by TripLykely » Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:56 pm
Having done several runs of various starts but not being an avid fan of real college basketball it's hard to properly assess how the game does with job offers. I can say having done a similar run to what you're doing, starting at NAU and then moving to Auburn, you're close to the kind of offers you want but think you may be over valuing appearing in the tournament.
In real life many of the 68 teams that make the tourney aren't good, like all the bowl games in college football. With such a large field it doesn't mean much to get there and leave early, even if you beat up on your bad conference. Trying to objectively think about the fictional career you describe in real life and I don't know if its that far off. Honestly after 7 seasons with a small school getting a job at a bottom dweller in the SEC seems pretty legit and a great chance to get the offer you really want. Just making it deeper in the tourney. That conference prestige really helps with recruiting.
All of the big schools would never consider that coach but possibly more than a 3*, it's hard to say because not all 3* are equal. I'd rather take the 2* Auburn in the SEC job then a 3* Belmont in Ohio Valley offer for example. Going back to my run that was similar, I had 7 seasons at NAU making the NCAA tourney the last four - 2nd round loss, Final Four, Sweet 16, Elite 8 - and then went to Auburn. It was another 7 seasons at Auburn, which probably could have been less if I didn't experiment with strategy the first few seasons as I missed the tourney until my 4th season. The team then with Elite 8, Sweet 16, Sweet 16, and got 4* offers and now after losing in the 2nd round have 5* offers. All said roughly 14 seasons to get 5* offers.
In a run I mentioned prior with Wisconsin I started as a 100 rated coach, its taken 12 seasons - winning 7 National Championships - to get a comparable 5* job offer. You'd think after a run only beat by Wooden with UCLA I'd have my pick of schools (not the point of this run but still) but Villanova was the only 5* interested so far.
My best guess is job offers are tied to coach reputation, ratings, and experience. The weight that any of those areas has or the impact of particular events on reputation is most likely what would need to be looked at and my hunch is experience is the culprit.
In the scenario you present and the ones I mentioned experience seems similar despite the other differences. Part of the issue may simply be the attraction of starting your coaching career as a head coach vs an assistant. I'm not sure how that works in-game but in real life across sports its common to see assistants move up in their programs. Starting as an assistant at Wisconsin is a better way to end up head coach than starting as HC of Northern Arizona, unless you went ham at NAU. The question then becomes, how well do you need to do at a small school for a big school to notice you despite lack of experience?
I'm curious in your run, what are your coach ratings and what is your coach reputation? Have you looked up the coaches of the schools you'd like to offer you a job - are your ratings in line with theirs?
DDSCB21 Let's Play - Chasing the career milestones of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden - Chasing Wooden Playlist --> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVfxNP1tD6mNwqSbZK-ZtxC5ntyd1uiq