MP Staff Draft: The AI will fire guys for team suckitude

[Ben E Lou]

I've seen this in SP, and it has been speculated that it could happen in MP. After this morning's FOOL staff draft, I'm pretty much 100% certain that we just saw it in MP. In the FOOL, New Orleans went 2-14 in back-to-back seasons. The owner did not export for the staff draft stage, and the AI replaced *every* staff member. It's pretty clear that these guys were fired for poor performance because in two instances, the replacements had lower suitability numbers, including this case.

8.NOS: Chris Donaldson. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=64
15.STL: Harold Rasmussen. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=87 (fired as strength coordinator at slot 8 by NOS)

"I don't care about your reputation as a great strength coordinator, Rasmussen. We sucked, and you're gone. IN FACT, YOU'RE ALL GONE!!!"

[corbes]

Is that what happened for PHI in the FOOL draft as well?

[Ben E Lou]

I did not notice that. It sure looks like everyone got canned. Did you export?

[garion333]

Awesome.

Now, how do we get real people to fire their awesome coaches?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by garion333

Awesome.

Now, how do we get real people to fire their awesome coaches?

Well, it is possible that the game is coded so that if real people don't, the AI will. I will have to look back and check, but I *think* there have been some instances where people who exported said that their coaches got fired.

[aston217]

That's a pretty cool incentive against not tanking, too!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by aston217

That's a pretty cool incentive against not tanking, too!

Yeah. If this could override an export saying "keep them," it could be an incentive to try to win more games.

[corbes]

Yes, we exported, and made specific recommendations about who should be kept and fired, and made specific weighting choices that sure don't look like they were honored. It's essentially impossible* that the head coach hired for PHI would have been the choice if my weights were followed...

* I mean maybe that's an overstatement. But scouting ability and interviewing ability were weighted as "much more" and every other attribute was downgraded... how could that particular head coach have been hired if the game was using my weights?

[corbes]

And for the record, any suggestion that I tanked is entirely unfounded and wholly unappreciated.

[corbes]

I don't mind the routine if you haven't exported. But if you did export, I think you should get to make your own choices.

[Ben E Lou]

I don't think anyone was suggesting that you tanked, corbes. I know I certainly wasn't. I was speaking more in the hypothetical that if it turns out this works the way that it's now appearing, then it will be something of a deterrent to tanking.

Looking at the order of signings for both PHI and NOS, it looks like it just went with the highest suitability ratings. So it looks like the logic here is that if your staff gets fired, your settings are not used and it just goes after the overall "best available" coaches who are amenable.

I could argue it either way if it "should" be done this way, but as I look deeper, it's become more and more clear what's happening. Here are all the moves in the staff draft in order:

7.SEA: Giovanni Pietsch. hired as head coach. Suitability=57
8.NOS: Tracy Henry. hired as head coach. Suitability=67 (fired as head coach at slot 7 by SEA)
14.DEN: Billy Greene. hired as head coach. Suitability=60
18.MIA: Devan Mathews. hired as head coach. Suitability=54
23.PIT: Victor Brackins. hired as head coach. Suitability=62
26.PHI: Jalen Garrison. hired as head coach. Suitability=62
28.JAX: Chuck Bowers. hired as head coach. Suitability=61
31.TEN: Tevin Ellis. hired as head coach. Suitability=60
32.CAR: Darrell Farrow. hired as head coach. Suitability=61



7.SEA: Perry Farr. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=69
8.NOS: Karl Skerritt. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=68
19.CHI: Bubba Woodson. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=57
21.SDO: Darryl Hillard. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=58 (fired as offensive coordinator at slot 19 by CHI)
22.OAK: Darius Lowe. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=55
26.PHI: Brad Walsh. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=58
29.TBY: Claude Shurtz. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=61 (fired as offensive coordinator at slot 26 by PHI)
30.KCY: Peter Freeman. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=53
31.TEN: Vinny Kelsay. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=57



8.NOS: Bert Shom. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=63 (fired as head coach at slot 28 by JAX)
11.WAS: Kevin Richmond. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=65 (fired as defensive coordinator at slot 8 by NOS)
26.PHI: Sawyer Reed. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=57
32.CAR: Reginald Winslett. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=57 (fired as defensive coordinator at slot 26 by PHI)



