So - as we have covered in the League Office Chat, the current GM attributes anti-tank system has generally been viewed as effective - but this is clearly due to the Placebo effect. The attributes of the league's GM, except for Scouting, have no impact on the team's performance during the Training phase of the offseason, or any other period. This has been confirmed via high-volume anecdotal testing, with observable shifts based on using the coaching system v. our settings, but it would probably take weeks of really boring work to confirm this at a statistically significant level. Coaches with high attributes have a very visible impact on the development of their team with respect to those attributes.
As we have also covered and are all probably aware, the game DOES account for a coaching system. In its purest form, this is a pretty dynamic system, where players have a second 'salary cap' called "Budget" and there is a Staffing phase which is very similar to the Free Agency phase, and GMs can hire Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, and Scouting Coordinators.
It is only a matter of time before someone besides me tested our anti-tanking/coaching points system and discovered that it was, except for the scouting statistics (our league has the Scouting option turned on), a toothless anti-tanking threat. But, via testing in the program, we are announcing an updated, effective coaching point system. All of the upkeep will remain the job of the commissioner - it is his task to keep coaches signed and alive, and he can easily do that. The major points that affect GMs are as follows:
1. Every team will have a single Head Coach hired for them, and assigned in the staffing menu to coach every category. Staffing will then be turned off, and players will not be able to modify this aspect of their team.Staffing is currently turned off, and always has been turned off, meaning that no team has any coaches assigned to their team or to a coaching category. Accordingly, during Training Camp the program looks for their modifier, finds none, and plugs in the default modifier. With staffing turned on long enough to add a coach and assign them, but then turned off, players won't be able to modify where their coach is assigned. However, the program still appears to look at that section in determining training camp performance (because it has been written by monkeys, or because it's easier and people don't normally flip flop between having settings on and off . . . you decide). This means a team's head coach, assigned to the categories, will still impact training camps based on his own ratings in each of the categories.
2. Every team's coach will start with a 50 overall in each of the 7 coaching categories. The average total attributes of coaches across several test sims is slightly above 350 points. There are 7 categories. No Brainer.
3. Yearly performance will no longer move your coach up a full letter grade. Instead, the performance 'points' will be converted into 5 point increments, all spent at once. For example: A first year coach has won 45 games, having taken over a great team! He can increase his attribute in any of the coaching areas by 5 points.
Attribute changes will be earned according to the following schedule:
60+ wins = One +10 or two +5 increases
45-59 wins = One +5 increase
35-44 wins = no change
20-34 wins = One -5 decrease
Less than 20 wins: One -10 or two -5 decreases
Previous coaching attributes will be converted into plusses and minuses as of the implication of this program. Luckily, we know where people have added and decreased already. People will undoubtedly see an immediate decrease in their head coach's attributes as compared to the old system. A look at the
letter rating ranges provided by Kyle will explain why. Also, this accounts for the anecdotal evidence that supports a 70 in a coaching rating is considerably stronger than a 50 in the same rating (70 is the middle of the B range, while 50 is just above the middle of the C range). People who currently have an A in an attribute will have a 55 in that attribute under the new system. If they have a C, they will have a 45.
4. With two exceptions, there is no upper limit to these scores except the scores will always be between 35 & 100.Due to the existence of the HTML Scout and the nature of the program, neither Scouting Current nor Scouting Potential shall be able to be reduced below 45. Further, in the absence of a scouting coordinator, the game looks to the General Manager's attributes, so increases to scouting scores shall be accounted for in the General Manager's ratings.
5. Unlike the previous system, there is no enforced need to maintain a general balance of your coach's attributes.Pretty self explanatory, if you want to make your coach a Defensive stalwart who struggles with coaching handling and jump shooting, or vice versa, or keep a balanced approach, or whatever . . . knock yourself out. This will allow individual GMs to shape their franchises to their own philosophies.
6. Firing Coaches, or making a complete reassignment of their coaching ratings, will be able to accomplished using TBD.Firing a coach means that your current coach will have all of their attributes reset to 50. This is very clearly a powerful affect, able to cancel out years of tanking in a single swoop. Accordingly, it will be be the most expensive use of TBD in the history of the RBSL. Keeping this expensive makes it very difficult for a team which has been struggling to simply cancel it with a fell swoop, as most sources of passive TBD are earned by winning.
Rearranging the Coaching ratings will work as follows - Add up the total of all of your coach's ratings, and reassign them in 5 point blocs however you see fit. This is also a powerful effect, as new teams have new players with new ratings and styles, and a drastic shift in coaches from season to season would be a powerful tool in player development. Accordingly, this option also will be quite expensive.
Costs:
Firing a Coach: 5000 TBD
Rearranging a Coach's Attributes: 2000 TBD
7. There will be a system of diminishing returns once your coach reaches 400 total coaching attributes.Once your coach reaches 400 points, it is harder to gain coaching attributes, and easier to lose them! As long as your coach has 400 or more total attribute points, your attributes are gained and lost according to the following schedule:
60+ wins = One +5 increase
45-59 wins = no change
35-44 wins = One -5 decrease
20-34 wins = One -10 or two -5 decreases
Less than 20 wins: Two -10 or four-5 decreases
8. Draft classes will no longer be 'improved' by the commissioner.Improved Coaches will improve the performance of training camp across the league, so this will no longer be necessary. The Draft class will be the draft class on Day 1 of every season!
As you know, typically we do wait for a few years to make big, sweeping changes to the League. However, given the broken nature of the current coaching points system, waiting is not appropriate. Further, everyone already was making decisions and plans under the understanding that the previous coaching points method was effective, so this change does not affect anybody's plans.
Further, some draft class was always going to be first, and coaching would always help develop recent draftees in the past. Regardless of when we implement this change, some draft classes which are 'improved' will receive the benefit of several years under a coaching system.
Weighing all of these factors, we have decided to implement this change immediately.
