I really didn't know if my feelings on this were driven by personal circumstance rather than HD as a whole, so it's reaffirming to get wholehearted agreement right away from 10-12 top coaches. At least I know I'm not crazy (and/or wasn't just being a baby).
To address a few specific points people made:
OR: Yes, that's a huge part of the problem: When a big-time school loses someone, they can reload. Not so at Montana, UWGB, etc. The EE is potentially catastrophic for schools like that.
How about perhaps making the threshold for a player leaving from a non-BCS school a little higher?
metsmax, et al: I agree -- either make EE's better and more sensible, or get rid of them. The sheer randomness is awful.
Z: I think it's OK if Montana loses players early. But if that's going to happen, they have to open up the prestige a bit so that if a team goes 30-3 w. an Elite 8, they get a clear bump in prestige. (Again, not like a BCS team, but more than it is now.) The combination of early entries plus an overly rigorous prestige cap doesn't make sense and isn't fair.
js: I would be 100% for getting rid of EE's and injuries. Or at the very least, fixing EE's so that scouting reports, etc. are meanginful, and getting rid of injuries. But my first vote would be to get rid of them ... as OR said, nice real life thought, not nice for HD.