If it’s actually about revenue, there’s probably a better way to look at this altogether, rather than focused on what happens to “deserving” coaches. Anecdotally, consider my position in Smith.
After a few dozen good seasons in Oregon, and still under the previous stringent requirements, when Kentucky opened up 2 seasons ago, there were only maybe 3 coaches with a better resume, and they didn’t apply, so I got the job. It was an A+ job, and I was an A+ coach, so it stayed very high, despite turning over a large portion of the roster (I had to try to fill a lot of spots in the second session, and the team lost a freshman EE before I even got there, then a player after his first season of eligibility upon my first season). So it was a deceptive A+ position. I decided pretty early on to completely remake the team, and do it quickly, during this period of transition that was going to happen anyway. I’m taking some chances, I’m doing a rebuild, giving up a couple seasons (2 and 3) where I probably could have gotten at least NT bids with a shot at S16s, in order to get the team I really wanted in seasons 4 and beyond. This costs me some credits, and now, as it turns out, if this really terrible new firing plan ends up holding, might cost me the team I’ve spent 7 real life years working towards.
Think about how this plan changes what I would have done from a revenue standpoint. I have chosen to spend more on the game to rebuild a team I didn’t have to rebuild, something I’ve done many times in HD; as I’ve said a number of times, I’m not one of those players who measures success by titles, I don’t even really care about that stuff. I play this game for fun. If I am having fun, I am happy to pay for the game. Probably not full price, as that’s a little high (another conversation, probably), but pretty close. If firings go into effect, in any iteration really, but especially in the current format, even if I do decide to keep playing, it will certainly change the way I play. By necessity. Not because I can’t afford to play without credits, or even because I don’t value the game mechanics, but because I don’t want to risk losing teams I have invested so much real life time and money in. So instead of rebuilding Kentucky, I would have have taken a few walkons the first season like everybody else, maintained boring old triangle/man like everybody else, shot for only 4-5 star players like everybody else in my position this year, and likely maintained this team at basically the same level it’s been. Which is to say a boring perennial S16 caliber team. I wouldn’t be having much fun, but at least I wouldn’t be at risk of having it all ripped away at the whim of someone who doesn’t even really seem to understand what they’re doing. So I’ll likely be both dropping teams, AND paying less for the teams I keep. That’s one example of what this change will do, revenue wise. I really don’t think I’m the only one who will be making this kind of calculation.