STATS
Pudley4
WINS: 704
LOSSES: 151
CAREER WIN PERCENTAGE: .823
PLAYOFFS WINS: 66
PLAYOFF LOSES: 25
PLAYOFF WIN PERCENTAGE: .725
BOWL WINS: 7
BOWL LOSES: 5
BOWL WIN PERCENTAGE: .583
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 25
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5
Pudley44
WINS: 214
LOSSES: 34
CAREER WIN PERCENTAGE: .863
PLAYOFFS WINS: 31
PLAYOFF LOSES: 10
PLAYOFF WIN PERCENTAGE: .756
BOWL WINS: 0
BOWL LOSES: 0
BOWL WIN PERCENTAGE: .000
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 11
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2
Bruin Killer: Please tell us your name, and age.
Pudley: Jeff, age 36
Bruin Killer: Do you have any alternate ego's (other Id's)?
Pudley4: Pudley44, Rebuilder (co-coach with Mtxcivic)
Bruin Killer: What is your marital status ? Do you have kids?
Pudley4: Married 9 years, 4 kids. 16-year old twin girls (one lives with her father, the other lives with us), 7-year old son (the Dude), 3 year-old daughter (the Diva).
Bruin Killer: Where are you from? Where do you live now?
Pudley4: Born and raised in Minneapolis; currently in a small town about 45 minutes west of Minneapolis.
Bruin Killer: What do we say we provide the WIS brotherhood with a bit of info about your town. Just in case anyone is planning a trip.
Best place to stay?
Pudley4: Nicollet Island Inn is right on the Mississippi River, on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. Very romantic and very good food. If you�re here with kids, stay at the Grand Lodge next to the Mall of America � it has a 70,000 sq foot water park inside, including the tallest indoor water slide in the US (10 stories)
Bruin Killer: Best place to eat? What's your favorites off the menu?
Pudley4: My favorite is a little hole-in-the wall barbeque place in south Minneapolis called Ted Cook�s 19th Hole Barbeque. Full slab of pork ribs, jo-jo potatoes (soft, not crispy) and peach cobbler. It�s take-out only, so if you�re looking for a sit down dinner, try Murray�s Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, �Home of the Silver Butterknife Steak�. They also have a great lunch steak sandwich (steak, provolone, bacon)
Bruin Killer: Best bar, or place to get a drink? Since the first round should be on them what are you drinking?
Pudley4: Brit�s Pub in downtown Minneapolis. Head up to the roof for lawn bowling and get me a Capt Morgan and Coke on your way.
Bruin Killer: Great info, I am sure it will help the Brothers headed to Minnesota make great choices.
Bruin Killer: Favorite type of food?
Pudley4: Mexican (spicy, and lots of cheese)
Bruin Killer: What school did you attend? High School, and/or College?
Pudley4: Minneapolis South High School, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bruin Killer: Did you play any sports in school, if so what sport and position?
Pudley4: I was a midfielder in soccer and ran middle distance (800m, 1600m) in track.
Bruin Killer: Favorite sports team or teams?
Pudley4: Minnesota Vikings (football) and Liverpool (soccer)
Bruin Killer: Favorite athlete? If so any reason you chose him?
Pudley4: All-time � Fran Tarkenton. When I was 3 I got an autographed photo of him, and on gameday I�d put on my jersey, put his picture on top of the tv and stand a couple of feet from the tv for the entire game. Currently � Steven Gerrard, Liverpool. He�s not the flashiest player (like Ronaldinho or C. Ronaldo) but he just carries his team, and he seems to always make the play they need to win the game. He�s like the Tim Duncan of English soccer. (I think after these last few answers about soccer, I�m going to be on Showrunner�s �blacklist�)
Bruin Killer: Favorite sports moment?
Pudley4: �Do you believe in miracles?� Second favorite is the 1991 World Series � Puckett�s game 6 and Morris in game 7.
Bruin Killer: Movies, TV, or Books?
