I am in the coach hiring process. I am after a few very good coaches. Rated 85 or higher in their respective fields. Most of my team is under the age of 30, How much difference could these coaches really make? The bidding is getting really high for a few of them, but they are top coaches. When is the time to ...fold it in and take my lumps with another coach?

Depends how much you've budgeted.

If you have enough room to sign a $7M FI and still fill your other needs, do it. If you don't, don't.

FWIW, I ballpark how much I'm willing to spend on each coaching vacancy when setting my budget, and I rarely have more than $50k .

Budget with a plan, and stick to it.

Coaching is overrated anyhow. Im perfectly happy with a guy 5 or 6 points lower that I can save a couple million on.

OH really! Thanks csherwood.

The previous owner had a ML coach rated 57 in his field....there are about 6 -8 coaches in this field that are head and shoulders above the rest...with a team with about 4 players over 30, could it be worth getting and paying for a coach that would be about 30-35 rating points higher than the previous one?

5 points are arguably negligible.

30 points are probably going to make a difference.

But the market dictates price, so ultimately it comes down to whether you have the budget.

To pile on to the good suggestions made here, please note that coaches supposedly stave off decline as well. So if you've got someone age 35 and signed for next season also, it's good to have some good coaching to help him.

Also, coach hiring is arguably the most fun aspect of HBD. So there's that.

Quote: Originally posted by cjlancaster on 2/02/2010Also, coach hiring is arguably the most fun aspect of HBD.  So there's that.

maybe in a few seasons....but this is pretty stressful the first time.

Quote: Originally Posted By cjlancaster on 2/02/2010Also, coach hiring is arguably the most fun aspect of HBD. So there's that

This is true. We just hit the first cycle of coach hiring in moneyball, and it was the highlight of my week!

How do you know if you have the top offer or not?

There will be a circle with a number 1 in it next to a coach's name if you currently have his top offer. You should also follow the emails from the coaches each cycle. If someone beats out your top offer, the coach will let you know.

ok I was wondering if everyone had the "circle" just to keep them guessing. It seems like you get updates every few hours about the offers.

On each half cycle, to be specific.