The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Steve Clinkscale.

Defensive coordinator · 3 seasons · 2 stints · 2 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%

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 pathCincinnati, year 1: 29th percentileCincinnatiMichigan, year 1: 83rd percentileMichigan, year 2: 99th percentileMichigan
Cincinnati 2015–2015
Michigan 2022–2023
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Michigan, 2 years
+16.0
82.8 to 98.9 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
2015–2015Cincinnati40.229.329.3−19.4
2022–2023Michigan89.682.898.9+27.7

Cincinnati 2015–2015: ranked 40th the year before he arrived, 29th at its best — went backwards.

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