What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

This is just a theory out of the blue, but I’ve noticed patterns. It seems like most people that complain about not getting P4 HC jobs say stuff like you. “I’ve won 4 national championships in a row.” It seems like they all are Sabanesque and maybe the game is coded for schools to not offer jobs to those that are out of their league. I.e. Purdue or NC State would never offer Saban a job as they know there’s a 0% chance he’d accept it. Of course that doesn’t explain why Tulsa offer the Sabanesque coaches a DC position every year.

As for my personal situation, I’m definitely not Sabanesque, but more like Sweenyesque or Smartesque. I did win back to back national championships a few years ago, but those are my “only” 2 in 13 years. I’ve also only won 2 B1G championships (those same 2 years) in my 7 years in Ann Arbor.

The thing is...prior to Wisconsin, I spent 8 years at Colorado State as HC (from 2026-2034...I mistyped that I started at Wisconsin in 2038 in my last couple of posts). In my first offseason at CSU, I was offered FOUR P4 HC jobs (SMU, Minnesota, Iowa, and North Carolina). I turned them down, thinking I'd get more job offers in the following seasons with the Rams, especially if I did well. I only managed to get CSU to a bowl game in that first year, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, nothing too special. So if I'd win more bowl games and have more success, I should get even more, better offers, right?

I then went the next 7 years in the game without ANY P4 HC offers, until Wisconsin's offer in 2034. This, despite winning several MWC titles and having multiple CFP appearances after that first season. I won a national coach of the year award there, an Orange Bowl, a Cotton Bowl, and went years without a P4 HC offer.

I obviously wasn't Saban-esque at that point or anything, but I'd assume I'd have been looked at as a potential P4 coach on the rise, and other schools would have looked at me to take over their program after a few winning seasons there with CFP appearances. Instead it was the opposite...I was immediately offered four P4 HC gigs, having very little experience and just one somewhat successful season in my first year as an HC (I was the Ball State OC for two years prior to joining CSU).

Don't get me wrong...I am enjoying the game and pour hours and hours into dynasty myself (239 at this point), but I do think the coach carousel is wonky and doesn't make a whole lot of sense - at least in some Dynasties. I do think it seems to have some logic at play and does seem to offer a solid experience for some, but what I have experienced in my Dynasty just doesn't seem to follow any kind of "realistic" or logical path.

[jello1717]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

The thing is...prior to Wisconsin, I spent 8 years at Colorado State as HC (from 2026-2034...I mistyped that I started at Wisconsin in 2038 in my last couple of posts). In my first offseason at CSU, I was offered FOUR P4 HC jobs (SMU, Minnesota, Iowa, and North Carolina). I turned them down, thinking I'd get more job offers in the following seasons with the Rams, especially if I did well. I only managed to get CSU to a bowl game in that first year, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, nothing too special. So if I'd win more bowl games and have more success, I should get even more, better offers, right?

I then went the next 7 years in the game without ANY P4 HC offers, until Wisconsin's offer in 2034. This, despite winning several MWC titles and having multiple CFP appearances after that first season. I won a national coach of the year award there, an Orange Bowl, a Cotton Bowl, and went years without a P4 HC offer.

I obviously wasn't Saban-esque at that point or anything, but I'd assume I'd have been looked at as a potential P4 coach on the rise, and other schools would have looked at me to take over their program after a few winning seasons there with CFP appearances. Instead it was the opposite...I was immediately offered four P4 HC gigs, having very little experience and just one somewhat successful season in my first year as an HC (I was the Ball State OC for two years prior to joining CSU).

Don't get me wrong...I am enjoying the game and pour hours and hours into dynasty myself (239 at this point), but I do think the coach carousel is wonky and doesn't make a whole lot of sense - at least in some Dynasties. I do think it seems to have some logic at play and does seem to offer a solid experience for some, but what I have experienced in my Dynasty just doesn't seem to follow any kind of "realistic" or logical path.

I’m at a loss for words about your experience except to say that I’m soooper glad I didn’t have a similar one. It would’ve really sucked the joy out of the game for me if I was stuck @ Old Dominion for 9 years without ever getting a P4 offer.

