Interview with coach aaronwins

Aaronwins must recently won the D2 Phelan Title in season 100.

Who are you?
Aaron, 29, live in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. I have been married for 2.5 years to my wife. We have 2 boys, Jordan Anthony who's 11yr old and Jaydon who's almost 2yr old. I named my oldest, who was born when I was 17, after Michael Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. Some of my most enjoyable things I do in life now besides vacay in Cancun with my wife and kids, is coach Jordan's baseball and basketball teams. I was originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up watching Arkansas Razorback basketball and "40 Min of Hell" by Nolan Richardson (See 1994 NCAA tourney Champ). For more info look at how thin's teams are built.

Did you play any sports growing up?
I played baseball from age 4 until 11th grade and basketball from 7-12th grade. I loved baseball. I still do. Basketball was my second love, and it has had more influence on my life as a teen and beyond. I was never any good at either, nor was I much of an athlete. I was def better than thin at baseball and I taught him as much about baseball as he has taught me about WIS! I would say the fundamental side of the games are my strongest attribute. My sports career peaked when I tore my ACL and meniscus playing dodgeball in HS PE class.

How did you get involved in this game? (Okay I know, but they don't)
Thin told me about this game 5 or so years ago. I told him how much I loved fantasy sports, which he knew. Little did I know how much they differ. He was so enthusiastic about Whatif and said to me "this game is so cool and badass, but I don't know anyone else besides you who would consider playing with me!" Eventually, he forced my hand, bought me a gift certificate for a couple seasons of HD. I have been hooked and having fun playing ever since.

How many seasons have you played?
My wife says "waay waay too many". Since season 56, we're entering 102. All but 2 seasons I have been at D2. I have been at Adams St. in the RMAC since season 73. Started playing in Dec 2012.

Congrats on your NT last season, tell us about the year, how did non-conf, conference and the tourney run itself go?
It is a blur after cutting down the nets, my ongoing celebration and the ring ceremony. I honestly felt like every team I played in the NT were very good teams, but I always felt I was better in that run. My team was just so deep, athletic and could defend anyone. I had multiple scoring options, but didn't have your typical marksman shooter. I was balanced and versatile, but mainly 11-12 deep. But again, I could only make the final 4 of my CT that season.


At what point did you think you could make an NT run?
I knew coming into the CT that I had a real shot at the CT. In the RMAC if you win or can win the CT, you def are in the running to win the NT. That's just how I feel about our conf now. It may be a harder tourney to win at times.

Best advice to a new player?
Ask questions, read the forums, and keep trying to learn and understand how it works. Don't give up on it if.

Favorite player you've coaches?
I don't know, any of the guys who can defend and score. I like versatility and athleticism. I am the type of coach who doesn't care about my whatif kids much since their older, and only the kids on my age 12yr old Classic basketball teams and my age 12yr old JBO baseball teams.


If you had to pick five bullet points on what makes a successful team what would they be?
Deep team with 10 guys who can contribute to the team, Defense, Athleticism, Balanced and various scoring options, and a system that fits the players and the game planning. The coach has to know how to use the players they have and how to beat the coach/team their matched up against.

What users to you enjoy competing against the most?
Thinair, rocksolid33, chew and crushthebean. Thinair is my childhood friend, so trash talk is most fun there. All of these coaches are so good at this game it is unreal how consistent and tough these teams always are. All of these coaches have been to many final fours, multiple championship games, all have won NTs and are truly all-timers. Honestly, whether they realized it or not, they have all taught me a ton. I've learned a lot about this game competing against them, but also studying their teams over the years. It is fun to beat them when I rarely do, but it feels like a real accomplishment. Rocksolid33 has graced me with a mostly annual non conf game since I left the CIAA in season 65. For many cycles now I have played Otownaron (NT Champ Season 76), which I enjoy. I also played Sharrow and terps21234 quite a bit before they moved on to D1 or into our conf. All the various coaches in the RMAC are fun to play against, and byeags25 and I have had even bouts since joining RMAC season 91.

What keeps you playing?
I enjoy it. I gives me a break away from life's busy reality. It keeps me engaged in something I have fun doing. And I am competitive. I wanted to learn enough to compete against and beat thinair.

