Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

[Flex on them]

Good afternoon gentlemen

I will be starting a dynasty that is predicated on using the flexbone offense. The journey of coach Flex will be a ride of the century. I fell in love with the Flexbone while Paul Johnson was coaching at Georgia Tech, and ever since then this is the offense that I enjoy watching. I am excited that they have included this offense in the upcoming College Football 25 video game and I am excited to recruit and progress my way through the digital college football landscape.

Dynasty Info:

Team: The Citadel
System: PS5
Level: Heisman
Sliders: Using Canes21 sliders: https://forums.operationsports.com/f...5-sliders.html
Quarter length: 15 minutes with 20 second accelerated clock.
Coach XP Speed Setting: Slowest

House Rules:

Since I am a coach with little to no experience; the first couple of seasons I will STRICTLY use "ask coach" to pick my plays for me. I want to truly feel immersed in my dynasty and I want to enjoy my journey "working" my way up through the ladders of my virtual career. Since I am starting as an offensive coordinator, I will only play offensive snaps and will leave the defense up to the CPU until I earn a HC position. Then I will control both sides of the ball.


Dynasty Ideas:

I want this to be a story. I always told myself if money wasn't a thing, I would just create things. I will create random events throughout my dynasty. For example: I will randomly dismiss players from my team at the most random times, even if they are a star. I will "suspend" my players for reasons TBD, etc. I want to have fun with this universe that I will create. I will penalize myself (at the coordinator level) and I will penalize my coaching staff (ONLY when I become a HC). Penalizing myself will look like "Coach Flex has been alleged for illegal recruiting practices and has been suspended for 4 games." I will sim 4 games, and I also won't be able to recruit for 4 weeks. Because of these random events, the journey to becoming a head coach will be arduous and due to my random events, there may be times where I am fired and can only find a job as a defensive coordinator. I am looking forward to the ride that I will create and I hope you all enjoy the ride as well when this game is finally released.

[georgiafan]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

As I mentioned in the other thread you know I'm down for following along with anyone that's running the flexbone. It will be fun to recruit and find the right recruits for the offense.

I'm far from a expert with making pics, however I can attempt to make some stuff if you want me to feel free to send me a DM. Also you may want to check out the table generators and bookmark it as you will see a lot of people do it

https://dynasties.operationsports.com/index.php

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

As I mentioned in the other thread you know I'm down for following along with anyone that's running the flexbone. It will be fun to recruit and find the right recruits for the offense.

I'm far from a expert with making pics, however I can attempt to make some stuff if you want me to feel free to send me a DM. Also you may want to check out the table generators and bookmark it as you will see a lot of people do it

https://dynasties.operationsports.com/index.php

Thanks for the link. I will utilize this closer to the games release. Still have no idea what team I will use lol.

[studbucket]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

I've seen you asking about graphics. Stuff like Photoshop and GIMP are great, but I honestly do almost everything in PowerPoint. I can crop, add text, add gradients, etc. Then I just either copy it into paint and save as a PNG or I export the slide as a PNG.

Just find what works for you and the link from georgiafan is a great place to workshop and get help.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

I've seen you asking about graphics. Stuff like Photoshop and GIMP are great, but I honestly do almost everything in PowerPoint. I can crop, add text, add gradients, etc. Then I just either copy it into paint and save as a PNG or I export the slide as a PNG.

Just find what works for you and the link from georgiafan is a great place to workshop and get help.

Appreciate the response buddy! Thanks for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

[cookies00]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

This looks like an interesting concept

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

Coach Flex Dynasty.jpg

The Citadel Hire Coach V. as Offensive Coordinator for the Upcoming Football Season

Charleston, S.C. - In a stunning decision made by Mike Capaccio, the AD of the Citadel, they took a chance on hiring coach Richie V. No one has heard of coach V, and even V was shocked to receive a call back from Capaccio. Citadel alums and athletes alike are scratching their heads and have no idea what is to come for the upcoming football season. If we look at the last 10 seasons, The Citadel achieved only 2 winning seasons and those were during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. After those two seasons, The Citadel has been a consistent team that has fallen below .500 and they are coming off an 0-11 (0-8) 2023 campaign where the Citadel only averaged a meager 10 points per game and only 262.4 yards a game. Cappacio saw enough and decided to gamble and take a chance on the unknown coach. It can't get any worse than 0-11, right? Coach V had a brief press conference after he was hired. He walked in confidently and took his seat, and the reporters.