What’s your pipeline (I’m sure you’ve likely listed it in here somewhere, but I don’t remember)? Maybe what the other guy wrote is correct and your pipeline isn’t desired by P4 schools.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

What’s your pipeline (I’m sure you’ve likely listed it in here somewhere, but I don’t remember)? Maybe what the other guy wrote is correct and your pipeline isn’t desired by P4 schools.

It's Wisconsin, and I think that the Pipeline definitely has something to do with it. But then again, it's odd that pipeline would have such a huge impact, and yet I still got those 4 P4 job offers just 3 years into the Dynasty.

I'm about to begin a new Dynasty here soon, and am going to try some different pipeline choices and such for my coach. I'll see how different the experience is.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I’ve always interpreted it as either “yes, we want an alum,” or “no, we don’t care whether or not he’s an alum.” Not as “no we refuse to hire an alum.”

That makes sense and is probably correct.

Overall, the formula for what schools offer what coaches is either more reliant on coaching archetype than I account for in my head, or it’s got a fair amount of random “luck of the draw” type stuff.

[jbrew2411]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I have had a hard time keeping a dynasty going beyond 8 seasons with my 300+ hours of game play all in offline dynasty mode. My last two attempts at a journey man dynasty might have opened my eyes to what might be the factors.

Career #1: I started as a level 0(normal speed) OC at UCONN with recruiting archetype, pro style/3-3-5 playbooks, metro Atlanta pipeline. By the end of year 1 I was a level 10 with C+ coach prestige. The only two HC offer's I got was Kennesaw State and Georgia Southern. KSU went winless and GSU had 1 win. Both schools were 1 star programs. I took the KSU offer since I had done a GSU stent in an earlier journey man dynasty. I did well in the portal resulting in wins on the field but never got an offer from a school above a 1-2 star like Marshall, ECU, FIU. I ended up staying 4 seasons where I had 8, 9, 9, and 11 win seasons. My coach hit a level 25 before I got offers from 3 star programs in a P5 conference. The 11 win season saw me in the playoffs but I don’t feel like that had an impact on offers. After 4 seasons wanting to move up I got an offer from 3.5 star Texas, they had hit hard times. By this point my coach was a level 30, I had recruiting and motivator complete, and had A prestige. I took the Texas job where I took a young team to the championship game, lost bad. I was now a level 35 coach by the time offers came around. I got two 4 star program offers from Texas A&M and USC. I decided to end that dynasty at that point because I had grown bored of it. Reflecting back on the dynasty it did seem like my coaching level had an impact on the quality of offers I got. As a lower level coach, below a 25 saw me getting 1-2 star program offers regardless of records or stats. The teams that offered me seemed to be based on coach prestige, playbook, and pipeline.

The second journey man dynasty I did I started as an OC, level 0, motivation archetype, spread/4-3 multiple playbooks, south Florida pipeline. I spent 2 seasons as the OC at Liberty, won 11 games in year 1 making the playoffs, won 9 games in year 2 losing our bowl game. By the end of year 2 I was a level 17 coach. Year 1 I got the KSU HC offer only, I decided to just stay to not go down the same road again. After year 2 I got two 1 star HC offers, can’t remember the teams, and 2.5 star Tulsa HC offer, I took the Tulsa job. I got my coach to a level 30 after 3 seasons at Tulsa that saw me win 9 games the 1st year but only win 6 games in year 2. Year 3 was a great year winning 11 games. I was offered 3 HC jobs all at 3 star programs, I took an offer from 3.5 star Virginia where I will spend 3 seasons. I didn’t look at offers to year 3 where I was now level 40 coach. I got a few 4 star program HC offers and one 5 star program HC offer at Alabama. I turned them all down to play one last year at UVA but somehow deleted the file. Overall my reflection on this journey man dynasty was coach level seemed to impact the quality of offers I got.

I think your coach level impacts the quality of jobs you get. Your coach prestige and play style impact what offers you get from the program level. Some jobs want any play style while others are looking for certain types of coaches. This is just my observation from my experience.

[jello1717]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I have had a hard time keeping a dynasty going beyond 8 seasons with my 300+ hours of game play all in offline dynasty mode. My last two attempts at a journey man dynasty might have opened my eyes to what might be the factors.