Pudley4: Favorite movie � The Sting. We don�t go to movies very often � we only go to ones that should be viewed on the big screen. This summer it will be: Pirates 3, Transformers, Die Hard 4, maybe Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter 5. We watch a lot of movies for the kids. Pixar does an amazing job with all of their movies; they make it fun for both the kids and parents to watch them over and over again. The only TV shows I really try to watch are Amazing Race, Survivor and Top Chef (I�ve been disappointed by On The Lot). It�s funny because I never thought I�d be in to any reality shows. I don�t really watch many episodic shows (no 24, no Lost, no Sopranos, etc). When I�m bored I�ll watch Game Show Network. Match Game is still the best game show of all time. Don�t have a lot of time for books. I�ll read Grisham, Crichton and Clancy, but I don�t go out of my way to pick anything up. I really liked David Eddings first two series (The Belgariad and The Mallorean) but his latest work is crap. Robert Jordan�s The Wheel of Time was really good at first (and it spawned my favorite PC game of all time, Wheel of Time) but it just drags on and on and it�s turned to crap. I haven�t even finished the latest book (#11?) and I have no interest in finishing it either.
Bruin Killer: What hobbies or activities do you enjoy?
Pudley4: Besides WIS my only other hobby is playing poker. I started playing seriously about 5 years ago. I finished second in the first ever televised event on the Heartland Poker Tour a couple of years ago. (Their show is broadcast on a lot of independent local channels around the US). I used to play video games a lot, mostly on the PC � FPS (First Person Shooter) like Quake and Unreal Tournament, and RTS (Real-Time Strategy) like Starcraft, Warcraft, and Railroad Tycoon. My son and I still play Rollercoaster Tycoon together. More recently we�ve been playing Guitar Hero for the PS2.
Bruin Killer:Favorite Band, and favorite song?
Pudley4: Favorite band � U2. Favorite U2 song � Pride. Favorite song � Are You Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz)
Bruin Killer:Greatest Band of all time, and song of all time?
Pudley4: Led Zeppelin (I�m not a fan of the Beatles or the Stones). Zeppelin�s best song is Over the Hills and Far Away.
Bruin Killer: How did you find out about the WIS games?
Pudley4: The Sports Guy. He had a blurb about it in one of his columns back in 2004-2005 and I checked out the site. I got up at 2 am to get my first team - Rockne/St Olaf. I picked them because I lived only 15 miles from the school at the time
Bruin Killer: Do you play any other WIS games?
Pudley4: I tried CRD once but it didn�t seem like anything I did had any effect. I played HBD for two seasons, but it was too time-intensive. I really like the long-term planning involved in the game, and all the statistics that are available. It was fun watching players progress through the minors. The one aspect I didn�t like is that there didn�t seem to be a lot of game-to-game strategy available. It�s a lot like poker � you can�t win every hand, all you can do is try to get in with the odds in your favor.
Bruin Killer: So why the name Pudley? At first I thought there was an Adams Family connection, but then realized that was Pugsley. "Sorry"
Pudley4: No problem. We moved out of our neighborhood when I was 6. Right afterward, another kid moved in with the exact same name as me. Somehow he got the nickname �Pudley�. He moved away right before high school, but I ended up in the same high school as my old friends from the neighborhood, so they just transferred the nickname to me. I add the number 4 because it�s my favorite number.
Bruin Killer: What world in GD do you like the best, and why?
Pudley4: Probably Rockne. I�ve had some great rivalries in Wilkinson (MacMurray, Washington & Jefferson, Rockford. Pomona-Pitzer would be, if helgi could ever get past the second round J ) but it has always been a dead world. Rockne has a lot of great coaches and some good activity in the forums (especially rich�s summaries and Lbrown�s entertaining rankings)
Bruin Killer: Favorite Division to coach at?
Pudley4: D1A. I blew through D2 and D1AA so I don�t have a lot of experience there, but D2 is just so dead in most worlds (I think Wilkinson has 50 humans and 94 sims this season). D1AA was better, and I really like the playoffs, but the best coaches are at D1A.
