A Career - Hamish Hutchens

[Wayne23]

I STILL want to be able to negotiate salary and benefits as part of this game. Hopefully someday.

[ticktock]

I'd settle for just being able to see what the "indicative offer" is before you actually apply for a role. I actually had no idea it was only for $11K before I applied for the role; if I had of known it was for so little and one of the other schools was offering me more, it might have changed the story.

[Edit: Decided to put the rest of this message in its own thread, so any discussions can happen in the right place]

http://www.wolverinestudios.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19309

[Wayne23]

I like all of this a lot! Still want to negotiate the contract but any, most or all of this would be great!

[ticktock]

Hamish walked into his new job and immediately knew he had made the right decision to leave South Alabama. He needed this to progress his career, but he also clicked with the entire staff Coach Buse had assembled straight away. They were all laid back, but they all had the competitive fire to win and improve both the team and themselves on a daily basis.

And he had to admit, the laid back style seemed to agree with Coach Buse in particular, who was looking fantastic for his 60 years of age!

But it was more than just the coaching staff that appealed to Hamish; it was the entire organisation. He found out for instance that the expectations set by their AD were more aligned to his own. Here it was a given to qualify for at least the AIT, and to finish above .500 and in the top half of the conference while improving the prestige of the university.

Oral Roberts was also joining the Big 12 from the Summit League for the first time, which should also shake the conference up, and the Mountaineers are only predicted to finish 7th in the conference. This was the sort of challenge Hamish had been looking for!

Hamish was also impressed at his first practice. The quality of the players far surpassed anything he had seen before, and encouragingly, he could see even more potential. Only 3 seniors would graduate this year (and only one of those was a scholarship), so he had a real chance to sink his teeth into developing these players into all they could be. He was initially a bit daunted walking into practice, but he decided that "fake it until you make it" was the way to go and decided to act like he had always belonged there.

Encouragingly, it seemed to work with the squad and they responded well to the practice regime he put in place. He worked closely with Coach Buse to understand the type of offensive and defensive schemes he wanted to put in place, and he tried to align his practice drills accordingly. He also wanted to keep things fresh for the players, so he also made it a point to mix things up and not let the players get stale. They seemed to appreciate this, and it helped establish Hamish as one of the team quicker than he had ever hoped.

Before he knew it, the non-conference games were upon them. In a dream first week, the Mountaineers won their first game, and then travelled to Hawaii for the Hawaiian Shootout and Hamish's first non-conference tournament. Even better, the first round game was against Clemson who passed over Hamish for their 3rd assistant role, and he can't help but feel a bit of smug satisfaction as they lead practically all game and comfortably beat the Tigers 69-56. They then beat Tulsa the next day, and end the week going into the Shootout final against the #11 nationally ranked Iowa St with a 3-0 record and their own #15 national ranking!

The dream continues the next week with a thrilling 83-80 win against Iowa St, and the Mountaineers then follow up with wins against Gonzaga and Grambling on their return to the mainland. The Mountaineers finish the week with a 6-0 record, an RPI of 62 (.6144), and a national ranking of #11. The group is abuzz with excitement, and the coaches and players are loving Hamish's practice sessions and he has quickly started earning their respect.

The following week brings the Mountaineers back down to earth however. After another great win against #22 Xavier, they faced a #15 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels side that eventually brought them undone. Coach Busel said in some ways it was a good thing to have the unbeaten tag thrown off now. The Mountaineers RPI increased to 41 (.6177) even with the loss, but it did cause them to slip back to a #14 ranking.

Unfortunately though, the next few weeks prove difficult for the Mountaineers. They drop games against sides they shouldn't have, and they start suffering a minor injury or two. They enter conference play with a 9-4 record and an RPI of 64 (.5640), and they are no longer nationally rated in the top 25.

And yet, Hamish can't keep the smile off his face. This was everything he had hoped to experience by leaving South Alabama, and he was having a ball...

[ticktock]

As the season wears on, the smile starts to fade from Hamish's lips. He finds out just how tough the Big 12 can be, and the Mountaineers appear to get worse and worse as the season grinds them down. By the end, the Mountaineers hold a 14-15 (5-11) record with an RPI of 140 (.5076), and include 6 straight losses to end the season. The overall season win record is marginally better than last year thanks to the great start to the season, but a far worse conference record has left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. There will be a lot of reflection for Coach Buse's staff in the off-season on how it all came undone.

They still get to take part in the Big 12 conference tournament though, and the Mountaineers square off against the newcomers Oral Roberts who have finished on an identical conference record. There is more than a touch of pride at stake, and the Mountaineers prevail 67-57, but this puts them into a 2nd round match-up against the nationally ranked #4 Oklahoma St. They are knocked out by the eventual Big 12 tournament champions, and enter post-conference tournament play with a 15-16 (5-11) record and an RPI of 136 (.5042).

However, this is nowhere near good enough to be invited to any tournaments, and the Mountaineers fail in all 4 of their pre-season goals for the year. It's pretty close to a disaster of a season, and it's a sobering time for the entire team. Their expectation of excellence demands better.

In one of the few pieces of positive news for the season, sophomore C Andre LaRue is named a starter in the Big 12 1st Team All-Conference side. Additionally, no players decide to leave early for the NBA draft, so hopefully next season should build upon this one.

On a personal note for Hamish, he probably learnt more in the past season than his previous 3 with South Alabama, and he is very pleased with his accomplishments. He learnt a ton by taking the players through practice and by helping out the other coaches wherever possible, and his skills increased accordingly [O:6->11, D:21->27, S:12->14, PD:47->53] and he felt he continued to establish his reputation as a legitimate coach [R:9->10].

