Elite 8: Coaching Carousel vs. Improvements to Depth Chart

[cdj]

- Before voting, feel free to revisit previous voting discussion threads to get more ideas on how the community would like each feature to be designed in the franchise.
- After voting, share your thoughts behind your vote and how you would like to see each feature implemented into the game, regardless of vote.
- Vote early: all future rounds will be open just three days for voting.


Coaching Carousel

In the last fifteen years, all but one program (Penn State) has had to look for a new head coach to try and lead their program to the top of the college football world. Accordingly, some in the NCAA Football community have asked for a coaching carousel similar to that found in 2K Sports’ now-defunct College Hoops franchise. Each coach would have different ratings (OFF, DEF, ST) that would increase (or retard) progress on that side of the ball and also catch the ire of recruits at certain positions. Over time, these coaches would leave for jobs at other schools, get fired, or retire. The pool would constantly be replenished by assistant coaches who would have the same attribute ratings affecting players & teams. (This category does NOT include coaches being visible on the sideline as that would be a separate programming & design issue and is a different item in the tournament.) (Round 1 Discussion - Round 2 Discussion - Sweet 16 Discussion)


Improvements to Depth Chart

In today's college football game, depth chart structure can vary greatly from team to team. With changes to the depth chart, Air Raid and Spread teams could have up to 10 receiver positions to set, Flexbone offenses would have A-Back and B-Back positions instead of HB & FB, as well, additional positions of Wildcat and 3rd Down Back could also be added. Another possible addition could be to make Will & Sam linebacker positions which would then translate to the field appropriately. (Round 1 Discussion - Round 2 Discussion - Sweet 16 Discussion)

[AustinWolv]

Went with depth chart, as that has more fundamental gameplay usefulness than carousel.

[Coachdenz]

Dynasty is getting STALE STALE STALE, some thing is needed besides recuriting tweaks

[CLW]

Went with Carousel. I agree dynasty mode is getting old/stale and needs something to shake it up a bit.

[glassjoe]

Went with depth chart, as that has more fundamental gameplay usefulness than carousel.

^^^ This ^^^

[jaymo76]

Carousel just has so much potential and would really enhance the game, especially for those of us who have been playing this series for a long time.

[JeffHCross]

Coaching Carousel. I had an internship interview with EA a few years ago, and I identified this as something I'd love to see brought into the series. I still do.

Coaching Carousel. No question.

Carousel. I mentioned it in a 2006 interview I had with EA, and I'll keep talking about it until we have it. The coaching carousel is such a major topic of the offseason (and, depending on the school, several of the final months of the season), that it absolutely should be part of the game. Coaches moving from one school to the next have such a drastic effect on programs in real life that it needs to be replicated in the game.

Done.

[xGRIDIRONxGURUx]

agreed... Jeff... would love to see it impact recruiting at last minute, school prestige, among other things... this is a MUST have for dynasty to really get to the next level...

"E"

[souljahbill]

I'm now totally convinced that this is coaching carousel's tournament to lose.

[PDuncanOSU]

I almost went for improvement to depth chart, and I really hope it also gets added, but ultimately decided on coaching carousel. I graduated from Ohio State and use The Buckeyes almost exclusivly in my dynasties. I have never been fired from a dynasty job and as I start at my "dream job" I also don't take any other coaching offers, so carousel doesn't really do anything for me personally in that regard. What sold me though is the ability to have assistant coaches leave for headed coaching jobs at other schools, and having to hire others to replace them as well as having these coaches have an effect on recruiting.

I do have a couple of questions regarding this feature though:
1) When I start a dynasty as Ohio State for example, do I inherit the coaching attributes and playbooks of Jim Tressel or do I create a new coach and get to edit what attributes he has and playbooks to use?
2) If an assistant coach of mine leaves for another job, does the cpu "athletic director" hire a new assistant for me or do I get to hire someone myself? Then if I get to hire him myself, will assistants ever turn down the job? Are there contracts with $ and years involved?