Career #1: I started as a level 0(normal speed) OC at UCONN with recruiting archetype, pro style/3-3-5 playbooks, metro Atlanta pipeline. By the end of year 1 I was a level 10 with C+ coach prestige. The only two HC offer's I got was Kennesaw State and Georgia Southern. KSU went winless and GSU had 1 win. Both schools were 1 star programs. I took the KSU offer since I had done a GSU stent in an earlier journey man dynasty. I did well in the portal resulting in wins on the field but never got an offer from a school above a 1-2 star like Marshall, ECU, FIU. I ended up staying 4 seasons where I had 8, 9, 9, and 11 win seasons. My coach hit a level 25 before I got offers from 3 star programs in a P5 conference. The 11 win season saw me in the playoffs but I don’t feel like that had an impact on offers. After 4 seasons wanting to move up I got an offer from 3.5 star Texas, they had hit hard times. By this point my coach was a level 30, I had recruiting and motivator complete, and had A prestige. I took the Texas job where I took a young team to the championship game, lost bad. I was now a level 35 coach by the time offers came around. I got two 4 star program offers from Texas A&M and USC. I decided to end that dynasty at that point because I had grown bored of it. Reflecting back on the dynasty it did seem like my coaching level had an impact on the quality of offers I got. As a lower level coach, below a 25 saw me getting 1-2 star program offers regardless of records or stats. The teams that offered me seemed to be based on coach prestige, playbook, and pipeline.

The second journey man dynasty I did I started as an OC, level 0, motivation archetype, spread/4-3 multiple playbooks, south Florida pipeline. I spent 2 seasons as the OC at Liberty, won 11 games in year 1 making the playoffs, won 9 games in year 2 losing our bowl game. By the end of year 2 I was a level 17 coach. Year 1 I got the KSU HC offer only, I decided to just stay to not go down the same road again. After year 2 I got two 1 star HC offers, can’t remember the teams, and 2.5 star Tulsa HC offer, I took the Tulsa job. I got my coach to a level 30 after 3 seasons at Tulsa that saw me win 9 games the 1st year but only win 6 games in year 2. Year 3 was a great year winning 11 games. I was offered 3 HC jobs all at 3 star programs, I took an offer from 3.5 star Virginia where I will spend 3 seasons. I didn’t look at offers to year 3 where I was now level 40 coach. I got a few 4 star program HC offers and one 5 star program HC offer at Alabama. I turned them all down to play one last year at UVA but somehow deleted the file. Overall my reflection on this journey man dynasty was coach level seemed to impact the quality of offers I got.

I think your coach level impacts the quality of jobs you get. Your coach prestige and play style impact what offers you get from the program level. Some jobs want any play style while others are looking for certain types of coaches. This is just my observation from my experience.

Coach level probably is considered, but being high level hasn’t seemed to matter for me. I play with slower coach speed (I’m only level 33 in 2037, year 14) and have still gotten offers.

After year 4 (all spent as ODU’s HC) I was only level 15 when I accepted the 3.5 [emoji294]️ Louisville HC job.

Then after 2 years @ Louisville (year 6 of my dynasty) I was level 19 when I was offered the HC job for both 4 [emoji294]️ Penn State and 5 [emoji294]️ Michigan.

[jbrew2411]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

Coach level probably is considered, but being high level hasn’t seemed to matter for me. I play with slower coach speed (I’m only level 33 in 2037, year 14) and have still gotten offers.

After year 4 (all spent as ODU’s HC) I was only level 15 when I accepted the 3.5 [emoji294]️ Louisville HC job.

Then after 2 years @ Louisville (year 6 of my dynasty) I was level 19 when I was offered the HC job for both 4 [emoji294]️ Penn State and 5 [emoji294]️ Michigan.

I have found a few schools that are always offering HC jobs in my last 4 dynasties after year 2, KSU, Louisville, and Memphis are always open. I will also add I have observed once you take a job at a bigger school, like Louisville, it can open much bigger jobs.