8.NOS: Shawn Tyler. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=60 (fired as head coach at slot 26 by PHI)
13.SFO: Gary Ontiveros. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=41
16.CIN: Reuben Hardt. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=59 (fired as offensive coordinator at slot 22 by OAK)
23.PIT: R.J. Shannon. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=57
24.ATL: Chuck Del Rio. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=61
26.PHI: Matt Humphrey. hired as assistant coach. Suitability=55 (fired as assistant coach at slot 23 by PIT)



8.NOS: Chris Donaldson. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=64
15.STL: Harold Rasmussen. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=87 (fired as strength coordinator at slot 8 by NOS)
26.PHI: Dennis Brentlinger. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=57
30.KCY: Ben Rebensdorf. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=63 (fired as strength coordinator at slot 26 by PHI)

[aston217]

Originally Posted by corbes

And for the record, any suggestion that I tanked is entirely unfounded and wholly unappreciated.

Sorry, that's not what I intended at all. I was speaking in general terms -- if this is how the game works, it punishes teams additionally for losing.

[Ben E Lou]

This appears to have happened to Pitt in the FOOL this morning. They exported and it was definitely used. All coaches got fired. They were coming off of three straight bad seasons.

[jzicc]

I think the owner gave me an ultimatum -- either you go or all your staff goes...

[w24olfpack]

Working on building a team in FOOL. Missed on a QB and a RB in the draft so have knocked around the last few years.

With the team struggling (6-10, 5-11, and 4-12) and with the coaching preferences set at 50, here is the result.

26.CAR: J.R. Green. hired as head coach. Suitability=62
31.SEA: Victor Brackins. hired as head coach. Suitability=69 (fired as head coach at slot 26 by CAR)

26.CAR: Darius Lowe. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=67
30.PHI: Kenneth Mathews. hired as offensive coordinator. Suitability=74 (fired as offensive coordinator at slot 26 by CAR)

26.CAR: Carlos Hatcher. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=51
31.SEA: Reginald Winslett. hired as defensive coordinator. Suitability=73 (fired as defensive coordinator at slot 26 by CAR)

26.CAR: Alexis Wolfstone. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=52
31.SEA: Harold Rasmussen. hired as strength coordinator. Suitability=74 (fired as strength coordinator at slot 26 by CAR)

So a struggling team just flushed a top shelf Coaching staff for a bunch of average guys.

Is this an anti-tanking mechanism ? It's already painfully hard for a bad team to get the attendance and $$$ to get a good coaching staff.

Is this what you really wanted Jim ?

[chinaski]

One thing i've noticed is that coaching hiring prefs always revert back to 50's across the board. Unlike Tc prefs that remain the same from what you entered the previous camp. Couldn't that be part of the issue?

[chinaski]

I agree with it not being all that hard as well. I took over the worst team in FOOL and have had a bottom 3 coaching staff the last few seasons and still managed to make it to the playoffs each of those years and only one game from the SB this season. Players > Staff. Always.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by chinaski

One thing i've noticed is that coaching hiring prefs always revert back to 50's across the board. Unlike Tc prefs that remain the same from what you entered the previous camp. Couldn't that be part of the issue?

i can't imagine it has anything to do with preferences. It keeps happening to teams with runs of consecutive (usually three) bad seasons. All five guys get dumped. It happens in SP too to AI teams with roughly the same sets of circumstances.

[w24olfpack]

Thanks for cleaning up and moving this over.

This was a complete bitter pill after whiffing on a 1.1 QB and what GStelmack is using as an example of a RB we all thought would be something.

Just frustrated at the moment. I thought the staff draft was a silly idea to start with - a solution looking for a problem - and now that it's bitten me in the ars.... Just a bit salty.

[Ben E Lou]

Two things about the Staff Draft:

1. It's not realistic, but it works quite well in SP. I'd say it's an improvement over the last version for sure.
2. I think it's fair to guess that pretty much no one--neither Jim nor anyone playing MP--thought we'd be using he preference-based Staff draft for over a year. Exhibit A: the huge majority of MP participants have never even seen the MP amateur draft preference list screen that has been in the game for nearly 12 years in FOF, and very likely weren't even aware that such a thing even existed until they read this sentence.