My vote is going for coaching carousel, I'm just curious how detailed and involved it will be.

[packersfan4eva]

A coaching carousel would make the entire game more realistic. If you simulate 60 years in NCAA football 11, every single coach will be coaching all 60 years unless you create coaches and assign them to certain teams. That's just ridiculous.

[Jayrah]

I almost went for improvement to depth chart, and I really hope it also gets added, but ultimately decided on coaching carousel. I graduated from Ohio State and use The Buckeyes almost exclusivly in my dynasties. I have never been fired from a dynasty job and as I start at my "dream job" I also don't take any other coaching offers, so carousel doesn't really do anything for me personally in that regard. What sold me though is the ability to have assistant coaches leave for headed coaching jobs at other schools, and having to hire others to replace them as well as having these coaches have an effect on recruiting.

I do have a couple of questions regarding this feature though:
1) When I start a dynasty as Ohio State for example, do I inherit the coaching attributes and playbooks of Jim Tressel or do I create a new coach and get to edit what attributes he has and playbooks to use?
2) If an assistant coach of mine leaves for another job, does the cpu "athletic director" hire a new assistant for me or do I get to hire someone myself? Then if I get to hire him myself, will assistants ever turn down the job? Are there contracts with $ and years involved?

My vote is going for coaching carousel, I'm just curious how detailed and involved it will be.

I would REALLY hope for user options in these answers.

Went with depth chart, as that has more fundamental gameplay usefulness than carousel.

Not really. Think about moving offenses and defenses around, coaches taking their scheme, playbooks, recruiting and playcalling styles all to their schools. A carousel is much more involved than a depth chart maker would ever be in overall, fundamental football.

[JeffHCross]

My vote is going for coaching carousel, I'm just curious how detailed and involved it will be.

Well, obviously, we're just voting for the feature ... not the implementation. We don't have much say in that.

However ... to answer your questions based on College Hoops 2k*:
1) There were two ways to start a Coach Legacy in College Hoops. You could start out as a current coach, but you wouldn't be able to add attributes to him in the future, or move on from your current job (if memory serves). I think that was a bad decision on their part ... at least to not let you move on. I can accept not being able to change the abilities of current coaches, but let me change their position if I really want.

Anyway, I digress. The other option was to start at a low level school (think losing record in a minor conference), start with a coach with limited abilities, and then move your way up. As you progressed through the mode, there were a series of accomplishments that you could meet (like having an AA player, having a 5* recruit, etc), and each accomplishment would give you another attribute point to give to your coach. The attributes were Offense, Defense, Recruiting, Teaching and Scouting, I think. Every coach in the game had different levels of abilities in each of those areas. So you could create an Offensive-minded coach, you could create a Defensive Guru, or you could create a master recruiter. It was quite fun, actually.

From what I can recall, there was limited connection between the coaches and plays they could call.

2) In CH, when your assistants left, you had complete control over the new hiring. As well, as you progressed through the mode (and your coach improved), you had the ability to hire new, better assistants. So if you were a C OVR head coach, you could select from C- OVR assistants, whereas before you might have been limited to D OVR. As well, each assistant had an Ambition rating, with the higher rated guys being more likely to jump to other jobs. There weren't contracts or situations where they would turn down the job. They kept the interface pretty simple, honestly.


Now, NFL Head Coach also had a system where you could either take an existing coach or create a new one. The big difference in Head Coach was that the coaches (and assistants) were tied to playbooks. So if you wanted to start running a Michigan Spread Offense in the NFL, there was actually a "current Michigan head coach" who was available as an assistant and you could hire onto your staff. Each coach had an RPG-like system of abilities that could be unlocked as you progressed through your career. It was a much deeper system than College Hoops, but since head coaches were the focus of Head Coach, it needed to be. It was also, for the same reason, a much more complicated method.