Bruin Killer: What is the best conference you were a part of?
Pudley4: Rockne/SEC. Crave (alone and as Sportssfan with Michaeldartt, Showrunner, and I think Richramirez?), Dwhit, Wolverineman, AceCards; previous coaches Melch, Briancampos, Tarheet1991, Mtxcivic, Vandelay. Although the first season in Heisman was pretty tough in the ASC: Melch, Plague, Captb, Vhoward, Dwhit, and some guy named Lapdancer (who I still think was an alias � he made the NC game). I managed to get to the CC game and lose to Melch.
Bruin Killer: Of all the teams you have coached, which was your favorite?
Pudley4: Wilkinson/Mt Union. Stop me if you�ve heard this before � they were 5-86 lifetime before I took them over. I made the NC game 6 seasons in a row (winning 5) before I lost in the quarterfinals last season. I�m working on completely revamping the offense now (I-form/Pro-Set). Every once in a while I think about leaving, but it�s hard because that�s kind of like my identity. Mt Union � pudley4; pudley4 � Mt Union. Plus I�d probably get upset when the next coach screws them up J My second favorite was Rockne/Louisiana-Lafayette. I took a lifetime sim team who had been 2-11 the previous season and went to the CC game each of the 3 years I was there. I won it in season 3, and in my bowl game I was one point away from getting Alvarado fired from USC.
Bruin Killer: Greatest GD moment?
Pudley4: The first NC is always nice
Bruin Killer: Worst GD moment?
Pudley4: Probably losing to Alvarado in the NC game in season 24. I was up big at the half and got shut out in the 2nd and lost by less than a TD. I had to settle for a FG inside his 10 as time ran out in the first half, and I got down inside the 10 as time ran out in the game. That was the only loss I had in a 6-season stretch. Last season was tough too; even though I wasn�t really happy with my team all season, it�s still frustrating to lose. Although if I don�t start recruiting a little better at Florida, and figure out how to beat crave on a neutral field, my worst moment will be when I�m fired from FLA.
Bruin Killer: When switching, or taking over a new team what do you look for?
Pudley4: I�ve never moved laterally, but when moving up I look for a team with relatively balanced classes, and one that has some returning (hopefully young) talent, preferably at DL, OL, and RB (in that order). I prefer balanced classes, especially at D1A, because it�s so difficult to fill most positions if you need 3 or more players there.
Bruin Killer: There are a lot of different strategies when it comes to recruiting, can you tell us how you approach recruiting, and if you do the same with all of your teams.
Pudley4: Hmmm, let�s see what I can say.
Overall strategy: The first couple of seasons I�ll pick and choose slightly less talented but more balanced recruits in order to avoid battles, hoping they�ll grow into productive players as upperclassmen. For example: I�d rather take a 40-40-40 OL that first season than a 45-45-35. They�re easier to get and then I don�t end up in later seasons feeling like I need to concentrate on certain cores to make up for previous seasons. Once I�ve been at a school a few seasons I�ll start going after better players. If I need a couple of players at a position, and there are a number of equal recruits nearby, I�ll try to grab one of them on the first cycle. Some coaches will go after the studs first and then fill out their class later, but I like to get my �backups� or �secondary� recruits right away too so I know if I will have the bank to go after the studs, or if I need to worry about just filling the class.
Individual recruit strategy: Let�s just say �hit �em fast and hit �em hard�. If there�s a good recruit it�s better to risk overspending by dropping 4k right away and getting him, than to piss away 6k because you let other schools stay in too long.
One other thing: at D3 I�ll average at least one position change per season, and I�ve done as many as 6. Some of the best players I�ve ever had have been position changes, and many times they are very cheap. Take the time to sort TE by Elusiveness and Speed (RB). Sort QBs by Hands and Speed (WR). Sort DBs by both, etc.
Bruin Killer: How do you deal with practice? For example is it important to only use formations you have practiced.