Do you have any D1 aspirations?
I do sometimes. I'd love to coach Arkansas or Oregon. But I don't want to leave the RMAC, and in the end competing there is just more fun and just as challenging. I may consider D1 more if thinair went D1. Mostly, Cause I would need to keep beating him.

What is on your whatifsports coaches bucket list?
To win another title at D2, to dominate the RMAC for a few seasons straight including back to back CT titles and potentially changing my style of play on defense to FCP.

Most painful loss?
Who cares, I'm over it...kinda...But the loss against a 0-26 squad this season in the CT could of had consequences I may have never even known. I should of missed NT for that and I didn't. I was high 40s on projection and rpi and slipped down to high 50s after the L. I didn't even read most of the play by play. I made a run to the elite 8. Sorry Rocksolid, your team was better than mine this go round. We have had too many rematches in the NT.

What type of offense/defense do you run? Why?
Motion and Man to Man. I don't know why. A lot of my conf mates were running fcp and I was the odd ball, so I didn't change. Things have changed over the seasons now I'm not alone and we are very diverse conf. At first, I thought this was the easiest way to win and recruit for. Now I don't, so I just do it because I'm familiar with it.


How do you recruit for your style of play?
I recruit best player available to me, unless I need to fill a role and already have good team. I try to stay balanced, but my approach has haunted me at times when I am loaded at one position and weak at others. If I know my team is close to competing I will go after a JUCO or transfer so I can make my team stronger for that run. Sometimes I take risks and strike out. I love the new way of recruiting in 3.0.

Favorite Sports teams/schools?
Atlanta Braves, Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks and Arkansas Razorbacks. We also follow Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, so my kids can grow up geographically close to their fav teams.

Thanks aaron, and for the record, aaron was our third basemen before I became an incompetent CF, and was moved to the corner spot :). It clearly still stings. But he did lead the team in home runs.

Posted by thinair on 1/14/2017 12:47:00 AM (view original):
Interview with coach aaronwins


Who are you?
Aaron, 29, live in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. I have been married for 2.5 years to my wife. We have 2 boys, Jordan Anthony who's 11yr old and Jaydon who's almost 2yr old. I named my oldest, who was born when I was 17, after Michael Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. Some of my most enjoyable things I do in life now besides vacay in Cancun with my wife and kids, is coach Jordan's baseball and basketball teams. I was originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up watching Arkansas Razorback basketball and "40 Min of Hell" by Nolan Richardson (See 1994 NCAA tourney Champ). For more info look at how thin's teams are built.

Did you play any sports growing up?
I played baseball from age 4 until 11th grade and basketball from 7-12th grade. I loved baseball. I still do. Basketball was my second love, and it has had more influence on my life as a teen and beyond. I was never any good at either, nor was I much of an athlete. I was def better than thin at baseball and I taught him as much about baseball as he has taught me about WIS! I would say the fundamental side of the games are my strongest attribute. My sports career peaked when I tore my ACL and meniscus playing dodgeball in HS PE class.

How did you get involved in this game? (Okay I know, but they don't)
Thin told me about this game 5 or so years ago. I told him how much I loved fantasy sports, which he knew. Little did I know how much they differ. He was so enthusiastic about Whatif and said to me "this game is so cool and badass, but I don't know anyone else besides you who would consider playing with me!" Eventually, he forced my hand, bought me a gift certificate for a couple seasons of HD. I have been hooked and having fun playing ever since.

How many seasons have you played?
My wife says "waay waay too many". Since season 56, we're entering 102. All but 2 seasons I have been at D2. I have been at Adams St. in the RMAC since season 73. Started playing in Dec 2012.

Congrats on your NT last season, tell us about the year, how did non-conf, conference and the tourney run itself go?
It is a blur after cutting down the nets, my ongoing celebration and the ring ceremony. I honestly felt like every team I played in the NT were very good teams, but I always felt I was better in that run. My team was just so deep, athletic and could defend anyone. I had multiple scoring options, but didn't have your typical marksman shooter. I was balanced and versatile, but mainly 11-12 deep. But again, I could only make the final 4 of my CT that season.


At what point did you think you could make an NT run?
I knew coming into the CT that I had a real shot at the CT. In the RMAC if you win or can win the CT, you def are in the running to win the NT. That's just how I feel about our conf now. It may be a harder tourney to win at times.

