Power Pros Forum

Yes, I'm doing the Dynasty. Don't expect crazy fast updates, nor crazy consistent ones, but I will do my best to at least get through a season of this, knowing my motivation issues for this stuff.

In any case, I obviously went with the Huskies, as I have sentiments towards them because that's where my first RTG player went for college... and then won the Heisman sophomore year and led them to a BCS bowl. They also play in a very tough conference, and are good but not great... for now.

Anyways, I'll try to write this in a pseudo-narrative style, to make it simultaneously entertaining and informative. The man we're rooting for shall be Cole Marceau, a 32-year-old suit-wearing man with aspirations in the stratosphere. I almost named him Kaleb, but when I saw the suit option for his attire, I immediately thought of Cole Phelps from L.A. Noire.

Also, I love French surnames, so there's that.

In any case, here's the beginning, and enjoy~


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"My my, these terms are... well, I don't have to really worry about aiming way up for the stars to please the bosses."

This was Cole Marceau's thought as his ballpoint pen struck paper, and with a series of swoops forming one big, illegible swoop that would make a doctor proud, he was the new head coach of the University of Washington Huskies. On the contract was the regular legal jargon and such, but also were listed a series of goals that essentially got more pressing as one got further down on the list. He read them over once more before the paper was whisked away by an assistant:

-Win a bowl game*
-Win 8 games in one season
-Beat a rival opponent each season
-Win 10 games in one season* (this one, he figured, could be accomplished first season, killing two birds with one stone)
-Finish 4th or better in the conference each season
-Win 6 games in every season
-Make it to a bowl game each season
-Fill all team needs before the offseason each year*
-Sign 5 3-star or better prospects each regular season
-Grade B or higher on 10 campus visits in one season
-Sign a Top 50 recruiting class each regular season
-Finish each season ranked in the BCS Top 75

(NOTE: The asterisks denote those that are incentivized; I use this term to represent any goals that have no "Fail" impact, but do have a "Pass" impact. The Grade B goal has neither a Pass or Fail Impact.)

In essence, he just needed solid, consistent recruiting and to use that as a building block towards a successful team. Cole had 3 years to accomplish such tasks, and with what he remembered from the previous season, as well as the practices he had attended, he had a very good sentiment about the squad. Much better than UCF, the other school that had really courted the 32-year-old. They just seemed a bit negligent in his opinion, and he couldn't un-remember the memory of a news article he had seen about a player for UCF dying in a practice.

He wasn't much for the heat anyways.

In any case, Cole was eager, to say the least. He was more than ready to go Lombardi (the good kind of Lombardi) on the team, motivator that he was, and with the business savvy (and networking system) he'd acquired from years' past the recruiting aspect would be... fun wasn't the right word, but the first one of which he thought.

With a subtle smile he shook the others' hands, thanked them for their time and their patience, and gave, say, three-quarter-hearted (as opposed to halfhearted) promises. Not that Cole didn't mean them, of course, but he had his own goals in mind, his own visions for the Huskies... and when they got accomplished, he'd be the only one unsurprised. Well, other than the players, of course.


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COACH INFO:
Offense: Slightly run-oriented, slightly conservative, LSU-style offense
Defense: Slightly run-oriented, slightly aggressive, 3-4
Outfit of choice: Suit and fedora
Strength: Motivation
Weakness: Probably Recruitment
Position Priorities for Recruitment At Start: MLB, 2nd is LE, 3rd is CB

Sjax, has anyone ever told you that your linguistic style is an absolute joy to read?
Following this for sure.

Thank you kind sir. I actually just corrected 2 wretched typos I made in there, thus the edits, but... yeah.

Nowhere near my best writing, but hey, it doesn't have to be. As long as I keep it intriguing and get the points across, that's what matters. Have fun following~

I'll attempt to follow as well, even though I'm not into the football logs as much.

Seems like this'll be good.

Yeah, this seems pretty interesting. I'll follow!

