The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Tony White.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.23#69 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 3Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218median still in the jobnot a pathSyracuse, year 1: 47th percentileSyracuse, year 2: 47th percentileSyracuse, year 3: 77th percentileSyracuseNebraska, year 1: 81st percentileNebraska, year 2: 67th percentileNebraskaFlorida State, year 1: 46th percentileFlorida State
Syracuse 2020–2022
Nebraska 2023–2024
Florida State 2025–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Syracuse, 3 years
+30.6
46.9 to 77.5 percentile.
Nebraska, 2 years
−14.0
80.8 to 66.8 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
2020–2022Syracuse26.546.977.5+7.3
2023–2024Nebraska37.080.880.8+13.4
2025–2026Florida State28.046.046.0−15.4
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