Best advice to a new player?
Ask questions, read the forums, and keep trying to learn and understand how it works. Don't give up on it if.

Favorite player you've coaches?
I don't know, any of the guys who can defend and score. I like versatility and athleticism. I am the type of coach who doesn't care about my whatif kids much since their older, and only the kids on my age 12yr old Classic basketball teams and my age 12yr old JBO baseball teams.


If you had to pick five bullet points on what makes a successful team what would they be?
Deep team with 10 guys who can contribute to the team, Defense, Athleticism, Balanced and various scoring options, and a system that fits the players and the game planning. The coach has to know how to use the players they have and how to beat the coach/team their matched up against.

What users to you enjoy competing against the most?
Thinair, rocksolid33, chew and crushthebean. Thinair is my childhood friend, so trash talk is most fun there. All of these coaches are so good at this game it is unreal how consistent and tough these teams always are. All of these coaches have been to many final fours, multiple championship games, all have won NTs and are truly all-timers. Honestly, whether they realized it or not, they have all taught me a ton. I've learned a lot about this game competing against them, but also studying their teams over the years. It is fun to beat them when I rarely do, but it feels like a real accomplishment. Rocksolid33 has graced me with a mostly annual non conf game since I left the CIAA in season 65. For many cycles now I have played Otownaron (NT Champ Season 76), which I enjoy. I also played Sharrow and terps21234 quite a bit before they moved on to D1 or into our conf. All the various coaches in the RMAC are fun to play against, and byeags25 and I have had even bouts since joining RMAC season 91.

What keeps you playing?
I enjoy it. I gives me a break away from life's busy reality. It keeps me engaged in something I have fun doing. And I am competitive. I wanted to learn enough to compete against and beat thinair.

Do you have any D1 aspirations?
I do sometimes. I'd love to coach Arkansas or Oregon. But I don't want to leave the RMAC, and in the end competing there is just more fun and just as challenging. I may consider D1 more if thinair went D1. Mostly, Cause I would need to keep beating him.

What is on your whatifsports coaches bucket list?
To win another title at D2, to dominate the RMAC for a few seasons straight including back to back CT titles and potentially changing my style of play on defense to FCP.

Most painful loss?
Who cares, I'm over it...kinda...But the loss against a 0-26 squad this season in the CT could of had consequences I may have never even known. I should of missed NT for that and I didn't. I was high 40s on projection and rpi and slipped down to high 50s after the L. I didn't even read most of the play by play. I made a run to the elite 8. Sorry Rocksolid, your team was better than mine this go round. We have had too many rematches in the NT.

What type of offense/defense do you run? Why?
Motion and Man to Man. I don't know why. A lot of my conf mates were running fcp and I was the odd ball, so I didn't change. Things have changed over the seasons now I'm not alone and we are very diverse conf. At first, I thought this was the easiest way to win and recruit for. Now I don't, so I just do it because I'm familiar with it.


How do you recruit for your style of play?
I recruit best player available to me, unless I need to fill a role and already have good team. I try to stay balanced, but my approach has haunted me at times when I am loaded at one position and weak at others. If I know my team is close to competing I will go after a JUCO or transfer so I can make my team stronger for that run. Sometimes I take risks and strike out. I love the new way of recruiting in 3.0.

Favorite Sports teams/schools?
Atlanta Braves, Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks and Arkansas Razorbacks. We also follow Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, so my kids can grow up geographically close to their fav teams.

Thanks aaron, and for the record, aaron was our third basemen before I became an incompetent CF, and was moved to the corner spot :). It clearly still stings. But he did lead the team in home runs.

Great interview!

Breaking News!

Coach mattstarks leaves his alma mater to take over the Regis basketball Program. Starks is #2 in d2 phelan for wins, and has accumulated five national titles during his time in whatif. Find out why he made the coaching change, below.



What brings you to the RMAC?

I missed playing in a very competitive conference, one where night and night out you have a battle on your hands. Back when I was in the CCAA, there was never an easy game and it made it more fun. I also like how talkative and interactive the conference is, it makes things more interesting. I have played most of the guys in the conference pretty consistently and enjoyed the competition with them.

