The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

A. J. Ricker.

Offensive coordinator · 7 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%

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 offense’s national rank, by year of tenureYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=749n=434n=222n=113n=64median still in the jobnot a pathSMU, year 1: 81st percentileSMU, year 2: 77th percentileSMUTCU, year 1: 86th percentileTCU, year 2: 65th percentileTCU, year 3: 84th percentileTCU, year 4: 69th percentileTCU, year 5: 12th percentileTCU
SMU 2020–2021
TCU 2022–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
SMU, 2 years
−4.2
80.7 to 76.5 percentile.
TCU, 5 years
−73.9
85.9 to 12.0 percentile.
Median offensive coordinator
−0.6
first season to last, across 222 stints of 3+ years. 48.6% improve at all.

Every stop on the calendar

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2020–2021SMU72.780.780.7+27.4
2022–2022TCU68.885.985.9+28.0
2023–2025TCU85.965.084.0+12.8
2026–2026TCU68.812.012.0

TCU 2023–2025: ranked 86th the year before he arrived, 84th at its best — went backwards.

TCU 2026–2026: ranked 69th the year before he arrived, 12th at its best — went backwards.

← Back to the Coordinators’ Climb