The Zeitgeist List · coordinators · never a head coach

Vince Kehres.

Defensive coordinator · 7 seasons · 3 stints · 2 programs3 seasons ranked in the national top 10%
Own effect on the unit
Defense+0.83#1 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.

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 5Year 6Year of that tenure, not calendar yearn=721n=435n=239n=126n=76n=42median still in the jobnot a pathToledo, year 1: 74th percentileToledo, year 2: 90th percentileToledo, year 3: 80th percentileToledo, year 4: 76th percentileToledo, year 5: 85th percentileToledo, year 6: 99th percentileToledoSyracuse, year 1: 93rd percentileSyracuse
Toledo 2020–2025
Syracuse 2026–2026
Median of those still in the job, that year of a tenure. A shrinking pool, not a path.
Toledo, 6 years
+25.3
73.6 to 98.9 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
2020–2023Toledo6.573.690.4+34.3
2024–2025Toledo75.684.798.9+44.4
2026–2026Syracuse5.593.193.1—
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