Reporter #1: Mr. V, what compelled you to come to Charleston to take on a struggling team such as the Bulldogs?

V: Before I answer that question, I do again want to thank Mr. Cappacio for giving an unproven guy like me an opportunity to coach the Cadets here at the Citadel. And ironically, I think this school fits me. These Cadets are still in training to transition into the soldiers that will protect our country, and I am an unproven coach with a lot to learn. My family has a military background and as soon as I saw the opportunity, I thought to myself: "why not?"

Reporter #2: Mr. V, what are your plans for the upcoming season? This team just finished with an 0-11 record last season, which led to the firing of the last offensive coordinator. Do you feel as if you are under pressure to win right away?


V: There's always pressure to win. I am a competitive person and football is a competitive sport. However, I have set realistic expectations for the upcoming season. There are a lot of factors that come into play that can either make or break a team. I know last season was rough on the Cadets who put their blood sweat and tears onto that field last season and what did they get in return? Not win a single game. It's the trials and tribulations of life and I know I will face those same things throughout my career. We will just have to face those obstacles head on and keep on moving.

Reporter #3: Last question; what changes are you bringing to the offense Mr. V?


V: Well, I followed Paul Johnson a lot when he was coaching at Georgia Tech, so I fell in love with the flexbone. The Citadel ran it, but due to the rule changes they switched to a pistol option last season, and it just didn't work. I looked at the roster and our offensive line is small. A lot of these guys are under 280 pounds and some of them are in the 250's. There's no way they will be able to hold blocks if we are taking snaps from the pistol or shotgun. I proposed to the HC that we go back under center and go back to the flexbone. He was hesitant at first, an unknown coach going against what he believes. He agreed to it, but he will be calling the plays for the upcoming season. I feel as if my role would be that of a motivator to get these kids to play their hearts out for themselves, but most importantly, for each other.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

2023 Season for the Citadel

Citadel 2023 season.png

Year One Outlook

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

SoCon Football.png
Standings SoCon Conference.png

My Plans

My hope is that EA allows users to download created teams like they did in the older iterations. My goal is to download all of the SoCon teams and put them into the Independent conference. That way I can consistently schedule those teams every single season until I get a FBS position. I would love to talk about the individual players that belong to each of these teams to make the story more immersive, however, I am not sure:
1.) if all SoCon teams will be created, and

2.) if the creators will be generous enough to create these rosters with real names, or just the automated rosters that the teambuilder website will create.

So for the time being, I will just give a generic breakdown of each team in the conference.

[Brandon8719]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

2023 Season for the Citadel

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Year One Outlook

How did you embed that YouTube video if I may ask? I've been trying to figure that out fir the longest time.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

How did you embed that YouTube video if I may ask? I've been trying to figure that out fir the longest time.

If you go to the video you want to embed, click on the "share" tab and then click on the embed symbol. Copy that link and then just paste that link onto your post. It will automatically have the video pop up.

[Brandon8719]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

Thank you so much.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey



Furman Paladins- The Paladins are coming off of a successful 2023 campaign. They are coming off of a 10-3 (7-1) season where they made it to the second round of the FCS playoffs, losing to FCS runner up, Montana Grizzlies in a heartbreaking 35-28 loss. The Paladins are usually a team that remains in the middle of the pack or at the top of the conference. Although the Paladins placed at the top of their conference last season it wasn't because of their offense. Their defense only allowed 18 points per game. The highest amount of points the Paladin defense gave up last season were 47 against South Carolina and 28 against newest FBS team, Kennesaw State. A lot of talent will be leaving on the defensive side of the ball, leaving a hole to fill for the Paladins. The Paladins have a balanced attack. They rushed and threw for over 2000 yards last season, but they didn't have that wow factor on offense. They will be losing their top two performers on the offensive side of the ball, so we will see who will step up on the offensive side of the ball.

Mercer Bears- The Mercer Bears are a team who has found recent success in SoCon play. They are coming off of a 9-4 (6-2) season where they got blasted by the 2023 FCS national champions, South Dakota State 0-41. Definitely not how the Bears wanted to finish their season, but here they are, hoping for a longer season this year. Although Mercer made it to the second round of the FCS playoffs, they struggled with consistency. Some games the defense played lights out and other games the defense gave up a ton of points. If the offense struggled to move the ball, the Bears would lose. It was as if, if the offense didn't come to play, Mercer could have easily finished under .500. To put things into perspective, the offense averaged 24 points per game and the defense gave up 23 points per game. The Mercer bears never dominated competition, unless they played a terrible team. The Bears are returning a lot of players on both sides of the ball. This team is relatively young.

