The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Troy Reffett.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 5 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.21#380 of 458 · less 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 4Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122median still in the jobnot a pathUL Monroe, year 1: 72nd percentileUL MonroeNorth Texas, year 1: 56th percentileNorth Texas, year 2: 18th percentileNorth Texas, year 3: 55th percentileNorth Texas, year 4: 32nd percentileNorth TexasNew Mexico, year 1: 3rd percentileNew MexicoUL Monroe: just hired
UL Monroe 2014–2014
North Texas 2016–2019
New Mexico 2023–2023
UL Monroe 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
North Texas, 4 years
−23.9
55.9 to 31.9 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
2014–2014UL Monroeno record72.372.3
2016–2016North Texas12.155.955.9+18.2
2017–2019North Texas55.918.155.0−6.1
2023–2023New Mexico59.93.43.4−34.8
2026–2026UL Monroeno record

No prior-season record for the first stop (UL Monroe, 2014) — the data floor starts there.

North Texas 2017–2019: ranked 56th the year before he arrived, 55th at its best — went backwards.

New Mexico 2023–2023: ranked 60th the year before he arrived, 3rd at its best — went backwards.

UL Monroe: just hired, no season coached yet.

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