If we're talking "top 5" in the context of graduate programs for a given discipline it's likely not as rare as you'd think. I can see the PhD glut and general

If we're talking "top 5" in the context of graduate programs for a given discipline it's likely not as rare as you'd think. I can see the PhD glut and general awfulness of academia (do postdocs and adjunct until a tenure-track opens up) pushing people from even high ranking programs into teaching at a CC. This is especially true if they're married or have an SO: It's hard to convince your partner to uproot their lives so you can work at some tenure track position at some no-name college in the middle of nowhere... or forgo tenure and get paid slightly less and have the option to actually live near family/friends/partner's career.