26 open jobs in big six conferences. Never saw that many openings in previous versions ... ever.

Not sure that is an indication of how many owners have left. First, both worlds I am in used to have owners who had 2 teams in Big Six conferences. Many took the opportunity to slim down because their perceived 3.0 as no longer an easy recruiting process and lost the benefits 2.0 provided for having two teams across the county from each other. Secondly, with a perception that you can succeed without being in a Big 6 conference, more people are staying with other teams. I will give you one thing. Many of the same coaches had teams in Big 6 conference in every world. Some of those left and some slimmed down to just a team or 2, leaving openings. I also think that since the worlds are light, some people are being successful in DII and III and choosing to stay there.

Posted by mullycj on 1/31/2017 6:12:00 AM (view original):
26 open jobs in big six conferences. Never saw that many openings in previous versions ... ever.

Long-time owners quit/reduced # of teams. New owners can't take D1 teams. Check the numbers in about 18 months. If D1 is down, you might have a point.

In Tark, 12/25 top 25 teams are on big 6. There's virtually zero incentive to taking on a big 6 team right now.

As to Mike's point-I'm not in Smith but I'm guessing there's a wide array of prestiges available, which means owners are qualified. But little incentive + jobs change being miserable = very little movement.

There's no advantage to being a bad big 6 team anymore.

I for for one think Delaware should have just as much a chance as Nebraska or Penn St.

Posted by darnoc29099 on 1/31/2017 7:07:00 AM (view original):
In Tark, 12/25 top 25 teams are on big 6. There's virtually zero incentive to taking on a big 6 team right now.

As to Mike's point-I'm not in Smith but I'm guessing there's a wide array of prestiges available, which means owners are qualified. But little incentive + jobs change being miserable = very little movement.

The good big6 teams still have the baseline prestige advantage. It just isn't the massive advantage it once was.

Posted by mullycj on 1/31/2017 6:12:00 AM (view original):
26 open jobs in big six conferences. Never saw that many openings in previous versions ... ever.

And I was unqualified for everyone. Not complaining much, because in that World I am only so so! But I could not believe it either. The vision of all those teams was truly amazing!

Allen is the same way. The Big 12 is half-full now. I don't think we had less than 10 for any season in the last 5 real life years. Even the vaunted Allen-ACC has lost a bunch of coaches.

The D1 game is just all messed up. D3 & D2 schools are recruiting D1 players which hurts the rebuilds.
For the top tier teams, its no picnic either. Prestige isn't really worth anything anymore, and EEs really punish success by making it hard to find a decent player that will sign late, since 80% of players seem to sign early, but the end of period 1 or are whenever, but sign early.

Moving up from D2 to D1, I couldn't get a big 6 team, so I took over Harvard. I've built that team up, and with recruiting being much more of a level playing field now, I just don't feel the incentive to try for a traditional big 6 team. Why leave a team that I'm building into a contender just to take over an abandoned big 6 team and starting another rebuild? I prefer the idea of taking over an underdog in a small conference and building it up anyway.

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/31/2017 7:02:00 AM (view original):

Posted by mullycj on 1/31/2017 6:12:00 AM (view original):
26 open jobs in big six conferences. Never saw that many openings in previous versions ... ever.

Long-time owners quit/reduced # of teams. New owners can't take D1 teams. Check the numbers in about 18 months. If D1 is down, you might have a point.

Agree. Data on BCS occupancy tells one something about departures and about the changing landscape of the game in 3.0 - less value to marginal BCS slots.

Health of the game depends in the near term on DIII renewals (non ghost ship) and folks who then go up to DII. Thats the population to watch

its crazy i noticed it as well. 11 schools with B+ or greater prestige available that have had their owners leave in the past few seasons.

I'm not certain, but based on what I've been reading, people are quitting the game.

Top D1 coaches are leaving. That hasn't happened for a long time. Good news is some great schools are open. Hopefully the new crop of coaches will enjoy the game enough to replace them.

I do think that the penalty for changing jobs has something to do with it as well. I like moving around to new schools, but it's very hard now because you are at a big disadvantage since you miss the first session of recruiting, plus you lose the long term coach preference.

I'll admit to being a big pessimist regarding 3.0, but I think what's happening more accurately reflects the way the college game is today. I think that while Power 6 teams still have a prestige advantage, the way recruiting is going reflects more power of the coach at any given team, rather than the TEAM prestige being unbeatable. Kentucky basically sucked under Tubby Smith, but Calipari, who shook the tree at Memphis (seriously, who the **** is memphis?), has them cooking again. Can't remember his name, but the guy before Williams at UNC, basically sucked. Butler rocked with Stevens, Shaka Smart rocked it at VCU (WHO? the **** is VCU?). I honestly DO think the coach skill should be more prominent than the school prestige.