Lees-McRae was your alma mater, was is a difficult decision to leave?

It was hard to leave. I played for Lees-McRae in real life and I really wanted to coach there and bring them a national championship, but when kylesleem retired and other coaches started dropping, I started thinking about going somewhere else to keep things exciting. The banter and recruiting from some of the coaches in the RMAC helped too!

What are your initial plans for Regis?

First, I'm going to switch the offense, I've never really been a fan of the flex. After that I'm going to continue what I've always done, try to get the best kids available to come to my school. I have certain things that I look for in each position, I go after stars, but also look for role players, it's not about getting all "5 stars", you have to build a team that compliments one another. I don't have to start two bigs with high low post, maybe one, but the other will be a strong defender and rebounder. It's all about finding the right mix. It's going to take some time, but hopefully I can get Regis to the level I got CSUSB and LMC to.

How soon before you can challenge for a CT championship?

In another conference, I'd say 3-4 seasons. However, with the great coaches and teams in this league, I think it will take 6-8 seasons before we can compete for a CT year in and year out

You are currently #2 on the d2 all-time wins chart with 1956 wins. Is it a goal of yours to be #1?

To be honest, not really, however, I don't know that I'll ever catch Rock, he is a solid coach and runs his area very well. I was really aiming for the NT Wins lead, I would check it ever season. I think becoming the overall wins leader would just creep up on me. I'm not really shooting for it, but it would be cool

You were apart of the old CCAA conference which was dominant. The RMAC was the up and coming conference at the time - do you see similarities between the two?

I see a lot of similarities, you guys interact with one another as much as we did and I think a lot of coaches in the RMAC will end up becoming legends. Playing against davisdynasty, kylesleem, kmasonbox, mmd, viddy and others night in and night out was tough but a lot of fun. I consider all those guys legends of this game. I'm confident at least 3 or 4 of the coaches in the RMAC will reach legend status as well. One major difference is the parody, back in the CCAA davis ran things until sleem got there, then when I came in, I won a few titles, then viddy came in and got a couple. It always seemed like someone was THEE team to beat. Here it could be thin one year, then chew, then crush, then aaron and so on.

There are rumors that the NC State AD was calling you daily, and that you were their first target. Did you really take that much of pay cut to move away from home, and stay at the D2 level?

It is true, I was eligible for all of D1 openings except UNC, Indiana, Boston College and one more school the escapes me now. I live in Raleigh and grew up a big Duke fan, so I thought about it. However, I'm a D2 guy, especially here in Phelan. I think D1 is more appealing in the new engine, but unless I could end up in Durham, I'll always be in D2 and as long as this conference stays full and you keep doing cool things like this interview and the forums, I'll be the coach at Regis.


Is it true you grew up with one of the best rappers of our generation? Will we see him performing at any Regis half-time shows? Will you use him as a recruiting tool? Any chance he wants to sponsor Ft. Hays' program, we'd love to fly out to Hawaii for a pre-season tournament.


Yes, I grew up with, graduated with, and played ball with J.Cole. I would be stupid not to use him as a recruiting tool! All of my make believe players consider him the best rapper in the game. Like Ashley Judd, he is courtside at all our home games. We don't ask him to perform because he's more of a family member than an entertainer to us! He's not a big fan of Fort Hayes State as he was at the national championship game when you beat us at LMC a couple of years ago. He doesn't like to lose

Please welcome, coach mattstarks.

I just want to say how J Cole has truly spoke to me thru his rhymes and told stories I relate too so well. Thin and I grew up in the 'Ville too. Well, Wilsonville, OR, but coming from Little Rock, AR his style and lyrica are so fresh. And what I never had when listening to other southern style rappers growing up. He def inspired me to embrace the pain, grief, happiness and achievements in life. Never forget the day a friend came over and showed me the Simba video, then I listened to the Come Up and I was instantly hooked. Saw Cole in Seattle the next year (late 09) opening for Jay on the Blueprint 3 tour and he was just so humbled by the experience. He Dapped me up after a show at small venue when he was on Sideline Story tour here in Portland, that was humbling for me. Haha

Thrilled to have you here in RMAC Matt. I didn't think this conf couldn't add coaches better than the 3 we have here at the top, and we may just have. 6-8 seasons, cmon man we all know better. But I hope it takes you that long. Welcome and good luck. What thin does here with the forums is next level ish. Thanks again thin for being our best recruiting tool.

