Grounded: Reggie Davis and California Baptist

[jksander]

Despite a 16-15 record last season, our program's first year transitioning from the D2 to D1 level, the school itself was ready to cut ties and shut down the program. Unwilling to keep funneling large sums of money into a program administrators didn't feel was likely to become profitable to the university, it was decided the basketball program would fold and all other sports would become intramural, shifting the educational focus to remaining the top private academic Christian university in the nation.

Our players were devastated.

Our head coach, who was also Athletic Director and a renowned professor of Sports Management, quit in protest, leaving me, the program's Associate Head Coach, holding the reins as we played out the 2018-19 season's final few games.

As I attempted to keep team morale out of the basement and began brushing up my résumé in a vain attempt to salvage a coaching career I felt was already in tatters, I got a call from a surprising source. Turned out a handful of alumni were as frustrated with this turn of events as I was. And they were willing to put up the money to keep the program afloat – for now … enough to pay me $100,000 a year to coach the team, with enough to bring on my own staff and still have at least a paltry sum to recruit with. With their checkbooks in hand, they got the administration to back off the idea of shuttering the department, with the promise that we would stay afloat on our own without divesting money from academics.

I accepted the terms, and as of May 1, 2019 I … Reggie Davis, formerly a no-name collegiate assistant at a wannabe DI program, am now the head coach of said wannabe. And if I can keep our players together and bring in enough new blood to build a semblance of a program, in a couple years we may be able to make this tenuous perch an example to other programs of how to balance basketball and academics without losing faith in the necessity of either.

In that endeavor I will focus my recruiting energies here in the state of California, and rather than wasting my time trying to lure top-tier “blue chip” players to a school they're never going to acknowledge, I'll try and find those young men who would fit well in this school's unique atmosphere, and who will thrive as part of our team-oriented athletic focus.

I am confident that we will find ourselves near the top of the Western Athletic before anyone expects it, and will be dancing in March on short order. In the meantime, I can build this program knowing absolutely no one nationally or regionally is particularly watching.

- - - - -

Coach Info
Name: Reggie Davis (28)
Experience: 0-0 (.000)
Contract: $100,000 / 3 years
Reputation: Below Average
Ambition: Average
Academics: Average
Discipline: Average
Temper: Average
Integrity: Average
Job Security: 100%
Offense: 46%
Defense: 32%
Scouting: 61%
Development: 40%
Recruiting: 95%

Randomized the above coaching skill levels, so I have no idea how good or bad this coach will be over the course of my game. Cheating is turned off, but I also turned off leaving early for the NBA so teams that recruit well among blue chip players will likely become dominating.

Assistants
Associate HC: Ahmad Barnes (36) - $33,000 / 3 years … Recruiting: 50%
2nd Assistant: Oliver Hayes (59) - $18,000 / 3 years … Scouting: 26%
3rd Assistant: Arthimus Bailey (62) - $12,000 / 3 years … Development: 22%

School Info
School: California Baptist
Mascot: Lancers
Location: Riverside CA
Arena: CBU Events Center (6,000)
Facilities: C+
Academics: C+ (900 Min. SAT)
Conference: Western Athletic
WAC Prestige: 19%
Team Prestige: 2%
Budget: $125,000
Asst. Costs: $63,000
Remaining Budget: $62,000

Starting purely at the bottom of the coaching ladder. Nowhere to go but up, clearly.

[PointGuard]

Intriguing starting premise. Look forward to seeing how your career progresses.

[jksander]

Thanks PG ... still trying to decide if I want to play the games out or sim ... simming tends to be my usual way.