I've played this for a couple of years now and recently got the 2022 version. I'm wanting to start a road to glory type save where I start with the lowest possible starting stats and work my way up the ladder. Is it better to start as an assistant or with one of the starting head coach jobs available? What are some other tips you can give me for those of you who have done this type of save? I plan on putting some time into it. If anyone wants to join me in an online league let me know and we can set it up! Otherwise, I just need some advice on where to start. Thank you!

I definitely recommend you start as a head coach, rather than an assistant. That is UNLESS you REALLY want to have being an assistant as a background component of your story/experience. Otherwise the asst coach component of the game doesn't give you a lot of challenge/excitement (in my opinion).

Be aware, if you start with low head coach ratings at a low prestige college, you may be successful fairly quickly, but it will take a long time to work your way up the ladder. It's not like you do a couple seasons at Podunk U, then immediately move up to a mid-major, and then quickly jump to a power conference, high prestige team.

Make sure the coach philosophy you establish is what you want to replicate and use. E.G,,If you set academics as low, you're not going to be hired by Princeton or Stanford. But if you want to be able to recruit the low GPA guys who may not be recruited by as many programs and do that throughout your career, then setting academics at low makes sense.

I never had any interest in being an assistant. I write my assistant coach experience into my back story but don't make it part of the association.

As to starting with low ratings, I've done that, while setting my Potential ratings high, usually 85 across the board. It definitely takes a long time to get there, but it can be interesting. FYI: I set Scouting higher than anything else because for whatever reason, that category takes forever to improve.

If you want sort of an "accelerated" journeyman, I'd set recruiting as your highest initial rating by far (25-30 higher than the rest), and leave the others near average or well below average.

This helps you lure some elite talent to your smaller program right away which, if done right, can boost your resume for future coaching opportunities right away -- and, let's be real, it's immensely fun to be an elite recruiter. But you still have major deficiencies as a coach, so you can't afford to slip up on the recruiting trail or with your rotations, or else you'll lose 25 games in your first job at a mid-major and get canned after one year. (No, this never happened to me, why do you ask?)

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I've decided I'm going to start my career at Northern Arizona!

Good choice!