The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach
D'Anton Lynn.
Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 3 stints · 3 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.22#78 of 458 · more than most
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.
UCLA 2023–2023
USC 2024–2025
Penn State 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
USC, 2 years
−6.5
39.9 to 33.5 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
| Years | Program | Walked into | Year 1 | Best | Vs. talent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–2023 | UCLA | 17.9 | 85.3 | 85.3 | +25.9 |
| 2024–2025 | USC | 10.2 | 39.9 | 39.9 | −25.8 |
| 2026–2026 | Penn State | 73.9 | 78.6 | 78.6 | — |