I would ask what level was your school was when you got those offers? It seems to have some impact like we saw recently with Alabama. Your coaching level might be lower but if your school is a 4 or 5 star program then you seem to get offers. In my example of KSU to Texas HC, I had KSU as a 3.5 star program, the same as Texas at that point.

I have had dynasties where I get offers from schools like Miami 3 seasons in with a lower level coach but my program was at the same level that Miami was at. I have seen some balance on the open jobs I was offered in my last 3 dynasties I have started since the last patch. It seems to be more balanced in my opinion. I have not seen a lot of one great MAC season leads to a huge SEC or Big Ten job, I saw this a few times early on.

[jello1717]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I have found a few schools that are always offering HC jobs in my last 4 dynasties after year 2, KSU, Louisville, and Memphis are always open. I will also add I have observed once you take a job at a bigger school, like Louisville, it can open much bigger jobs.

I would ask what level was your school was when you got those offers? It seems to have some impact like we saw recently with Alabama. Your coaching level might be lower but if your school is a 4 or 5 star program then you seem to get offers. In my example of KSU to Texas HC, I had KSU as a 3.5 star program, the same as Texas at that point.

I have had dynasties where I get offers from schools like Miami 3 seasons in with a lower level coach but my program was at the same level that Miami was at. I have seen some balance on the open jobs I was offered in my last 3 dynasties I have started since the last patch. It seems to be more balanced in my opinion. I have not seen a lot of one great MAC season leads to a huge SEC or Big Ten job, I saw this a few times early on.

In year 4, my ODU program was 2.5 [emoji294]️ when I was offered Louisville.

In year 6, my Ouisville program was 3.5 [emoji294]️ when I was offered PSU and UofM.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I have found a few schools that are always offering HC jobs in my last 4 dynasties after year 2, KSU, Louisville, and Memphis are always open. I will also add I have observed once you take a job at a bigger school, like Louisville, it can open much bigger jobs.

I would ask what level was your school was when you got those offers? It seems to have some impact like we saw recently with Alabama. Your coaching level might be lower but if your school is a 4 or 5 star program then you seem to get offers. In my example of KSU to Texas HC, I had KSU as a 3.5 star program, the same as Texas at that point.

I have had dynasties where I get offers from schools like Miami 3 seasons in with a lower level coach but my program was at the same level that Miami was at. I have seen some balance on the open jobs I was offered in my last 3 dynasties I have started since the last patch. It seems to be more balanced in my opinion. I have not seen a lot of one great MAC season leads to a huge SEC or Big Ten job, I saw this a few times early on.

I agree with Jello that coach level doesn’t matter. At a 1 or 1.5 school, I went 5-7 as an OC and reached level 9. I got HC offers from Duke (3*) and New Mexico State (1*)

The following season we went something like 10-2, maybe 11-2 after championships. I had zero offers for anything, even OC. Won the national title and had A prestige. EDIT: upon further review I was actually offered South Florida HC (2 or 2.5*) but I turned it down. Just had no interest.

After year 3 I was still A prestige and level 24 I believe. only got offered 4 spots. Two mediocre HC spots (can’t even remember), OC for UCLA (3.5*) and OC for Michigan State (2*)

One great season at UCLA (10-2) and I now level 25 and got a few HC spots, none that I particularly wanted but a couple I was happy to entertain.

One was 5* Alabama
4* Washington
2.5* Washington State
2.5* Fresno State

Of all offers I get there’s often coaches anywhere from 5-15 levels higher than me on their short list. I’m ALWAYS the lowest level coach in their 3 options, even now at level 25.

I think prestige/achetype/pipelines/playbooks are the major factors. Of all the HC’s openings I see, almost all schools prefer architects or CEO. Every once in a while I’ll see program builders preferred, but I’ve only ever seen motivator as the preference once. I’ve seen motivators or recruiters get hired, but it’s never the schools preferred archetype.

[jbrew2411]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I agree with Jello that coach level doesn’t matter. At a 1 or 1.5 school, I went 5-7 as an OC and reached level 9. I got HC offers from Duke (3*) and New Mexico State (1*)

The following season we went something like 10-2, maybe 11-2 after championships. I had zero offers for anything, even OC. Won the national title and had A prestige. EDIT: upon further review I was actually offered South Florida HC (2 or 2.5*) but I turned it down. Just had no interest.

