The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Vince Kehres.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs2 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.64#2 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 4Year 5Year 6Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659n=400n=218n=122n=67n=39median still in the jobnot a pathToledo, year 1: 74th percentileToledo, year 2: 90th percentileToledo, year 3: 80th percentileToledo, year 4: 76th percentileToledo, year 5: 85th percentileToledo, year 6: 99th percentileToledoSyracuse: just hired
Toledo 2020–2025
Syracuse 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Toledo, 6 years
+25.3
73.6 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
2020–2023Toledo6.573.690.4+34.3
2024–2025Toledo75.684.798.9+44.4
2026–2026Syracuseno record

Syracuse: just hired, no season coached yet.

← Back to the Coordinators’ Climb