Hamish had no idea just how much his reputation had grown however. He was gobsmacked at the interest in him at the end of the season. He had clearly been earmarked as one of the hottest up and coming young coaches in the country, and his phone didn't stop ringing. He had no less than 3 head coaching offers this year, including Loyola-Maryland who had offered the 1st assistant position to him just last season. The two others were from Sam Houston St and Hartford.

Code: Select all

Best offers:
HC  Loyola-Maryland 12-16 (8-10) Patriot:22 (.521)      P:16, F:C, A:B+
HC  Sam Houston St 13-14 (6-10) Southland:19 (.455)     P:12, F:C, A:C
HC  Hartford 12-16 (7-11) AEC:18 (.377)                 P:10, F:C, A:C+
1st MD Eastern Shore 28-7 (14-2) MEAC:17 (.546)         P:21, F:C, A:C-
1st San Francisco 13-17 (6-12) WCC:45 (.449)            P:17, F:C, A:B-
1st Jackson St 15-13 (10-8) SWAC:25 (.500)              P:17, F:C, A:C-
1st Rider 16-12 (12-6) MAAC:24 (.544)                   P:17, F:D+, A:C+
1st Maine 14-15 (10-8) AEC:18 (.538)                    P:17, F:C, A:C+
1st Campbell 13-15 (9-9) BigSouth:17 (.571)             P:17, F:C, A:B-
1st Denver 18-10 (8-6) Summit:11 (.588)                 P:17, F:C, A:B-
1st South Alabama 14-15 (11-5) SunBelt:29 (.434)        P:11, F:C, A:C
2nd Wyoming 21-11 (11-5) MWC:51 (.512)                  P:44, F:B-, A:C+
2nd Central Michigan 15-14 (9-7) MAC:44 (.449)          P:39, F:B-, A:C
3rd Ohio St 13-16 (7-9) Big10:79 (.550)                 P:57, F:B, A:B
3rd Providence 18-14 (9-9) BigEast:62 (.500)            P:50, F:B-, A:B+
3rd Wichita St 20-12 (12-6) MVC:39 (.744)               P:50, F:C+, A:C
3rd Georgia Southern 16-15 (8-8) SunBelt:29 (.621)      P:41, F:B-, A:C+


He was offered a number of 1st assistant positions, of which only the San Francisco Dons held any appeal due to the strength of their conference and the chance to work with recruiting legend HC Barry Louis. Hamish didn't want to focus on recruiting again though at this point, and didn't really desire to travel that far away from his family. Campbell also upped their offer from a 2nd assistant role from last year.

However, the most interesting call Hamish took was from his old HC at South Alabama, Marek Stanfield. The Jaguars had managed to finish first in the conference this year, and Marek felt that to really take them to the next level they needed Hamish. Marek had kept note and was immensely proud at how Hamish had blossomed this year. He was so convinced of Hamish's potential that he was even willing to fire Geoff Price and give him the 1st assistant role for next season!

As tempting as that was for Hamish, he was now far more excited about all the other opportunities that were within his grasp. For example, he had a very tempting offer from Wyoming to come join as a 2nd assistant in a newly formed coaching team after head coach Roman Mayes cleared out his current staff.

But most pleasing of all, he got some serious interest from big name schools to come on as a 3rd assistant. The only really tempting offer came from Ohio St, and an opportunity to join a fresh coaching team assembled by one of the finest coaching minds on game night, head coach Marcus Michaels. It would be a step up in both prestige in conference and team if Hamish went to coach at the Buckeyes.

To put the cherry on top, he also received a call from Georgia Southern legend head coach Jamie Fuller with an offer of a 3rd assistant role. Even though coaching for Georgia Southern was Hamish's dream job, he now envisaged entering there in a much more senior role. He had growing confidence in his ability and where he was headed, and his goals and standards had evolved. He'd still love to go back to Georgia Southern, but not just yet.

With all the interest and after such a tough year, it was a tough call for Hamish. He was torn between staying at West Virginia or moving to Wyoming or Ohio St. Ultimately, Hamish figured he would eke out one more year on his pittance of a salary with the Mountaineers. They should do better next year, and that should help him land an even better job with higher pay the following year. He was hoping his loyalty would pay off...

[ticktock]

So yeah, just as Hamish was starting to get some interesting offers and it looked like next year might land him a really good one, that damn 0 attributes bug struck again.

The dynasty is stuck in limbo, and as I've mentioned before, at this stage I'm not hopeful it will ever be resolved... If you want to see it continue, please feel free to bug Gary in the hope you can convince him to try and fix it for me.

[Wayne23]

D*mn! Again, Gary will check in and see this but no way to know when. Come on, Gary, we got us a really talented dynasty writer here. Bail him out!!!

ticktock, are you doing alternate saves? Safe one time as (whatever), the next as (whatever2), and alternate. That has saved a dynasty for me, losing only what happened since the last save. Doesn't always work but often it does.

[JMD]

Let's see if it can match the drama of the Ultimate Dynasty.

[ticktock]

Hamish is too laid back to ever get involved in too much drama.

And I'm conducting multiple saves now since the game has been so unstable for me. I save immediately after any game or in game event, and I create a new save file about every 10 days of game time. I then compress and archive one of these files every month of game time. So I've got multiple save files now for any association I create, and I can theoretically go back in time to see stats, player cards, etc for when I'm writing dynasties.

If anyone is interested for me to describe this in more detail, let me know and I'll create a separate post for it.

[Wayne23]

And drama? Okay, if that's what you want, no problem at all with that, but there are LOTS of different ways to write a dynasty, and lots of different reasons to do so.

This will keep your association alive 99% of the time, ticktock- but not 100%, at least until Gary gets around to the fix. Still, the odds are in your favor!