Third Try is a Charm: The Mike Schaplowsky Story

[sportsfanmike]

After 2 failed attempts recently, I have finally found a dynasty that I am going to stick with. It will be a promotion/relegation dynasty, and I hope I can do as good a job on mine as SouthernRebel has done with his. I randomized my ratings and started as a rookie coach with custom potential, meaning every rating could get up to 100.

My choice of schools to start out with: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi out of Conference P. And yes, I am a head coach, no more of that assistant crap, that didn't cut it for me. lol.

This dynasty will be ran like all my dynasties have been in the past, I will sim through most of the games, only playing the game for in-season, conference, and postseason tournaments. The only difference is, I will be more involved in recruiting, even though this game was made so that the computer coaches have more of a role, I still want to get good at recruiting. Hope you all enjoy!

[sportsfanmike]

2011-2012 Season

Coach Information

Name: Mike Schaplowsky
Age: 31
Contract: $80,000/2 years
Reputation: 10
Offense: 30
Defense: 30
Recruiting: 30
Scouting: 30
Development: 30
Job Security: 10/10

School Information

Name: Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Mascot: Islanders
Location: Corpus Christi, TX
Arena: American Bank Center (capacity 8,000)
Facilities: C-
Academics: D+
Conference: Conference P
Conference Prestige: 18/100
Team Prestige: 16/100
Minimum SAT: 840
Starting Budget: $141,000
Asst Salaries: $60,000
Remaining Budget: $81,000

Administration Goals

1. Win Conference Tournament
2. Win 15+ games

My Assistants

1st Assistant: Scott Clark (49, $32,000/2 years) - Recruiting
2nd Assistant: Jason Sharp (61, $17,000/2 years) - Scouting
3rd Assistant: Cameron Hobbs (50, $11,000/2 years) - Practice

[sportsfanmike]

My first agenda is to buy some reports, or not. I'm debating on this, as we have 3 seniors leaving after this year, and only $81,000 to spend. It's pretty obvious that we need to stay around Texas, recruiting nationally just isn't going to happen this year.

We're in the Great Plains region, so I'd like to buy that report. The question is, do I want the basic report for $5,000 or the gold report for $30,000. The chances of landing a big star are slim to none, but it'd be nice to have that gold report. That would leave us $51,000 for recruiting, which would all but ensure I'd have to stay in Texas to recruit. I'm thinking what the heck, let's try it and see if we get burned. Gold star Great Plains Report has been purchased.

As far as camps go, I can travel to the Houston Classic for a measly $2,000 bucks. I think I'll go. That'll leave us with $49,000 to recruit.

[sportsfanmike]

With the fact that I am new to the D1 scene and we are expected to win at least 15 games this season, I have decided to call my AD and tell him to load us up with home softies. Hopefully that'll give us a few good wins before conference play.

[sportsfanmike]

I've changed my mind about recruiting. I play 2 college basketball games on my Xbox 360 in which I handle all the recruiting because I have to.

In this game, there is a recruiting coordinator, so I am going to let him do his job and handle all the recruiting, that way I can get to the regular season faster.

Just a question, those that play, do you handle all the recruiting yourself, or let the computer recruiting coordinator do it?

[Myles Nelson]

I always do it myself. I'd rather my players fit my system than my system fit the players, so I recruit. Besides, I find recruiting fun and not tedious at all, it usually takes me around 30 minutes if I do it in one sitting.

Also, if you stay in just your region, then it can take you around $50,000 to finish recruiting, with a couple thousand left over. If you want to go national, it takes between $140k and 170k depending on if you want your regional report too.

[PointGuard]

I do the recruiting myself....for me it's fun and a challenge. I also play out all my team's games. Doing both of these functins definitely slows progress, but it really helps me to get to "know" the players and make the experience a bit more "real". I'll be interested to hear what you think after leting the computer do the recruiting and simming most all the games.

the1th's comments re costs are good, but I usually spend as little as possible on reports and camps, so get by with a little less, particularly with regard to national recruiting.

Good luck!

[Jabez54]

[color="DarkRed"]Ditto for me as well ... even though, I'm more into Baseball, I am still learning the Game ... not quite up to standard in winning but slowly getting the hanged of it ... also, will be interested in your approach as well[/color]

[sportsfanmike]

It figures i would be the only one not to recruit myself or play all my games. lol. I probably would play more of the games myself but my time is pretty limited as it is and I would like to not take 3 months to play a season. However, I will consider at least doing the recruiting part of things myself next season. Thanks for the advice guys!

[sportsfanmike]

2011-2012 Texas A&M CC Roster

Point Guards

#20 Kyle Parker- 5'10'', SO, 1.5/3.5
#15 Kurt Stewart- 5'10" SR, 3/3.5
#23 Mills Meliet- 6'5" SO, 1.5/4

Stewart will be the starter, but look out for Parker and Meliet in the future. Meliet, for a PG, has an added bonus: he's got the size of small forward.

Shooting Guards

#4 Jimmy Britian- 6' JR, 1.5/3.5
#3 Brian Patten- 6'6" JR, 2.5/4

Patten will start, but expect Brittian to see some minutes. Don't be surpries if Meliet also gets some time at SG as well.

Small Forwards

#22 Gene Lewis- 6'8" SO, 2.5/3.5
#43 Larrie Robinson- 6'7" SR, 3/3.5
#40 Jimmy Barnes- 6'8 SO, 2/3.5

This is a heck of a group, led by Robinson, who will start. Lewis and Barnes are going to battle for playing time. In fact all 3 of these young men should get their chance to shine this season.

Power Forwards

#24 Andre Lloyd- 6'6'' FR, 1/3
#33 Reggie Cota- 6'8" FR, 2/3.5
#31 Josh Lubeck- 6'6" JR, 2.5/2.5
#25 Tyler Barrett- 6'6" JR, 1.5/1.5

Normally I would have redshirted Lloyd, but I missed my chance to redshirt players this season. It concerns me that Lubeck and Barrett have already reached their max potential as juniors. In fact don't be surprised if Barrett is related to mop-up duty.

Centers

#55 David Gaines- 6'10" SR, 3.5/3.5
#41 Mike Wills- 7'1" FR, 0.5/1
#53 Kyle Thorton- 6'8" SO, 1.5/1.5

2 things about this group: Our offense will run through Gaines, who is just as good of an outside shooter as he is in the paint. Also, don't be fooled by Wills and his dismal ratings. His inside rating is a 66 already, and although it won't increase much, that's pretty darn good. If we can get him some minutes, we'll look to get the ball to him inside, as he could be a force. As it stands, don't be surprised to see Cota getting some back-up minutes at the 5spot.