so in Tark I am the coach at Iowa.  After 7 seasons at Norfolk State, i made 1 NT appearance in my last year there, and a 1st round upset got me qualified for some Big 6 jobs.  Rather than recruit at a less than mid major in ACC territory, I jumped to the Big 10.  Under no circumstances should going from the MEAC to the Big 10 be a step backwards, but that's another issue.

I have now spent 3 years at Iowa, making slow progress, getting a little better each year.  I have no intention of going anywhere this season as I return a pretty good team and I think should make the NT this year for the 1st time.  However, I do like to look at job openings to see what is available, mostly just for fun.  At this stage, I am qualified for 0 jobs, all due to loyalty issue.  Now I am sure even if my loyalty was A+ I still wouldn't be qualfieid for most jobs anyway, but am I wrong for thinking this is ridiculous?  How can 7 years at a small school, a move to the Big 10 and 3 seasons there make me too disloyal for a D- Southland team? 

Taking a Step Backwards job crushes your loyalty for 4-5 seasons. I agree that going from Norfolk St. to Iowa should not be considered Step Backwards. Unfortunately, the logic looks at teams' current prestiges rather than their baselines in determining whether a job is lateral, a step up, or a step down. That's why so many human-coached mid-majors end up going Sim when their human coach moves up. The humans who would be most interested in those jobs (guys at low-majors or other mid-majors) aren't qualified for them.