Chatanooga Mocs- The Chatanooga Mocs are a team that always finish in the top of SoCon football. They finished 8-5 (6-2) last season and fell to their SoCon rival, the Furman Paladins in the second round of the FCS playoffs, 7-26. The Mocs gave up on average 350 yards a game from the defensive side of the ball and found most of their success through the air. They struggled to run the ball last season. The Mocs were close to having two wide receivers eclipse the 1,000 yard mark to show how potent their passing game was. The Mocs had a rough streak towards the end of the season. They lost to the Paladins 14-17, then they had a money game against Bama, where they lost 10-66. The Mocs are looking to rebound this upcoming season and reclaim their top spot of the SoCon conference.

Western Carolina Catamounts- The Western Carolina Catamounts finished their season 7-4 (5-3) and are an average team in the SoCon. The Catamounts did not make the FCS playoffs. They have proven to be a consistent 5-3 conference team, but they just got back to that after a few losing seasons. The highlight of their season was a beatdown of the season when they beat Charleston Southern 77-21. This score indicates that the Catamounts could put up points on a good day. They have scored over 35 points in four games (77, 58, 50, 52). The Catamounts will be returning a lot of those offensive players and home to improve this upcoming season.

Samford Bulldogs- The Samford Bulldogs finished 6-5 (4-4) last season and have struggled to find their footing in the SoCon. They are consistently in the middle of the pack, or in the lower half of the conference. Samford had no problem beating up on the lower level teams in the SoCon, but the talent difference was noticeable when they played teams like Chatanooga and Western Carolina. They played FCS semifinal rival Furman tough and lost by one touchdown. This team has shown promise and are expecting to return a lot of players. Will it make the difference though?

VMI Keydets- The VMI Keydets have been the bottom dwellers of the SoCon. They recently just started winning. They finished 5-6 (4-4) last season. Another military school who surprisingly runs a pro offense. There is nothing spectacular about this team. Their offense isn't their strong suit as they only averaged 15 points per game last season. They are a team that is slowly improving in the sport. The Keydets look forward to competing in the upcoming season and they hope to not fall to the bottom again.

East Tennessee State, The Citadel, Wofford- These three teams were at the bottom of the conference last season. It is surprising to see Wofford at the bottom of this, Wofford dominated to SoCon and was a consistent name that you saw in the FCS playoffs, but times have changed and Wofford has struggled the past few seasons. Maybe it's because they've gone away from the flexbone? East Tennessee State has been a team who had success during the covid years, but after that, they came back to reality. This team has consistently been towards the bottom of the conference. The Citadel was at the top of the conference during 2015 and 2016, but after that it has been a huge struggle to find their footing again. These teams look to compete in the upcoming football season.

[georgiafan]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

They have said you can download other creations so that shouldn't be issue as I'm sure someone will create them. Hopefully they have it go live a few weeks before the game drops.

Chattanooga is the closest college to where I live so it will be cool to see them used. Picking the military school for the flexbone can't argue with that one and citadel sounds like a tough rugged school that could run it correctly

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My Plans

My hope is that EA allows users to download created teams like they did in the older iterations. My goal is to download all of the SoCon teams and put them into the Independent conference. That way I can consistently schedule those teams every single season until I get a FBS position. I would love to talk about the individual players that belong to each of these teams to make the story more immersive, however, I am not sure:
1.) if all SoCon teams will be created, and

2.) if the creators will be generous enough to create these rosters with real names, or just the automated rosters that the teambuilder website will create.

So for the time being, I will just give a generic breakdown of each team in the conference.

[Flex on them]

Re: Thinking Outside the Box: Coach Flex's Journey

They have said you can download other creations so that shouldn't be issue as I'm sure someone will create them. Hopefully they have it go live a few weeks before the game drops.

Chattanooga is the closest college to where I live so it will be cool to see them used. Picking the military school for the flexbone can't argue with that one and citadel sounds like a tough rugged school that could run it correctly

That's reassuring that I will be able to create the SoCon conference. The issue that I am running into is the coaching carousel during the off-season. I planned on getting rid of the C-USA, but after I get a HC job, or another OC job at the FBS level I want to add the C-USA teams back. And I will user control all the SoCon teams. I might show some CPU vs CPU action if there is a big conference game coming up as well. I want this to be immersive as possible.