Purple Haze? Jimi Hendrix reference? I'm following.

"A-are you sure, Cole? That seems like a very quixotic list to me..."

This slight dissent came from the mouth of his assistant, a young man fresh out of Florida Southern College with a wet nose and a B.A. in Sports Management. They were looking over Cole Marceau's Top 35 Scouting List, of targets he was going to chase to the end of the world and back, almost, and the younger one was hardly convinced that they could pull this off very well. 5 Top 50 prospects, 11 in the Top 125. The vast majority of them were from California or Washington, Cole knowing that proximity was a big part of this... but it didn't keep him from falling in love with #106, Brian Williams, a Montreal native with an incredible 4.24 40-yard-dash and 6 full feet of ball-hawking (Play Recognition was a plus of the CB's).

"I'm absolutely sure, Jaxon. No windmill fighting or disillusioned Spanishmen here, just a list of the guys we're targeting."

They did have a few guys already interested, of course: #35, Tristan Williams, was an intriguing athlete with an amazing 665 squat, whilst Chris Love, another 4.24 runner (and he was 6 feet 5 inches!), was #74 and like Tristan had UW as #1. Several great CB's were up on UW as well, but the other needed positions didn't have pools teeming so much with fish. Heck, there wasn't a single 3-star or higher Fullback in the entire recruiting class! Still, Cole was confident that he had a big enough net to nab at least several of these top prospects, which would go a long ways towards his national championship aspirations.

Of course, this was the easy part, the planning. The hard part would be swaying them all.


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Essentially, I had to search through literally thousands of prospects to find 35 to stick on my recruiting board... there were many that were already interested in UW, many merely because of proximity, but I strayed away from them a little bit and searched for bigger game, to see how they panned out compared to the others.

NEEDED POSITIONS:
MLB: 2
CB: 1
C: 1
FS: 1
FB: 1

35 RECRUIT BREAKDOWN:
Athlete: 2
Center: 3
Cornerback: 6
Defensive End: 3
Fullback: 3
Free Safety: 3
Guard: 1
Halfback: 1
Middle Linebacker: 6
Outside Linebacker: 4
Tight End: 2
Wide Receiver: 1

Next time should be a recruiting update, to see how the list has changed~

I should've mentioned, I'll also be following.

Everyone is pretty much following

Including me. Good job so far. Very interesting to read.

Baaaaaack~

Sorry, homework situation came up and I couldn't get on much at all. But I'm back now, with another update~

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Cole sure knew how to make things difficult.

No, literally, he had used an opportunity to change the schedule a little to add in a game (at home, thankfully) against the preseason #23, Oklahoma State. It was sandwiched between two games that weren't exactly barnburners (@ San Diego State and @ AZ State), but combined with a schedule that featured foes like Utah, Cal, and back-to-back games against Stanford, Oregon and USC (the former two being away), ESPN had rated their schedule as one easily a Top 10 hardest in the nation. As his assistant strode into Marceau's office, he looked a bit dazed, praying that Cole wasn't going in over his head as it would seem.

"And that's completely understandable... Hey, I grew up in California too, Stephen, Chino Hills, and I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't think you'd be a great fit here..." Cole looked up from a myriad of papers sprawled out on his rustic maple desk, and held up a single index finger to Jaxon. "Yes, of course we've sent a scout to watch you. You could probably pick him out in the crowd, too; scouts aren't exactly needles in a haystack! Really though, he liked what he saw. Especially your acceleration (A/N: Which is a 91), my man... Exactly. Nothing like a defensive back who can explode right as the ball's snapped... Uh-huh, no doubt. Anyways, my line's always open, so feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions. I know you're interested, I know I'm interested, and I know you're starting to itch for a visit. We'll definitely work things out... All right, talk to you later. Thanks."

Cole hung up the phone at this, and gave his assistant a grin.

"Stephen Stone, Free Safety from SoCal. Little ways west of LA. He's got us #1 on his list and wants a visit... I think he's 425 or something, but he's got good potential. Good in coverage, scout said. Anyways, what's up?"

