Coaching Carousel: Love It or Hate It?

Last night I was up until 4am playing as the OC of Syracuse. I'm playing on AA as always with similar sliders to last year (though I still need to adjust the run game). At this point I am 4-2 getting ready to be demolished by West Vriginia. My wife asked me if I am "loving" carousel as much as I thought.... truthful answer~ I'm not sure. I think I was expecting a little more. Don't get me wrong it's a lot of fun but there are some major issues to "get over.

Positives:
-coach contracts are awesome
-name/signature is a nice touch
-being able to see all of the other coaches prestige/goals is great
-customization powers with bowls/conferences is a nice addition
-use of custom playbooks with CC is absolutely phenomenal!!!
-games are very quick (30 mins for 8 min quarters)
-I am extremely excited about "job offers" in the offseason. That looks great!
-I feel more immersed in my CONFERENCE seeing how my fellow coaches are doing
-I am constantly "checking" on my HC and DC to see if they are up or down

** Yes the positives in the mode are really strong positives. However, there are a lot of things I don't like so much.

-OC/DC should not do team recruiting (HOUSE RULE~100% done by cpu now)
-I can't punt, kickoff, kick return, punt return or be involved with special teams:(
-no input on 4th down decisions... let me give advice???
-continually press R1 to see each defensive play if I want to watch them
-if I don't have the ball I miss game track and quarter ending collages
-I have no feel for my team since I don't know the defense at all
-super sim at times still feels off. I give up 13 to USC but 35 to Tulane???
-coach design options are down right horrific!!!
-BIGGEST ISSUE~ I feel very much isolated when playing the game. There is no flow, no home field advantage, no invollvment in all aspects of the game.

So what's the verdict? Well, if I had to choose between this year and last... hands down NCAA 12 and the carousel. I jst keep telling myself that it will all be worth it when I get my "first HC job. Then, I will truly be master and commander. That's my take; what's yours???

I'm just glad they added it, I figured it would have it's flaws as it is the first year they are doing it. They need to let you choose who controls Special Teams (HC, OC, or DC). I'm going to jump in when I get the game, I'm sure it'll be better in the years to follow.

It's a good base. Lord knows I've done TONS of testing on this and written PAGES of feedback for things to be tweaked this way and that. I have played this mode inside and out since January, and I'm pretty happy with the base they have produced.

I want Special Teams Coordinator in the game. Quickest game of NCAA Football ever! All you play are kickoffs, punts, and field goals. :D

In all seriousness, it's a solid base for the first implementation of it. It's not perfect, but now that it's in the "heavy lifting" is done. Everything from here--in theory--is focused on tweaks, additions, and refinement.

Virtually all of your negatives are eliminated by starting as a HC. :nod:

nvm

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Originally Posted by Paakaa10

I want Special Teams Coordinator in the game. Quickest game of NCAA Football ever! All you play are kickoffs, punts, and field goals. :D

In all seriousness, it's a solid base for the first implementation of it. It's not perfect, but now that it's in the "heavy lifting" is done. Everything from here--in theory--is focused on tweaks, additions, and refinement.

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It is definitely a good starting point. I want to have a Linebackers Coach, Special Teams, Quarterbacks, Running Backs, all of the above. Not sure if that will be in 13, but I hope they go in that direction eventually.

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Originally Posted by ryby6969

Like OF in Madden? :P

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:fp: don't even get me started on that.

lol, I edited my post because steeler posted before me.

GReat pro and con Jaymo, I feel exactly the same way.

I think its crazy that you can adjust the entire roster as well as recruit for the entire team (what genius thought of that), but I will say overall it is a very good base to start with.

The 4th down decision is a big issue in my OD right now, because the computer will go for it on 4th and you are basically stuck with the computer controlling the special teams so they get it more oft than not.

What they do need is the option for the AD to complain and you can throw the OC/DC under the bus, I am playing as the DC at ECU and I tell you my offense is terrible we are playing South Carolina and its a defensive struggle and my offense cant do anything and it has been like that for pretty much every game this year. I can only keep them from scoring for so long with crappy talent.

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Originally Posted by oweb26

GReat pro and con Jaymo, I feel exactly the same way.

I think its crazy that you can adjust the entire roster as well as recruit for the entire team (what genius thought of that), but I will say overall it is a very good base to start with.

The 4th down decision is a big issue in my OD right now, because the computer will go for it on 4th and you are basically stuck with the computer controlling the special teams so they get it more oft than not.

What they do need is the option for the AD to complain and you can throw the OC/DC under the bus, I am playing as the DC at ECU and I tell you my offense is terrible we are playing South Carolina and its a defensive struggle and my offense cant do anything and it has been like that for pretty much every game this year. I can only keep them from scoring for so long with crappy talent.

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Solution, give us a recomendation pop up.... go for it or kick it... coach then takes 5 seconds and decides. Then at least we would feel more involved.

