The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Robert Wright.

Defensive coordinator · 3 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.16#104 of 458 · more than most

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 pathBuffalo, year 1: 70th percentileBuffaloSyracuse, year 1: 18th percentileSyracuse, year 2: 6th percentileSyracuse
Buffalo 2023–2023
Syracuse 2024–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Syracuse, 2 years
−12.0
17.5 to 5.5 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
2023–2023Buffalo50.069.569.5+36.3
2024–2025Syracuse50.017.517.5−44.0

Syracuse 2024–2025: ranked 50th the year before he arrived, 18th at its best — went backwards.

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