"What's up? Our strength of schedule is already ranked as an A and you ADD a RANKED opponent?" Jaxon sounded a bit exasperated.

"Jaxon, calm down. Team needs a early-season test, especially since otherwise we'd have some mediocrity, then a bye, then 3 weeks of murder. Plus, we're making them fly up here to play."

"I... I'm still a bit worried. We've got a really rough schedule."

"Yeah, really, whoever decided to put us against the top 3 teams in the conference in 3 straight weeks needs to get demoted. Still, all we can do is give it our all... I feel like we can take 2 of 3 pretty easy, though."

"2 of 3? That's aiming quite high, sir."

"Yes, well, that's the goal, in case you hadn't noticed. Now then, if that's all you had to ask about, I've gotta hit up Mr. Parks on the phone. Rumor has it that we're in his Top 5 and that he's very much undecided, so I'm going to go ahead and try and swing the vote a bit."

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As Cole Marceau hung up the phone with the top Defensive End on his list, he pumped his fist. Academic Prestige was of average priority to Stephen Lane (in which Washington had an A), but that sparked a decent conversation with the young man from L.A. He'd made a pitch about Lane's playing time, which he ate up, then IMPROVED on it by finding out that Lane wanted to play in a top conference (and then did a good job selling the Pac-12 as one). By his mental calculations, Cole deduced that he might have just moved Washington into the Top 5 for this young man, though he had a little work to do to pass Notre Dame as #1.

Playing time, on Marceau's list, was on average one of the top interests of these high schoolers, especially the top prospects, and when he'd fallen back on that with such players he'd found success for sure.

Academic prestige was an interesting mix thus far, with several players focusing more on the fact that they're football players, but with several really acknowledging Washington's academic prowess. The best response yet was by Michael Gates, a Cornerback out of SoCal who had Washington as a very tentative #1. Marceau had pulled the Academics card on a leap of faith, and the response blew even him away:
"I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't very intrigued by a prestigious degree from Washington."

This was cause for another Tiger Woods-style uppercut.

The best news yet, though, was from Paul Parks, maybe his most prized recruit thus far. He had Washington in his Top 5 but was being pursued by at least nine other schools. However, Marceau hit the jackpot when he mentioned the university's proximity to Parks's home in Maple Valley, WA. Parks replied by saying he's lived there his whole life, and would find it hard to move away now... absolutely perfect for Washington's chances to nail him.

Later, Cole called maybe the highest-tauted prospect, OLB Jeff Wilson. He knew Washington was at the moment a major long shot, but luckily he had pocket Kings in hand, and played them expertly. First came the obligatory spiel about playing time, which obviously attracted such a big prospect. He later compared Washington's proximity to home to Wilson's rumored top choice, LSU, and not only got his agreement about it (He had said his parents had told him the same thing), but it sounded like he had Wilson down a bit on LSU. Cole finished by prodding him about Conference Prestige, something big on Wilson's mind, but it was something much earlier that had really solidified Washington as a possible top choice for the 5-star recruit.

Academic Prestige.

See, Marceau had merely asked him about what he thought of it, and Wilson answered better than even Marceau hoped: Wilson noted that education was of huge importance to him, because not all student-athletes get to play professionally.

In other words, Cole Marceau had a full house.

He finished with a decent call to Brian Williams, the Canadian CB, and emerged from his office a very, very happy man. Not all calls had been equal in there, but the ones that had mattered most to him had gone beautifully. Marceau checked his watch as he left the building, and sped up his walk a little bit. The football team was holding a scrimmage, and there was no way he was going to miss it.

Wow, this is pretty unique! Certainly makes for an interesting read.

Nice to see Cole's locking up most of these top prospects.

I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't very intrigued by this log.

Love your writing style, sjax. Keep it up.

Yeah!

By the way, how does recruiting work on there? Because I'm considering getting it soon.