The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Chris Hampton.

Defensive coordinator · 6 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.00#223 of 458 · a typical amount
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.

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 of that tenure, not calendar yearn=721n=435n=239n=126median still in the jobnot a pathTulane, year 1: 60th percentileTulane, year 2: 33rd percentileTulaneOregon, year 1: 92nd percentileOregon, year 2: 56th percentileOregon, year 3: 82nd percentileOregon, year 4: 27th percentileOregon
Tulane 2021–2022
Oregon 2023–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Tulane, 2 years
−27.2
60.4 to 33.2 percentile.
Oregon, 4 years
−64.9
92.1 to 27.2 percentile.
Median defensive coordinator
−1.5
first season to last, across 239 stints of 3+ years. 48.1% improve at all.

Every stop on the calendar

YearsProgramWalked intoYear 1BestVs. talent
2021–2022Tulane65.760.460.4−0.3
2023–2025Oregon42.492.192.1+9.7
2026–2026Oregon82.027.227.2—

Tulane 2021–2022: ranked 66th the year before he arrived, 60th at its best — went backwards.

Oregon 2026–2026: ranked 82nd the year before he arrived, 27th at its best — went backwards.

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