The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach
Mark D'Onofrio.
Defensive coordinator · 4 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs0 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.16not 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.
Miami 2014–2015
Houston 2017–2018
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Miami, 2 years
▼ 27.3
68.4 to 41.0 percentile.
Houston, 2 years
▼ 71.5
76.5 to 5.0 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2015 | Miami | 7.6 | 68.4 | 68.4 | ▼ 20.3 |
| 2017–2017 | Houston | 87.1 | 76.5 | 76.5 | ▲ 24.8 |
| 2018–2018 | Houston | 76.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ▼ 48.0 |
Houston 2017–2017: ranked 87th the year before he arrived, 77th at its best — went backwards.
Houston 2018–2018: ranked 77th the year before he arrived, 5th at its best — went backwards.