The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Zac Alley.

Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 4 stints · 4 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.12#133 of 458 · a typical amount

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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=659median still in the jobnot a pathUL Monroe, year 1: 26th percentileUL MonroeJacksonville State, year 1: 94th percentileJacksonville StateOklahoma, year 1: 90th percentileOklahomaWest Virginia, year 1: 47th percentileWest Virginia
UL Monroe 2021–2021
Jacksonville State 2023–2023
Oklahoma 2024–2024
West Virginia 2025–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
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
2021–2021UL Monroe2.025.825.8−8.9
2023–2023Jacksonville Stateno record94.494.4+62.7
2024–2024Oklahoma88.389.989.9+23.6
2025–2026West Virginia2.647.447.4−3.6
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