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