been a while since I had to sweat this - 20?  21? 22?

80% or 21/26 games and then post season doesn't affect I believe.

CT on does not effect it. true.

i just had an intersting thing happen

i promised a start and started him the first 10 games.

then i had a big game and put him on the bench.

then forgot to put him back/
so after t13 games he had started 10 out of 13 games and was ****** and sent me a message and his WE dropped 40 points.
no suprise there.  

i didnt see his message intil after game 14.  so, at that point he was 10 out of 14.

then i start him the last 3 and i get a letter saying he is glad i kept my promise and he gains 37 ponts of WE back  (almost back to previous.

none of this is really suprising and ive had it happen before almost exactly like this many times....  but the suprising part to me is that 3 out of 4 was enough to make him happy.   3 out of 4 is 75%.    10 out of 13 is about 77%   

trying to figure out the logic here plus i dont think ive ever had it play out exactly like this and i have made alot of promises over the years and have "semi-broken" them quite often.

I think, as the0nlyis said, 80% is a safe number for everyone.

So, 13 of 17 (where you were after 3 starts from 10 of 14) .. is 77% .. as is 20 of 26.  It seems for your guy he was both OK and not OK at 77%.  But,. 10/13 is 76.92 and 13/17 is 76.47%.  This does seem odd as he was unhappy at a higher percent than he became happy at.

I think that every player has some variance, some guys get mad at different values .. but 80% seems safe for everyone.

I rarely skate close on this - but does anyone know whether a start in a CT game or two can compensate for falling short in regular season?

Ct games don't seem to, in my experience, effect it one way or the other,

CT, PIT, NT do not count. It's 5 garnes not starting, spread out, I think so 21 starts. That's how I do it. If the player complain, start him as long as he does not write back saying you are a man of your word.

Posted by a_in_the_b on 1/4/2016 8:44:00 AM (view original):
Ct games don't seem to, in my experience, effect it one way or the other,

This is my experience as well.  I always shift away from promises and into my best lineup at the start of the CT and I have never had any issues doing it.  But, I do not normally take promised start guys out of more than one or two really close games during the regular season, so they normally have 23 or 24 games started minimally going into the CT.

I try to wait until later in the season to do those couple games too. For example, if you wait until after at let five games you are maintaining an 80% start rate which reduces risk.

Regarding CT games, I've had a different experience. I had a freshman that I promised starts, but fell short by one in the regular season, and his WE plummeted with 2 games remaining in the regular season. I started him the last 2 regular season games, with no change. I continued to start him in the CT, and after the 3rd game, I got a message from him, and got almost all of his WE back.

So, based on my experience, you can't hurt the WE by not starting him in CT games, but you can possibly benefit by starting him (especially if you are right on the edge).

Happy New Year everyone.

Posted by bobmeyer on 1/5/2016 1:59:00 AM (view original):
Regarding CT games, I've had a different experience. I had a freshman that I promised starts, but fell short by one in the regular season, and his WE plummeted with 2 games remaining in the regular season. I started him the last 2 regular season games, with no change. I continued to start him in the CT, and after the 3rd game, I got a message from him, and got almost all of his WE back.

So, based on my experience, you can't hurt the WE by not starting him in CT games, but you can possibly benefit by starting him (especially if you are right on the edge).

Happy New Year everyone.

this... i think its been proven by this point, you cant make things worse by not starting a player in the CT and on, but you can sometimes help a player by starting him in the CT. 

on oldave's issue - the reason that happened is because of the way we are calculating the %s vs the way the game is calculating them. the general way a player thinks is "you need to start me for (say) 80% of the time for me to be happy. if you don't, ill *****, and then you need to start me 80% of the time *the rest of the way* or i will quit and/or be sad (WE loss)". its not that you have to get him 80% the whole season. i have never tried to work the angle there, i mean you can theoretically get away with starting a player much less than 80%, maybe below 60% even? ive been significantly below 80%, and had players stay, with just a couple points of WE loss, and i've had them stay, with major WE loss. but it was never intentional, it was just that i was disengaged for a number of years and wouldn't check on my teams for way longer than is reasonable. so, there is definitely wiggle room in there, i think for coaches who don't realize or forget to check in. but personally i wouldn't recommend trying to work that angle (although there may be something there if someone is particularly ambitious - just playing with fire, you know?). 

so, basically, its hard to say exactly what you can get away with, without quitting, or without significant WE loss, or whatever - but its easy to say what you can get way with without any risk of having any trouble - and that is keeping the player above 80% throughout the entire season.
 

edit: my comment about the "way the players think" is a general one, it applies to starts and minutes. the rule is not that you have to meet the promise across the entire season for the player to stay - its that once they are ****** off, you have to get your act together, and meet the promise the rest of the way. as far as i know, its always been this way. i do think you will lose some work ethic in the above - usually, the player will get their work ethic drop back, but instead of being say +3 at this point in the season, they are now -2 or something, so its a minor hit. you can walk the line and have the player stay but keep that -20 or -30 WE or whatever, so its definitely staged, and its not at all clear where all the lines are drawn. the take-away, however, is if you screw up and totally forget - don't despair, even if it seems impossible to make your promises for the whole season - as long as you start meeting them, and do so for the rest of the way, you should be fine. i am pretty sure you can survive the player ******** twice, if its the first two "***** sessions" of the season, in some cases at least. i know i have, not sure its always possible.
 

I you don't fulfill the promise and the WE drops, will the recruit always leave next season?

no not always, im not sure exactly how it works I believe it's a bit unknown.

I promised a start/scholly to a guy last season in Phelan and played 3 games averaging 2 minutes(6 total minutes for the season) and he stayed which ****** me off.