Wooden Survey Topic

I recently sent out a sitemail to wooden coaches. I asked a few questions in an effort to find out how to keep coaches around and also to draw new coaches in. Basically to find out what makes the average HD coach tick.

The sitmail was sent to 34 coaches that are NOT in one of the big4 conferences. The two requirements were a good resume and longetivity in Wooden. (sorry if i missed a few of you)

Of the 34 surveys, 14 responded, 12 did not, and 8 have yet to open their sitemail. I sent this out monday afternoon.
10/23/2009 2:52 AM
here's a copy of the sitemail:

If you dont mind could you answer a few questions. I've always been good at keeping my conference full. I might try to broaden that to a world-wide stance. I think wooden DIII is awesome, but it could be so much better. PLEASE take some time to answer a few questions, thank you.



How long do you plan to stay in Wooden DIII?
A - couple more seasons
B - no plan to quit
C - I'm a lifer

Are you aware of the conf challenge going on between the NAC, Midwest, Michigan, and Upstate (aka the big4)?

Even though you are not a part of it, do you follow the rivalry (best conf RPI)?

Would you join a "big4" conference?
A - I'm just waiting for a spot to open up
B - Whats the big4
C - Hell no, i look forward to spanking those ****'s in OOC

How often do you check other CC's in Wooden DIII?

Do you read wronoj's Dynasty Thread in the Wooden forum?

Please give me ANY thoughts or comments. I'm just wondering how to retain coaches. Also, and more importantly how to get new ones. I want to know how to proceed in growing wooden. Do we just fill any school what so ever? Or do we target a 5th conference. Fill it up, then move on to a 6th conference...

There's lots of options, and I would love any input. thanks for your time

marko
10/23/2009 2:53 AM
How long do you plan to stay in wooden?

1 - couple more seasons
7 - No plan to quit
4 - I'm a lifer
2 - Write-ins of:
"Till my credits run out"
"not sure"



For the most part, the current long term coaches will be sticking around. Only two coaches are leaving in the near future. One said he will play a couple more seasons and the other is leaving after his paid seasons are used up.
10/23/2009 2:56 AM
Are you aware of the conf challenge going on between the NAC, Midwest, Michigan, and Upstate (aka the big4)?

- I am aware. I hope it's going well!
- NO- I'd be interested in a conf challenge though
- Yes. btw, why is the Midwest even in the Big 4, anyway?
- .......apathetic to most of the other stuff
- Nope, there isn't any "big 4" in my book. There's only the ASC and all the rest
- I haven't really heard much of the big 4
- no
- Occasionally follow the challenge
- I am aware of the "Big 4" as you put it
- Vaguely, yes
- I'm vaguely familiar with the conf challenge
- yes
- no i am not
- Yes



Being an Upstater, i guess i thought Wooden World revolves around us. (and now the other three conferences too). But most of the rest of wooden could care less. There seems to be quite a few coaches who are in their own little world. Just check their team and go about their business. Way more than i thought there was. I'll touch on this subject more later. I've began to rethink my attack on recruting new coaches.
10/23/2009 2:56 AM
Even though you are not a part of it, do you follow the rivalry (best conf RPI)?

- Not too much, we just try to get our poor old MIAC up there in the top 5 or 6 of the mix.
- no i do not.
- no
- not really
- A little bit
- I do not follow the Big 4 challenge
- Occasionally follow the challenge
- no
- no
- Nope
- no
- Yes-- and who says the E-8 isn't a part of it?
- I follow who has the best RPI



Similar to the previous question. But more of the same sentiment. I guess what we need to figure out is if these coaches "want" to be a part of something like this. Would getting six conferences or even eight conferences involved be worthwhile? Would coaches that dont pay attention now, pay attention if their conference was involved? Or could they care less?
10/23/2009 2:56 AM
Would you join a "big4" conference?


- four coaches chose "C"
- C (and When I leave the conference I am in, I will leave this world)
- i like (my school), plan on staying there
- on one hand yes, compared to the way my conference has thinned out the last 2 seasons (9 coaches to 4). On the other hand, you grow accustomed and attached to your teams
- would not leave my current school to move to a more full conference unless the perfect opportunity came along
- I dont want to leave the program I've built
- D- There is no big4
- im staying put
- C, mostly. I don't mind a half empty conference but I would leave for a big 4 if it got down to 2 or 3 humans
- Maybe- I would rather some other coaches join my conference though since I am "invested" in my team
- I'm pretty content. I suppose I would consider it at some point (not that anyone would want me!), but I like trying to build something from nothing at HU. And although I have been fairly good OOC, I can't seem to beat the Upstate!



I think coaches thought i was trying to recruit them with this question. The reason i asked it was to see what coaches were thinking in terms of moving their teams. I think we've agreed that consolidating conferences was not helping Wooden overall. In this survey, most coaches were attached to their teams (which is good). They, for the most part, all want a full conference. and that is the purpose of this whole damn thing. To fill more conferences. If we can somehow get conferences "over the hump" the world will get healthy very fast. By over the hump i mean more humans than sims in a conference.
10/23/2009 2:57 AM
How often do you check other CC's in Wooden DIII?

