The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach
Brian Borland.
Defensive coordinator · 10 seasons · 4 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.01not distinguishable from zero
model fit as of 2026-09-04
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.
Buffalo 2015–2020
Kansas 2021–2024
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Buffalo, 6 years
▲ 20.9
55.1 to 76.0 percentile.
Kansas, 4 years
▲ 27.6
1.2 to 28.7 percentile.
Median defensive coordinator
+0.5
first season to last, across 235 stints of 3+ years. 50.6% improve at all.
Every stop on the calendar
| Years | Program | Walked into | Year 1 | Best | Vs. talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–2019 | Buffalo | 34.0 | 55.1 | 85.8 | ▲ 15.4 |
| 2020–2020 | Buffalo | 85.8 | 76.0 | 76.0 | ▲ 40.7 |
| 2021–2023 | Kansas | 24.0 | 1.2 | 44.7 | ▼ 33.4 |
| 2024–2024 | Kansas | 44.7 | 28.7 | 28.7 | ▼ 25.0 |
Buffalo 2020–2020: ranked 86th the year before he arrived, 76th at its best — went backwards.
Kansas 2024–2024: ranked 45th the year before he arrived, 29th at its best — went backwards.