Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby jksander » Tue Mar 15, 2016 2:17 pm

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“This isn't going to stand! We need better for this program!”

That's Scarlet Knights athletic director Tony Druben angrily throwing **** against the wall, nearly causing his college degree to fall off its crooked perch. He's just fired coach Eddie Jordan, who failed to bring the program to Midwest 10 prominence -- a 7-25 season landing the team instead near the bottom of pretty much every statistical calculation. Prior to that, Mike Rice had humiliated the program when ESPN's “Inside The Lines” broadcast his 'unorthodox' coaching methods as the program was investigating becoming a part of the fabled Midwest 10 conference.

Since that conference jump, the Knights have gone 3-33 in conference, becoming a Division 1 laughingstock.

That's where I come in.

I'm the one standing here calmly in the athletic director's office, watching him throw a rather epic temper tantrum just an hour before he's going to calmly stand before the press and announce my hiring as the new head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. I'll be getting $250,000 a year for three years to turn this program into something we all can be proud of. I get to put my east-coast recruiting to the test and prove that Rutgers' joining the Midwest 10 was not just a gigantic cluster-fuck. I've been an assistant under Tom Crean in Indiana for the last four seasons, including their two conference title runs. And though I never played college ball, I grew up in New York City, where I watched pretty much every game I could, learning all the intricacies about what players turn into stars. I honed that while coaching with the Hoosiers, hitting the recruiting trail and bringing them top talent.

That's what's going to happen here in Rutgers.

I am Seth Reinghold. I am your new coach in East Rutherford.

And we WILL be back in the NCAA tournament before I get my first coaching extension.
Last edited by jksander on Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby jksander » Wed Mar 16, 2016 1:53 am

Coach Information
Name: Seth Reinghold
Age: 42
D1 Record: 0-0
Contract: $250,000 / 3 years
Job Goals: Qualify for NIT, Finish in top half of Mid-10, Finish above .500, Improve prestige.
Reputation: Average
Ambition: Low … I don't want to move to big jobs until I've done my job in the first place.
Academics: Very High … Make the grades, or you don't play! Student athletes is the emphasis.
Discipline: Very High … Work hard, play hard, but keep your **** together!
Temper: Average … I prefer not to yell unless necessarily. But I still demand results.
Integrity: Very High … Cheating never gets anyone anywhere good.

Starting Budget: $211,250
Coaching Assistants: $135,000
Remaining Budget: $76,250 with only one open scholarship

Image


Let's just say the previous administration left me with my hands full in that two-year goal to bring the program to a level where we'd be dancing in March. Thankfully they'rStue just asking for an NIT bid to really gain their confidence, though with a 3-33 record in the Mid-10 over the last two years, and very little turnover in the program's players, I've got to make some moves. Rule number one is going to be, if you're not here to be part of the solution, you're packing your bags. Players be warned! I will cut scholarships over behavior issues!

Let's start with grades. I went to the head of athletic tutoring and got the printout of grades for all returning players, and for freshmen their high school GPAs. And there's work to do, but for the most part these are good kids with good heads on their shoulders. No one's got a GPA below 3.0, and our freshmen are all 3.3 or higher. I'll keep an eye on them this fall to make sure no one drops below that threshold. And though the school's minimum SAT score is 960, I won't recruit anyone below a 3.0 GPA without special circumstances, to avoid any risk of academic unreadiness.

We have to recruit nationally eventually, but right now I can only afford to go all-in in the East region. So we're buying the $30,000 Gold Edition of the Atlantic East scouting reports. We will attend the Atlantic East scouting combine in New York ($3,700) as well as the Indy Elite Camp in Indianapolis, where many of the top national players choose to go, even when they live on the east coast, hence the $5,000 price tag. We'll therefore have just shy of $38,000 to work with when filling our one scholarship. And I aim to look for top recruits to fill said spot … we can't aim low if we're going to make big changes.

The Midwest 10 looks particularly brutal this year, with six teams ranked in the preseason top 25 (#4 Indiana, #8 Michigan State, #15 Michigan, #17 Maryland, #21 Ohio State and #25 Purdue). So whatever our schedule winds up being, we'll have a long road to hoe come January when it comes to turning this program's progress back to winning form.
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby jksander » Wed Mar 16, 2016 4:22 am

Feel free to chime in with things you'd want to see in this diary ... I'm playing around with the game still. May coach out a few games to see how I like it, may sim some ... no idea yet. I'm going to see where the game takes me. Plus, my schedule is all crazy with my full time job and freelance writing work, so I never know how much time I'll have at any given moment. It's taken me two sessions of several hours to set up the game and get to the end of July recruiting, and I still haven't made my official scholarship offer ;)
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby slybelle1 » Wed Mar 16, 2016 7:32 pm

I have nothing to ask or add, but just wanted to say off to a nice start and will be watching...
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby jksander » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:02 pm

slybelle1 wrote:I have nothing to ask or add, but just wanted to say off to a nice start and will be watching...


