Posted by oldresorter on 8/1/2011 8:09:00 PM (view original):
I was considered a top 20 type coach really early in the game, I started season 7 in most the older worlds, probably by about season 12 or 14 I was pretty well known & included in discussions as a top coach, mostly as a d3 coach and disregarded by the top d1 coaches, who said winning in d3 doesn't count - LOL. I used to say back then, the secret to this game is to embrace the change. Nothing has changed since then, it still is the secret. IMO, I adapt better than most, for any given change, 5 or 10 coaches may figure it out b4 me, but usually, I am quick to learn, a few changes I have really figured out quick, some less so.
My point for the history lesson, this is not about slow to change. All the top coaches know what needs to be done to win right now, we are all doing the same thing if you look. The problem is, there are not enough recruits to go around in d1, so it is not fun for those who can't get them. It is actually much more fun for those who can, sort of a blast.
One thing that was not so obvious about the change, that I am pretty sure is true, is the game actually has gotten more even, in the range of the first thru oh - maybe 30th best teams, or lets say best coaches. Due to the lack of recruits, some seasons the top coaches get shut out, it just happens unless your market has no competition, which seldom happens, since most the top teams play in the same 3 or 4 conferences. Anyhow, this shutting out factor makes d1 runs that girt, clone, lostmyth, maybe myself had gotten, much more difficult to accomplish. In that sense, the change probably has been lots of fun for many of the coaches I see in support of it. I think LM or clone or even you gill would say, if you give me a top five rated team, I will give you a pretty high chance of winning it all. Under the system lacking recruiting depth, the odds of having a top 5 rated team year in and year out has gone down.
But, the odds for the teams or coaches that are the 30th thru the 150th best in a world participating in the race to get enough of those players, it pretty much has dwindled to zero. That is why d1 numbers have dropped. By the way, if d1 numbers hadn't dropped, it would be absolutely miserable for those coaches, at least with few human competitors there are some OK recruits floating around, just not good enough to compete with the teams getting top recruits.
I understand why some of you good coaches like it, it is great for you guys ... to tell you the truth, it is pretty good for me ... look up my username, my teams are not exactly tanking it, but the ? is, was it good for the game, really gil - seriously - honestly - I respect you - if you think it is good for the game and you think mass hysteria caused the problem (which requires hundreds of independent decisions to be made by many guys who don't even read the boards) and not seble's ill conceived notion (a single decision that coincides nearly to the moment the problem started & b4 there was widespread support that the change was bad) - then I will not argue the point with you - here is my test when I work with kids or even some of my peers - if going to heaven or hell was riding on the accuracy of your call - would you say the change is at fault or mass hysteria? How is that for pressure!
A top 20 coach? So humble. OR, in my opinion there are only a couple of names on the Mount Rushmore of HD. Pretty obvious that you'd be one. In my HD career, I've had some decent success under this ID and my dcy ID, but I don't consider myself anywhere near that group on Rushmore. You, Lostmyth, BillyG, and Rails (with no disrespect intended to ANYONE else) have always been Mount Rushmore to me and you guys were always the ones that I was striving to equal. It'll never happen because I've slowly been burning out on the game, but to say that you were a "Top 20 coach" is a very, very big understatement, don't you think?! :^)
By the way, I can say this (and no one else playing HD can, at least at this point). In Tark, under my dcy ID at D2 Northeastern State, I'm gonna beat OR in the race to 1500 wins in a single world and be the first one to crack that barrier (was the first to 1000 in any world also. Turbo worlds really help speed up the numbers. I'll get there early next season). Now all but 24 of those wins came at the D2 level, while OR has been piling them up at UConn and other big time schools so his numbers are really far more impressive than mine, but I can say that I'm gonna get there before anyone else! That's my claim to HD fame and that's about all I've got, but I've got it!!! OR, it's been fun actually trying to hold you off and get there first and I think that had I jumped to D1 with that ID, you probably would have ran me down, but.......I also started a season later than everyone else, so I was already at a small disadvantage. Anyway, enough of the look at me, look at me thing. Just had to respond when I saw OR mention himself as a "top 20 coach". Made me chuckle at how humble the man is. Top 20....yeah right. More like top 1, regardless of where everyone else was when you started.