The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Dell McGee

Dell McGee held Georgia State at Regional Program IV for 3 seasons.

4–20
2024–now · 1 stint
Georgia State
← all coaches

In his own words

Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerGEORGIA STATERegional Programthe building-block levelGeorgia State, 2024: 3-9, Regional Program IV2024Georgia State, 2025: 1-11, Regional Program IV2025Georgia State, 2026: in progress, Regional Program IV2026-2.8One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Georgia State, 3 seasons (active)
−2.8
Regional Program IV → Regional Program IV.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

40%50%60%Georgia State2024–2026▼ 15.8pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)
How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.

Typical stint7.010.2 median13.9middle half of all stints
Georgia State16.8pt#32 of 258 · more than most

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–1 against his rivals.

Rivalry record
0–1
0.0% · 1 rival
One-score games
0–2
0.0% · margin ≤8
Buyout owed
$1,663,350
bigger than 10% of FBS buyouts
Rivalry ledger
Georgia Southern0–10%
Performance by opponent class
National Program
0–3 0.0%
Regional Program
1–5 16.7%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
-0.09
#195 of 319 · a typical amount
Defense marginal impact
-0.25
#282 of 325 · less than most

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2024–now
Georgia Statecaretaker
Regional Program IV → Regional Program IV
Dell McGee held Georgia State at Regional Program IV for 3 seasons.

3rd-best Georgia State tenure of 4 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.

Offense vs. talent
-12.3 pts
#157 of 208 · a typical amount
Defense vs. talent
-32.4 pts
#201 of 208 · less than most
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.
Season202420252026Trend
Record & result
Record3–91–110–0
Postseason———
Recruiting rank#120#67#84
Style — pass rate
Pass rate55.556.539.7
Coordinators
OCJim ChaneyHue JacksonHue Jackson
DCKevin SherrerTravis PearsonCam Clark / John Haneline
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense353372
Defense171260
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%50.548.146.0
Red-zone pass%53.346.227.8
4th-down go%opp. territory34.147.4—
Roster construction · portal era

A portal-built roster.

Portal arrivals
91
3.1★ avg rating
Portal departures
110
left via the portal
Net portal flow
-19
#7 of 187 FBS stints
Who they bring in

Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.

Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.

Avg. size (raw)
6′2″, 242 lbs
across 52 of 91 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix
Size vs. position-typical
+1.7 lbs
#192 of 255 · a typical amount
Avg. class year
Jr
#216 of 255 · less than most
Top states: GA (22), FL (7), CA (3), TX (3), LA (3)
Who won the portal our read
Talent added
56.2
position-weighted
Talent lost
56.2
position-weighted
Net
+0.0
arrivals minus departures
Best addition: Christian Veilleux (QB) from Pittsburgh
Biggest loss: TJ Finley (QB) to Incarnate Word
Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.
Does the system survive a coordinator change?
DC: Travis Pearson → co-Cam Clark / co-John Haneline · 2026
12th pct60th pct0th100th
1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.
Roster size, by position
Skill positions · usage-weighted (real participation)
Quarterback
215 lbs
6′4″ avg · #311 of 767 · a typical amount
Running back
201 lbs
5′10″ avg · #600 of 791 · less than most
Wide receiver
183 lbs
6′0″ avg · #748 of 791 · less than most
Tight end
244 lbs
6′3″ avg · #424 of 731 · a typical amount
Trench & secondary · recruited roster, not confirmed starters
Interior line
300 lbs
6′4″ avg · #694 of 779 · less than most
D-line
294 lbs
6′2″ avg · #175 of 753 · more than most
Linebacker
224 lbs
6′1″ avg · #611 of 772 · less than most
Safety
191 lbs
6′0″ avg · #301 of 346 · less than most
Offensive-line size is one undifferentiated bucket — the source data almost never distinguishes tackle from guard from center, so we can't split them out.
Where the roster comes from, by position
Buys P via the portal
100%
#1 of 29 stints
Buys Quarterback via the portal
80%
#5 of 206 stints

2 NFL Draft picks: Travis Glover (2024), Ted Hurst (2026)

AI Narratives — “Georgia State — stat check”.

4–20