- Anywhere from once a week to once a month or usually anytime I play someone in a conference. Never know what interesting things might be siad
- almost never
- rarely
- I don't check other conferences that often
- Every now and then
- When I was at the height of my love for WIS, I would check all of the CC's in D3 Wooden daily. I just checked the Upstate for the first time in a month the other day
- Occasionally look at other conf forums
- never
- never
- Very seldom, I have better things to do with my time
- rarely
- Fairly frequently
- never
- I would bet I check more than most. I like checking the Upstate and Michigan, but that's it for the most part.



Another similar Q as #2 and #3. And again, similar sentiment. I guess the question i have is . . . .would coaches that are in a conference full of sims get greater enjoyment out of the game with a fuller conference? Is there a seperation of coaches? Those coaches that chat via "coaches corner"/forums and those that dont?
10/23/2009 2:57 AM
Do you read wronoj's Dynasty Thread in the Wooden forum?

- Yes, he does a nice job. I have even gotten on it a few times but it is difficult for an outlier team to stay there.
- I read it about once per season
- yes
- I don't go into the WOoden forum that often at all
- Yes, all the time
- do read wronoj's thread - even though I think we are over-ranked right now :) I read his stuff, but not the rest of the banter - just not into WIS as much anymore
- Do read the Dynasty thread
- yes
- I have not read the thread but I plan on starting soon
- Rarely, I wish he would remove (my) name from that list. I don't care anything about the Dynasty thread, you can relay that to him
- rarely
- Heck, yes
- Don't know about it. What is it?
- Yes, that list is awesome



A lot of coaches read the thread. Makes sense, its a world-wide list and most coaches surveyed are on the list. So where do we go from here. This type of list is of interest to a wide range of coaches for the simple fact that anyone can make the list. The big4 is limited to 48 coaches. Do we go the route of trying a Weekly Top 25? Something similar to what peacemaker did in crum? Its a lot of work, but with regular contributors, it *might* be feasable. There's a ton of options.....
10/23/2009 2:57 AM
Alright, well thats the survey. I've posted questions and the results that i received. I didnt go in depth, just posted quickly and put up some quick comments of my own to start some discussion. I'll wait a few days and then get my thoughts in on what to do
10/23/2009 2:57 AM
here's who the sitemail was sent to:

ancone; barjaz; bluespruce1; breezee; camrun; carmmc; coachferrier; dedelman; dtd95; ennam_iv; fairbanka2; flashing1; goblue2009; hydrospeed; ike1024; jayhawks2130; jnardone; kdatoo; marica; mgross03; mike21793; morgman68; myloanreport; palmettobugs; riverbandit; robochode; ronm605; schefflerk5; tarheel06; timetogetit; treyomo; vandydave; wheelhouse32; willmes
10/23/2009 2:57 AM
Great job; this is interesting. Some generic thoughts below:

1- The weekly top 25 sounds like a bear or a project, but it might be workable if we did a coaches poll ala the BCS and have someone (im nominating you polo) collect it. The issue I see is that since the bulk of the coaches are in 4 conferences, the coaches poll might be biased to big 4 teams.

2- A problem I see with WISis that it has grown almost exclusively through word of mouth and caters to pretty unique people- people that like the franchise mode better than the game in Madden. Given that universe, it looks like WIS has sort of saturized its target market and is struggling to find growth areas (sort of like Detroit automakers if you're a cynic). So I guess that means it will be hard to grow Wooden World from new coaches. And as your survey points out, coaches are unwilling to leave teams cause they "like what they built" thereby making it tough to recruit from other Worlds.

3- Adding to the Big 4 Challenge is a good idea. I think conferences like the Empire 8, Minnesota IAC, ASC are as good or better than any big 4 at the top. Hate to re-invent the wheel, but if we did a tourny of say top 5 teams in each of the top 6 or 8 conferences, we may be able to get more teams involved; I just dont know if some of the other conferences roll 7 deep with quality teams.
10/23/2009 9:10 AM
I'm pressed for time and may comment more later. But two immediate thoughts come to mind as I read this.
-The Upstate is the only "super" conference.
-The "Big 4" is mostly a matter of attitude and willingness to look beyond conference boundaries. This is all make believe anyway. This effort just gives the world and the game itself a richer feeling and a more fun experience.

Oh, and I take exception to the coach that wondered why the Midwest was in the big 4, but that's just one opinion. Check the conference rpi list, that's right, up near the top, that's where we'll be.

Great job marko, keep up the good work.
10/23/2009 10:28 AM
The midwest will be the top rpi conference once the king rolls into town.
10/23/2009 11:27 AM
The king can't roll into town as long as there's no openings in the Midwest

I like the idea of a top 25 coach's poll. It would be a lot of effort, but would definitely be worthwhile. I don't think bias would be much of an issue. Maybe a few people will overrate their own team or teams in their own conference, but if you can get enough people in on it, things will ultimately balance themselves out.
10/23/2009 2:42 PM
a quick thought. adding to what gene said..... what about instead of expanding the big4 challenge, we create a new one?

Keep the big4. I think its going to be great and probably more accurate in how good a conference is....

But what if we had a challenge with eight conferences? Three teams each? I dont know the logistics of it, but we could figure something out.
10/23/2009 3:52 PM
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