Coaching Carousel - What Would You Do

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I just began a dynasty with ULM. I am in the second year of my contract as the OC we have gone 10-2 and are going to the Godaddy.com Bowl. Our HC won coach of the year.

We have an 84 JR QB who will be coming back. He has broken many school records and puts up big #'s. Behind him we have the 4* #7 QB from last year's class. In other words ULM will put up big #'s in the Sun Belt for the next few years.

I am anticipating being offered some bigger jobs this off-season.

My question is this:

"If I stay at ULM and have a few more great years as OC will I get better offers than I am about to get? Or, should I leave this year?"

What would you do?

[rustymuffler]

I created a similar thread to see what types of offers others were receiving in their dynasties and how they moved up the coaching ladder. The consensus from those who replied was to move up the ranks as a coordinator and wait for that big time head coaching position. I think they designed the game to give better offers to coordinators who come from big time programs like Bama, Texas, ect. Head coaches from smaller programs don't seem to get as many offers. So for your career, take another OC position at the best school that offers you and climb that ladder until your school of choice offers you a HC position.

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Quote: Originally Posted by rustymuffler

I created a similar thread to see what types of offers others were receiving in their dynasties and how they moved up the coaching ladder. The consensus from those who replied was to move up the ranks as a coordinator and wait for that big time head coaching position. I think they designed the game to give better offers to coordinators who come from big time programs like Bama, Texas, ect. Head coaches from smaller programs don't seem to get as many offers. So for your career, take another OC position at the best school that offers you and climb that ladder until your school of choice offers you a HC position.

Great advice! Thanks!

[SoxBrewersMarlins]

you dont have to come through a big program necesarrialy, as a gator fan, my dream job, was the gators, so i set alma mater to florida, and started as OC at Army, i ran the option but going into the final game every season id switch to florida playbook (assuming having both florida alma mater and florida playbook would make a difference in gettin the job). well after 3 great seasons at army as OC i finally got my Head Coaching job at Florida after turning down the Florida OC job the year prior, so you can come from a small school. Note, im not sure if using both the alma mater and playbook for florida led to me gettin the job or not, but in an experiment on other dynasty i had before this one, i was passed on the job when i had the alma mater set to florida but a different playbook, so in my mind it mattered, obviously i cant really prove this theory beyond my experiment but its food for thought, makes sense school would factor in both your alma mater and you running their type of offense i suppose.

[invisiblespoon]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxBrewersMarlins

you dont have to come through a big program necesarrialy, as a gator fan, my dream job, was the gators, so i set alma mater to florida, and started as OC at Army, i ran the option but going into the final game every season id switch to florida playbook (assuming having both florida alma mater and florida playbook would make a difference in gettin the job). well after 3 great seasons at army as OC i finally got my Head Coaching job at Florida after turning down the Florida OC job the year prior, so you can come from a small school. Note, im not sure if using both the alma mater and playbook for florida led to me gettin the job or not, but in an experiment on other dynasty i had before this one, i was passed on the job when i had the alma mater set to florida but a different playbook, so in my mind it mattered, obviously i cant really prove this theory beyond my experiment but its food for thought, makes sense school would factor in both your alma mater and you running their type of offense i suppose.

cool thanks!

[rustymuffler]

SoxBrewersMarlins also made a good point. The coaching carousel takes into account your alma mater and your playbook. Teams will hire an alumni of their school over another coach that has a slightly better resume. They'll also go with a coach that uses the same type of playbook (i.e., pro style, option, spread). It doesn't need to be that teams exact playbook, just the same type. Here are the following factors that go into getting job offers (I've found these from the developers blog, from other users experiences and from my experience):

• Alma Mater - Being an alumni gives you a better shot at getting offered.
• Playbook - Do you run their style of offense or defense. Sometimes they may decide to switch up their playbooks by hiring a coach that runs something different than what they currently use but that happens less than them simply hiring a coach that matches their style. Make sure your offense and defense match theirs if you want that job.
• Goals - Complete your coaching goals to get a better offer when your contract is up.
• Awards - If your an OC or DC, make sure your players win awards, win the Heisman and/or are selected as All-Americans.
• Championships - If you are able to, win your conference, win bowls and win a National Title.

All of these things contribute to your resume when being looked at by schools that are looking for coaches. Lastly, sometimes a school may fire a coach if you're too good to pass up. This happens if your contract expires and they see that you are available, they'll fire their coach and offer you.

P.S. Complete your contracts. The developers said that they designed the game to benefit coaches who complete their contracts instead of leaving early for another job. I'd only leave without finishing all the years of my contract if my dream job was offered to me. Otherwise, constantly jumping from school to school without completing a contract may hurt you a little when it comes to big time offers. And don't sign contract extensions if you don't plan on staying for the full time of the contract. It doesn't hurt to deny a contract extension and just finish up your current contract to then test the market.

[ParticleHustler]

I really like the coaching carousel, but I wish you had the ability to know which jobs you had a shot at (not were going to be offered, just were in the running for) before you go through it. It seems awfully silly to have to make a decision to accept or reject offers - especially to leave a current job and decline a contract renewal - based on a blind guess. A lot of times, the offers are roughly made in alphabetical order, so you either have to jump on an early-alphabet job or roll the dice that another suitable job will be offered later. I mean, you can always get a coordinator job, but if you want a HC job, you should know going in what your prospects are. Who turns down a current job offer without knowing where you're going next?

[invisiblespoon]

So after year 2 (of my 4 year contract) I was offered the OC job at Nevada and the Head Coach job at Virginia, OC job at Washington, Head Coach job at Wyoming, OC job at Airforce, Head Coach job at Akron, OC job at BC, HC job at Bowling Green, Buffalo, Head coach job at Cincinati, HC job at Idaho, OC job at Kansas, Head coach job at LA Tech, OC job at Louisville, Head Coach job at Memphis, Head Coach job at MTSU, OC job at UNLV, OC job at NIU, OC job at Rice, OC job at Rutgers, OC job at Troy, OC job at Minn, OC job at Tulsa, OC job at AZ St., OC job at Duke, OC job at ECU, OC job at Hawaii, OC job at MD, OC job at WKU, OC job at Army, OC job at Buffalo, OC job at LA Tech, OC job at FIU, OC job at UVA.

The most attractive (to me) offers that I got were Cinncinati and Virginia head coach. I declined because I want to finish out my 4 year contract and see what kind of offers I get.