Please welcome ab90. Last year won the Phelan D2 title with a powerhouse West Florida squad, but honestly, as we speak, he's probably winning a title elsewhere. (seriously), he just did.



Who are you?

1). I am a 27 year-old vice president of a consulting company, and a writer on the side. I will be heading back to Ohio State for my Master's in business administration this fall.


Did you play any sports growing up?

2). I played everything growing up. I come from a pretty athletic family. My great-grandfather played for the St. Louis Browns. My paternal grandfather held a sprinting record at Ohio State until Jesse Owens broke it. My maternal grandfather had a PGA Tour license, but this was back before touring pros made gazillions, so he gave it up. I have uncles and cousins who were collegiate All-Americans, and before I got sick, I had always just assumed I would go play baseball at a big school and then probably kick around in the minors for a couple years in funny towns like Missoula, MT or Dunedin, FL.

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at 16, and that pretty much ended my athletic dreams. But, I still hold some high school sprinting records (cue the Springsteen song here). Now that I'm healthy, I've looked into running during grad school, but that would probably entail a lengthy legal battle. There is an NCAA bylaw that effectively states that you have 5 years of eligibility upon matriculation. I think it could probably be argued that because I was too sick to play during my five years, I could attain some sort of ADA waiver. But, alas, I have no juris doctorate.


How did you get involved in this game?

3). I honestly don't recall. I expect I probably Googled "sports simulations", and just stumbled upon WIS by accident.

How many seasons have you played?

4). Without looking it up, I couldn't tell you. I believe around 220, maybe?

You have won 13 national titles (on this id) do you remember your first well? Do any of them stand out?

5). I think it was with Humboldt or Florida Tech (so, to answer your question, I do not!). I got a couple of back-to-back cheap ones with Truman St. where I didn't recruit any of the players and it was a super class set-up. So, those stand out because I feel somewhat guilty about them. I won somebody else's championships. What's worse, I won them with what I believe to be a bit of a gimmick with the super-class. I believe that the IQ discrepancies between freshmen and seniors are silly. How could anybody who has ever played basketball be less than an A+ running motion? The definition of motion is that you're just moving around however the hell you want. And the flex? There's not an 8th grader across the country who doesn't have the flex down like the back of his hand. Fastbreak?Just get the ball and sprint. Seriously, how can anybody possibly have an F in that? I could take a kid from a lost tribe in the Amazon and have him running down the court by 2 PM.


Congrats on your NT last season, tell us about the year, how did non-conf, conference and the tourney run itself go?

6). Thank you! Was that the West Florida team? I remember very little of any season. Such is the trade off with a team in every world. Essentially, all I do is recruit, set my depth chart and distribution at the beginning of the year, and then I just let it go on auto-pilot until the tourney. I do remember beating a pretty damn good Fort Hays State team, though!


At what point did you think you could make an NT run?

7). At the beginning of the year, after recruits come in and seniors depart, I go in and check the team composite ratings. At this point, my formula is tweaked well enough that the top 10 teams listed typically all are NT contenders. As I recall, we were the highest rated team and I just had a couple of moose in the post. I thought we had at least a 25% chance of winning it all before the season.


Best advice to a new player?

8). Athleticism, defense, and at least 1 perimeter scorer. The rest, unless you are just abysmal at one aspect like rebounding or passing, will take care of itself.


Favorite player you've coached?

9). I remember very few players. I've never been able to see them as much more than sets of numbered attributes, but I had a player at Florida Tech named Desir. Don't even recall his first name, but I remember that he was nearly maxed out in athleticism and defense. He couldn't do a lot else, but I always envisioned him as Giannis Antetokoumpo the first time he stepped on a court: no basketball skills, but a bona fide Olympic athlete.


If you had to pick five bullet points on what makes a successful team what would they be?

10). Athleticism. Defense. Perimeter scoring. A solid point guard. Team stamina of at least 75.


What users to you enjoy competing against the most?