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

Solution, give us a recomendation pop up.... go for it or kick it... coach then takes 5 seconds and decides. Then at least we would feel more involved.

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:up:

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

Solution, give us a recomendation pop up.... go for it or kick it... coach then takes 5 seconds and decides. Then at least we would feel more involved.

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Yeah but if you are the DC then you are stuck watching the computer go for it in which they get most of the time against each other. They should at least make punting, and defensive field goals be the DC's job and kickoff's and offensive field goals the OC's job.

Or like steelerfan said just make yourself the head coach and all your worries are solved.

For recruiting, what would you think to allow you to only recruit 5-10 players and/or only sign 5-10 players? Every coordinator in college football does some recruiting so it'd be nice to at least be able to specify a certain number of guys you absolutely want to go after.

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Originally Posted by gschwendt

For recruiting, what would you think to allow you to only recruit 5-10 players and/or only sign 5-10 players? Every coordinator in college football does some recruiting so it'd be nice to at least be able to specify a certain number of guys you absolutely want to go after.

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Yeah exactly. Chopping recruiting up to your specialties would be awesome. Especially if they add in specific coaches for QB, RB, LB, CB, etc.

From working as an athletic trainer at Southern Miss and UL-Lafayette, I have SOME info on how recruiting works (but not much). I don't have a problem with recruiting as it is in the game. The only restriction I MIGHT add would be that you could only recruit in-state and maybe one other. All the coaches I know do "areas," and don't recruit for any particular side of the ball. If a DB coach comes across an awesome HB, he's going to recruit him, regardless.


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Don't you think you would reserve judgment until at least the offseason? I mean that's when the rubber really meets the road on this new feature and it sounds to me like you haven't made it there yet. I haven't either and that's really what I'm waiting for before I decide whether it was well implemented or not.

Also, you mention that you don't feel connected with the rest of the team but in reality what did you/could you expect? If you choose to be a coordinator to start out, how could you expect to get connected to a side of the ball you have no control over? I suppose having an option to watch the game (or highlights) from while the other side was on the field would be one way. What did you expect?

As for making decisions to go for it on fourth down, I do believe I was in a position to do this the other day as we were near the end zone and my offense was still on the field. Wouldn't you take that as the vote of confidence from the HC to go for it? If you get exited out to the sim screen then you would consider that the opposite.

Also, I have kicked field goals in this mode and punted so that is some connection to the special teams.

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Originally Posted by OptionMasta

Don't you think you would reserve judgment until at least the offseason? I mean that's when the rubber really meets the road on this new feature and it sounds to me like you haven't made it there yet. I haven't either and that's really what I'm waiting for before I decide whether it was well implemented or not.

Also, you mention that you don't feel connected with the rest of the team but in reality what did you/could you expect? If you choose to be a coordinator to start out, how could you expect to get connected to a side of the ball you have no control over? I suppose having an option to watch the game (or highlights) from while the other side was on the field would be one way. What did you expect?

As for making decisions to go for it on fourth down, I do believe I was in a position to do this the other day as we were near the end zone and my offense was still on the field. Wouldn't you take that as the vote of confidence from the HC to go for it? If you get exited out to the sim screen then you would consider that the opposite.

Also, I have kicked field goals in this mode and punted so that is some connection to the special teams.

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Yeah that's why I posted what I did. I have see lots of offseasons already with this :nod:

I'm in agreement that it's been good so far. I just need to see the offseason for myself. Hopefully it really shines.

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Originally Posted by OptionMasta

Don't you think you would reserve judgment until at least the offseason? I mean that's when the rubber really meets the road on this new feature and it sounds to me like you haven't made it there yet. I haven't either and that's really what I'm waiting for before I decide whether it was well implemented or not.

Also, you mention that you don't feel connected with the rest of the team but in reality what did you/could you expect? If you choose to be a coordinator to start out, how could you expect to get connected to a side of the ball you have no control over? I suppose having an option to watch the game (or highlights) from while the other side was on the field would be one way. What did you expect?

As for making decisions to go for it on fourth down, I do believe I was in a position to do this the other day as we were near the end zone and my offense was still on the field. Wouldn't you take that as the vote of confidence from the HC to go for it? If you get exited out to the sim screen then you would consider that the opposite.

Also, I have kicked field goals in this mode and punted so that is some connection to the special teams.

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As to your last point I'm not sure how that's possible since nobody else who has posted can play special teams. How did you accomplish that exactly... Are you playing as DC? As to the rest of your argument, I appreciate your commentary though it's a little too oversimplified based on my primary thesis regarding connection to the mode itself as compared to previous iterations. Yes I get that being an OC I don't have the same connection to the D but that's not really my point. The mode itself still has further to go regarding the immersion experience. As to your point of waiting till the offseason, yes that is what I am most looking forward to (which I also stated in my original post). Wait until after one season to judge... no need. I am already on record in my OP as stating I enjoy the mode and it adds a ton of depth to the game. My thread is more about discussion rather than dealing with absolutes.