Thanks, slybelle1, glad you're reading :) Fun stuff ahead ...

- - - - -


August 21, 2016: Walk-on guard Davin Norwell has decided to leave the team due to family issues he's chosen to keep private at this time. He's arranged to take his final classes toward graduation from home.

September 25, 2016: “I am proud to announce I've made my choice. I'll be a Scarlet Knight at Rutgers in the fall. I look forward to being able to make a real impact at a school, where I won't have the opportunity to hide my skills.”

That's future Scarlet Knights superstar point-guard Josh Greenwalt addressing a large group of reporters who had expected him to say he was going to be a Gamecock. Up until this morning I wasn't certain he wouldn't change his mind -- the star at Palmetto High in Williamston, South Carolina, Greenwalt has averaged 17.7 ppg 8.7 apg and 6.9 rpg over three years with the school, becoming the 23rd ranked recruit NATIONALLY, and the top guard in the class according to our regional scouting reports.

In other words, to all witnessing this he's way out of our league.

Initially we weren't even in his top ten, he told me back in July, but he is one of those players who doesn't necessarily shine when trying to impress hundreds of scouts at a combine, so when he didn't blow people away at the Indy Elite Camp, he got brushed off by a few of the legendary coaches he'd hoped to play for … and I kept up my interest, winning him over.

Nothing like getting to be a big fish in a small pond as we turn this program around! He's one of the purest overall scorers I've seen, and he can pass, defend, rebound, and steal with the best of them. And his hands … those arms stretch seemingly for miles, and he's one of the best shot blockers in his high school conference! I don't expect to need a 6'3” guard to do much blocking, but the potential is there. And that potential is what makes me already look forward to seeing what he can do when he puts on a Rutgers uniform.

One player in the class. But he'll play, and he'll thrive. And this one player class is liable to get us noticed in the fall, even in the craziness that is the Midwest 10.

Things are looking up for sure in East Rutherford!

Here's our schedule for the 2016 season:

November
16 - New Mexico
19 - Florida State
21 - (n) Pittsburgh Christian (WS Midwest Invitational)
26 - Virginia Tech
30 - @ #10 Louisville

December
7 - Philadelphia
14 - @ #16 South Bend
21 - South Philly
27 - Miami (Florida)
28 - Wisconsin
31 - @ Minnesota

January
4 - @ #17 Maryland
7 - #8 Michigan State
11 - #15 Michigan
14 - @ #4 Indiana
18 - Minnesota
21 - @ #21 Ohio State
25 - Nebraska
28 - @ Wisconsin

February
1 - Illinois
4 - @ Penn State
8 - #25 Purdue
11 - @ Iowa
15 - Northwestern
18 - #17 Maryland
22 - @ #8 Michigan State
25 - @ #15 Michigan
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby slybelle1 » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:06 pm

"August 21, 2016: Walk-on guard Davin Norwell has decided to leave the team due to family issues he's chosen to keep private at this time. He's arranged to take his final classes toward graduation from home."

Can this type of event really happen within the game or is that just part of your story? Not so much the specific reason, but do players some times leave your team?
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby jksander » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:11 pm

slybelle1 wrote:"August 21, 2016: Walk-on guard Davin Norwell has decided to leave the team due to family issues he's chosen to keep private at this time. He's arranged to take his final classes toward graduation from home."

Can this type of event really happen within the game or is that just part of your story? Not so much the specific reason, but do players some times leave your team?


No I cut him to try and free up a second scholarship and then realized he was a senior walk-on. And I didn't want to have to re-sim a bunch of recruiting lol ... stupid. Luckily I nailed a top recruit and I'm happy with the one-player class. Unless I cut anyone later for discipline issues he'll be it.
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby Wayne23 » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:12 pm

People do not leave the team midseason. They may transfer out at the end of the season. This is just story line to explain the fact that jk is cutting a walk on. Some of cut some or all of our walk ons regularly.
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby Wayne23 » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:13 pm

Oops. jk beat me to the punch!
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Re: Rebuilding Rutgers -- A DDSCB2016 Test Diary

Postby slybelle1 » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:15 pm

jksander wrote:
slybelle1 wrote:"August 21, 2016: Walk-on guard Davin Norwell has decided to leave the team due to family issues he's chosen to keep private at this time. He's arranged to take his final classes toward graduation from home."

Can this type of event really happen within the game or is that just part of your story? Not so much the specific reason, but do players some times leave your team?


No I cut him to try and free up a second scholarship and then realized he was a senior walk-on. And I didn't want to have to re-sim a bunch of recruiting lol ... stupid. Luckily I nailed a top recruit and I'm happy with the one-player class. Unless I cut anyone later for discipline issues he'll be it.


Thanks for the clarification.....makes sense.
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