11). Oh, man. This is awful. I'm in my own little world and fairly oblivious to the finer details. I like to play against the guy who coaches all of the D3 Dickinson teams. They're just such ridiculous rosters, but he's found a bit of a loophole and had success with it.


What keeps you playing?

12). Honestly? Those Amazon gift cards. If they ever lose the gift cards, I'll just abandon everything mid-season, pick up my ball, sniffle a little bit, and go home.


You currently have many active teams, none at the D1 level though - why?

13). I've tried D1 a little bit. The problem is that there seemed to be about 50 phenomenal players and 10 phenomenal teams that had identical ratings. It just seemed so boring. It's why I quit GD: good D1 players all look the exact same. There's no differentiation.

What is on your whatifsports coaches bucket list?

14). I would like to win a title with my tiny Alma Mater, Muskingum. The school has maybe 1600 kids in real life, and the athletic programs haven't been good since the Carter administration. My dad was also the team football physician there for maybe 15 years and many of the coaches across several sports are good family friends. Unfortunately, the Fighting Muskies don't get a lot of administrative support, so a .500 year at Muskingum in real life is akin to a championship.

It would just be so surreal to see "Muskingum: National Champions".

Most painful loss?

15). Back when I first started coaching, I had awesome teams but out-gameplanned myself so often. I think I lost my first 5 national championship games. All of those just sucked, because you're thinking: "OK. Now's the time." And you stay up until 02:20 and read some long-*** play-by-play just to realize you still have never won a damn thing.

What type of offense/defense do you run? Why?

16). I don't really have a preference. However, I've never run zone and have very little experience with triangle, just because I had some awesome D2 teams at Lincoln (world: unknown) that ran triangle and were phenomenal on paper, but could never make it beyond the Elite 8, or so.

How do you recruit for your style of play?

17). Give me as many Antetokoumpos with high fundamental ceilings that you can find.


Favorite Sports teams/schools in RL?

18). In Ohio, we bleed scarlet and grey. I assume this term isn't unique to OSU fans, but there are about 5 million "Wal-Mart Buckeyes" across the state: people who can't even spell "college" but still follow the team religiously. I just love that; we don't have a lot to cheer for in the Rust Belt, but we sure embrace everything good about life that we can. The Ohio State football team, in all candor, is our true professional sports team

These are all awesome interviews. You could cross post these in the HD main forum and do pretty well.

Interview with coach rocksolid33

Interview with rocksolid33


Who are you?

I am 39 years old, I reside in New Jersey (near Philly, not New York) with my wife, 16 year old son and I am employed as financial crimes investigator with a large bank. I attended Delaware State University on a track and field scholarship (shot put, discus) graduating in 2001.

Did you play any sports growing up?

Growing up I primarily played basketball which is my first love but I knew I didn't really have a future in it, I just loved competing. As a junior in high school the throwing coach (Jon Kalnas) suggested I try throwing the discus, I picked it up pretty quickly, won two NJ Group 1 state championships and off to college I went.

How did you get involved in this game?

Actually, a guy I knew introduced me to the game about 8 years ago. We always had similar interests, such as sports SIM management games, I don’t know how he learned of WIS but I am happy he shared it with me.

How many seasons have you played?

Tough to know at this point but I’ve been at Bowie State since season 17 and now we are starting season 104, so that’s 87 seasons!!! Wow that’s a long time… I few seasons ago I thought about leaving Bowie St and start over at another D2 school, I think it might be time...

Congrats on your runner-up finish last season, tell us about your squad, and how you were left to face the juggernaut that was W. FLA (West Florida with coach ab90 went back to back)

At what point did you think you could make an NT run?

Thanks, I knew West Florida had a tough tough team, almost too good. My team last year was special, I knew we were going to make a run after the non-conference schedule was finished. We won a few close games on the road against a few good teams which are typically harder due to the home court advantage. My philosophy is pretty much the same season after season, “scheduling tough non-conference games, can give you an idea of how your team will play in the NT”. As the season progressed, my players ratings kept improving beyond where I thought they would go and we ended up with a 60 or 65 point increase from the beginning of the season. I knew we had a shot to win it all.

My team from season 103, was special as we had my version of the big three Dan Foulk (all around great player - thousand point scorer); Bernardo Russo - pretty good player, could have been a starter but better coming all the bench, great outside scorer - thousand point scorer); and Alexis Bruno - excellent SF, could do it all - fifteen hundred point scorer).

