Looking for Some Guidance

[beargrowlz]

Looking for some guidance (serious only please) on where to take this story (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=55843&page=4). One possibility is FOF2k7 if I can figure out how. If you have any suggestions or ideas regarding storyline, or can help with the technical aspects I mention in my last post there, I would appreciate your help.

Thanks.

[devynd]

I love the "Bear Goes Home" story. It is very well written and imaginative. I got a little dizzy after a decade of USC recruiting, but the national title race brought me back in. I was quite surprised to see Bear leave Keene for SC; I figured you'd stay and try to build Keene State into a national power like Bobby Bowden did with Florida State. Of course, since TCY locks you into your conference, that would be harder to do, but it's apparently also much easier to rise in the rankings, so perhaps that's a wash. I was surprised again when Bear spurned Notre Dame. With Keene's rise, Bear seemed to be getting a rep as a great recruiter whose teams would have more success after he left -- kind of like how Florida just won IRL with Urban Meyer's coaching of mostly Ron Zook's starters. But Bear stayed and when SC finally won the title, it was emotionally satisfying even for me, as a spectator. Of course, the fact that SC beat Florida by the particular score of 41-14, and the fact that I spent a couple of years as a student at Ohio State, must have contributed. I did find it amusing, though, that SC played its home games in UCLA's stadium instead of the Coliseum. That's when I knew that Bear was no ordinary coach. ;)

As for the three options you present, I'll throw in some thoughts:

1. (Hollywood ending) Yeah, this would work very well. You could sim the remaining seasons of Bear's career and add it as an epilogue. To be honest, you could probably work on what you have in the thread and, at least in a sim forum, have a pretty good short story.

2. (Continue until retirement) There is always the challenge of repeating. Your vanquished opponent, Florida, recently won three in a row. So what's just one? And already the Times is saying it's great that Bear beat UCLA, but can he do it again?

3. (Move to FOF) I guess you could start with a good team and see if you can get yourself hired on to a bad team which you could move to LA. You might have to just sim a few times until you get one that's workable. If you do, instead of pretending it's an expansion team, you could just consider it a relocated team; Bear, having been a part of the group bringing it to LA, would naturally try to help the new team win. The strange thing would be that Bear could only GM and within FOF would have to hire a coach. (Maybe FOF should allow the GM to also coach.) Of course, you could argue that Bear is better at bringing in talent than in making it win on the field. (FYI, as far as building champions in Division I-A and the NFL, only Jimmy Johnson has really done it, although Barry Switzer also coached champs in both.)

What you do is your choice. You've chosen so well so far -- and often surprisingly to me -- that I'd leave the choice up to you, which is as it should be. In any case, thanks for the great story. Really, it's been good reading.

[beargrowlz]

Thanks for the praise man. Nice to know people are reading the story.

Nice pick up on the home stadium thing, which I'll admit was a total faux pas on my part. But I've run with it, so it is what is is.

And after reading your post, I've decided to cut down on reporting the players recruited ad nauseum every week. I'll still discuss recruiting, but in a more general way so as to make the story more readable. I post the recruit ratings at the start of the next season anyway, so I figure the story won't lose much and I can focus on other things that capture the reader more.

Thanks for the feedback!

[devynd]

Glad to be of service.

Although my first instinct was to consider the Rose Bowl thing an error, on reconsideration I decided to see it as an aggressive act on Bear's part. After all, UCLA didn't build the stadium, so why shouldn't SC come in and take over? A guy who could turn Keene State into a national power probably wouldn't hesitate to claim the Rose Bowl for his own team.

I actually like the recruiting stories; I just happened to read the whole story within two or three days, so sixteen seasons of names started to make my head spin. However, it was satisfying to hear you talk about a player having success with you and be able to remember a few seasons ago when you were trying to land him out of high school. It does add to the story.

I'm glad to see you are continuing the story! Don't worry about Denny Green and those pro guys. They are who you thought they were.