The Zeitgeist List · Coordinators · Never a head coach
Robb Smith.
Defensive coordinator · 9 seasons · 6 stints · 4 programs1 season ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense−0.27not 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.
Arkansas 2014–2016
Minnesota 2017–2018
Rutgers 2020–2021
Duke 2022–2022
Rutgers 2025–2025
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Arkansas, 3 years
▼ 67.2
91.8 to 24.6 percentile.
Minnesota, 2 years
▲ 12.3
28.8 to 41.2 percentile.
Rutgers, 2 years
▼ 3.7
26.4 to 22.7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2016 | Arkansas | 14.0 | 91.8 | 91.8 | ▼ 36.7 |
| 2017–2017 | Minnesota | 80.9 | 28.8 | 28.8 | ▼ 21.9 |
| 2018–2018 | Minnesota | 28.8 | 41.2 | 41.2 | ▼ 12.4 |
| 2020–2021 | Rutgers | 13.5 | 26.4 | 26.4 | ▼ 25.9 |
| 2022–2022 | Duke | 0.4 | 55.3 | 55.3 | ▲ 4.5 |
| 2025–2025 | Rutgers | 8.6 | 1.1 | 1.1 | ▼ 51.8 |
Minnesota 2017–2017: ranked 81st the year before he arrived, 29th at its best — went backwards.
Rutgers 2025–2025: ranked 9th the year before he arrived, 1st at its best — went backwards.