These three guys led my team all the way to the championship, ultimately we could not overcome ab90’s great squad.

Best advice to a new player?

Experiment will all of the offenses and defenses, to try to get an understanding of what type of players you need to be successful and recruit the best players for your particular style of play. Read the forums, use sitemail, as the other coaches are always willing to help out and give you a little insight into their philosophy.

Favorite player you've coached?

By far my favorite player was Arron White from seasons 27 - 30, he was a beast! 2000 pt scorer and 1000 rebs during his career, lead us to the championship and final for during his Jr and Sr seasons. I believe his distribution never exceeded 20, he was very efficient.

If you had to pick five bullet points on what makes a successful team what would they be?

In this version of the game I would say:

#1 Defense - All of the team who have been having success lately have had a team defensive rating of 60+. Not to say that you can stack a team with great defense players and you can win a championship but being a defensively strong team is now a requirement.

#2 Passing - This might seem a little strange but having a good passing team could easily get overlooked as we are recruiting but this is essential to having a winning team.

#3 Bench Scoring - I am unsure whether other players feel the same but having a really good go to scorer coming off of your bench makes game planning much easier as you can count on a guy (or two) to get double figures every game, which is hard to game plan against.

#4 Offensive/Defensive Balance - You never want to shoot too many three’s and yet you never want to shoot to few… It’s easy to game plan against a team that shoots 30 three’s a game or a team that shoots 5 three’s a game. Finding the correct balance is the key to not having those dreaded scoring droughts which tend to result in losses at the end of the game.

#5 Talent - This is easier said than done… Recruit the best players that you can find because in the end a 550 rated team will rarely, if ever beat a 700 rated team,

What users do you enjoy competing against the most?

As I feel like I have been playing this game forever, I have played against a lot of the older legends who have since retired or moved on to D1 (davisdynasty, viddy, kylesleem, garmansouth, sharrow, etc.) and the current group of guys who enjoy competing against such as pretty much everyone in the Rocky Mountain Conference but more specifically aaronwins, 1peat, crushthebean, notoriousopp and last but not least, Matt Starks.

Matt Starks is a really really good coach, he has won three title with two different teams and he is already making Regis a contender after only three seasons. He doesn't always have the best team but he knows how to game plan and win. I specifically mention Matt Starks because I have never beaten him, I think I am 0 - 21 which is ridiculous but he is a far better coach than I am.

I also enjoy coaching against aaronwins, I used to beat up on him, early in his career at Elizabeth City St. but he has grown into a very impressive recruiter and coach. Most recently he beat me this year in our annual non-conf match-up but I hope to get another crack at him in the NT.

What keeps you playing?

Very simply, I like to compete…

I like recruiting, building a team to see how the players mesh and play together. I like to see players grow and look back at their actual vs. expected ratings.

I like the challenge of building a team, not with the best overall players but players that I think compliment each other and will play well together.

What is on your whatifsports coaches bucket list?

At this point, I wanted to win another championship at Bowie St. before moving on to another D2 school to attempt a rebuild. I am not interested in D3 and I have a moderate interest in D1 but I don’t I would ever make a permanent move to D1 in Phelan.

Most painful loss?

This one is easy, I lost in the championship game of season 58 against Grand Canyon which was coached by Viddy. I believe we were up by 15 points at half-time and had the worst collapse of my career, losing the second half by 25 poiunts and ultimately losing the game by 10. This loss still bothers me to the day.

What type of offense/defense do you run? Why?

For years I ran the triangle/full court press but as the game has evolved, I now fun flex/man to man.

I feel like the flex offense is better for the types of players that I like to recruit and with the man to man defense, I can better predict defensive performances from game to game as opposed to erratic results from full court press.

How do you recruit for your style of play?

I “try” to recruit good defenders first but when I am trying to anticipate a player’s offensive capabilities, I tend to let other factors become less important and end up with a bad defensive and offensive player.

Favorite Sports teams/schools?

I am a big Florida State fan, I loved the Charlie Ward ear. I also enjoy the NBA and NFL but I don’t really have a favorite team, I like to see good games.