After year 3 I was still A prestige and level 24 I believe. only got offered 4 spots. Two mediocre HC spots (can’t even remember), OC for UCLA (3.5*) and OC for Michigan State (2*)

One great season at UCLA (10-2) and I now level 25 and got a few HC spots, none that I particularly wanted but a couple I was happy to entertain.

One was 5* Alabama
4* Washington
2.5* Washington State
2.5* Fresno State

Of all offers I get there’s often coaches anywhere from 5-15 levels higher than me on their short list. I’m ALWAYS the lowest level coach in their 3 options, even now at level 25.

I think prestige/achetype/pipelines/playbooks are the major factors. Of all the HC’s openings I see, almost all schools prefer architects or CEO. Every once in a while I’ll see program builders preferred, but I’ve only ever seen motivator as the preference once. I’ve seen motivators or recruiters get hired, but it’s never the schools preferred archetype.

In my experiences with this game I have noticed a direct relation with jobs offered and my coaches level at that time. Like you I have been the lowest level coach or not even listed in the top 3, but always get the job if I accept.

I agree that other factors play into the offers you get like prestige, archetype, pipelines, and/or playbook. My observation has been that those factors impact which schools offer you jobs within the level your coach is verses the schools looking for a certain coach. I’m enjoying that multiple factors go into the jobs offered to you verses 14 where you could force your way to any job. It also seems like we are all giving different experiences which could be contributed to our different styles of play, which is a great thing.

I always go with normal progression. I like the recruiter archetype to complete first before moving on to motivator. I tend to run more pro style/3-3-5 formations. The results for me have been within my liking of jobs offered based on my coaches level and resume. My biggest issue I had with 14 was how easy it was to land a top job within a few seasons into a dynasty. In 25 my experience has been much improved.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

To people not getting very many HC offers, or at least not quality offers, what is your coach pipeline? Coach pipeline matters a ton for who offers you, so I wonder if choosing a pipeline that is high tier for more schools gives you more consistent quality HC opportunities.

For instance, my coach's pipeline (Tidewater) is T4 or T5 for nine schools and many of those have offered me HC jobs in my dynasty (PSU, OU, Clemson, Bama to name a few). For Wisconsin, only one school (UW) has it as a T4, then a handful have it as T1 and T2 and that's it. Maybe the game prioritizes pipeline synergies so much that if you have a pipeline that lacks T4 and T5 schools, you barely get offers.

In my OD my pipeline is one of the Floridas. I did it when you could change it whenever you wanted and set it for the #1 recruit. Then they locked it down.

My best offer across 7 seasons and 3 NC has been UF and FSU.

[georgiafan]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I'm in year 29/30 and I worked my way up from OC to head coach on my 3rd stop. I take the 1* job offer a few years back as it was about the only school I could get. When I really wanted one my teambuilder schools to offer. The downside of all the job hoping is I haven't been able to see players finish out careers. So after landing two really fun players I just decide I will stay here for atleast as long as those 2 are at my school. Then of course I get the big time job offers the next offseason after I decide this

I'm level 22 with 1 conference title and no playoff wins going back between slowest / slow progression (switched to normal now)

[cybergates]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

The old carousel was fun. It was nice seeing the firing/hiring/movement in "real-time" and regretting taking a job when a better one came open after.

[bkrich83]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

I think coach prestige plays a big role in this as well as the attributes at some level meeting what the hiring school is looking for.

I started off as an OC at USC, and as soon as my coaching prestige hit A or A+ I immediately started getting offers from big time schools (ended up at FSU). Most seasons at this point I still get HC offers from high prestige school. I'm currently at Oregon and was offered from Alabama and Washington this past round. After I wanted to move on from FSU I was offered from USC and then from there went to Oregon. When I got the Oregon.

[pgaiser1]

Re: What does it take for a guy to get a HC offer anymore?!?

The old carousel was fun. It was nice seeing the firing/hiring/movement in "real-time" and regretting taking a job when a better one came open after.

No doubt about it. For now, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that this (and other missing features) were a function of not having the time to implement them properly and will be addressed in the future.