Pudley4: My teams are almost always split 90-90. I never change individual practice during the season. I very, very rarely use a formation I haven�t practiced. A few seasons ago Alvarado (with paranoid�s old Washington & Jefferson team) and I met up in the NC game for the third straight year. I noticed his players improved significantly more than any other team during that season (about 70% more) and it turned out he had gone with zero team practice. He said he noticed an increase in the number of penalties, and that his team didn�t seem to perform as well as he expected. I�ve noticed a few other teams who I think should be doing better than they are (based on player talent) and I think they might need to put more time into team practice. It may be a coincidence, but when I went to 19 min for each formation on offense and defense (up from 15 or 17), I started winning titles.
Bruin Killer: How much time do you usually spend on game planning?
Pudley4: For a really important game I�ll spend 15 minutes or so. I haven�t played against a lot of coaches who do a lot of different things with their gameplan. Last season in my Bowl game I played Vhoward (who�s known for mixing up his I-form/Pro-Set offense). I was able to shut him down in the first half, but I think it was mostly talent as opposed to any great coaching on my part. I haven�t seen enough difference between a lot of the defensive settings to make me want to spend a lot more time gameplanning on defense. I don�t think I use anything other than Always Run/Balanced/Always Pass.
Bruin Killer: When on offense do you take the stance this is what I do now let them try to stop it or do you try to exploit your opponents weakness.
Pudley4: My teams are almost always very balanced between running and passing, so I always have options in each game, no matter what kind of team I�m going up against. So I�d say it�s a little more exploiting my opponent�s weakness than it is playing to my strengths.
Here�s something I want to point out to newer coaches: There is no reward built in to the game for �deception�. If you�ve passed 13 times in a row on 3rd and 10, you won�t get any extra bonus for running on the 14th time; similarly, that run won�t give you any extra help to your passing the 15th time either. So unless you think you can pick up 15 yards on 3rd and 15, you should be in an Always Pass offense in those situations. This also follows for distribution - if you give your stud RB the ball 10 times in a row, the sim is not going to penalize you for giving him the 11th carry too; it also won�t reward you for handing off to the FB on carry 11. You only get a limited number of plays out of your players - if your top RB is going to be in the game you might as well use him. He�ll tire out faster, but would you rather have him in for 6 rushing plays where he gets the ball each time or for 8 rushing plays where he only carries on 4? And if you have two great RBs, don�t waste their stamina by having them in the game at the same time. Only one can carry the ball at a time, so try to set up a rotation between them.
Bruin Killer: How would you describe your defensive style? Are there any special nuances to this side of the ball you would like to share with us?
Pudley4: I usually spend a few games trying to find out my best defensive settings (aggressiveness and effectiveness %). Once I find it, I�ll stick with it through the rest of the season. Most of the time my offense is better than the opponent�s offense, so when in doubt I�ll go aggressive and try to turn it into a shootout.
Bruin Killer: Now one of the most intriguing aspects of GD to me - the aggressive settings. Do you mix it up from game to game, find a comfort zone, and pretty much hang in it, or set it based on a certain match up. Basically is there any special way you approach your settings?
Pudley4: On defense it seems like there�s usually one aggressiveness setting that works best, although that setting can be different for each team. For a while I had two NC teams at D3 � Rockne/St Olaf and Wilkinson/Mt Union. They were both set up very similarly (same offensive and defensive sets, similar practice plans, similar talent and roster makeup) but St Olaf was always running an aggressive defense and Mt Union was always running a conservative defense. Every season I�d test out different settings and every season I�d end up back with the same settings as the previous season.
Sometimes the best settings differ from formation to formation (for example: aggressive vs. running formations and conservative vs. passing formations). Sometimes the best results come from changing aggressiveness at the half (for example: recently one of my teams performed best by playing conservative in the first half and aggressive in the second). It�s a lot of trial and error.
Bruin Killer: For a moment let's talk about some of the coaches in GD.
Bruin Killer: First off, has there been any coach or group of coaches you would like to acknowledge for helping you become the coach you are today?
Pudley4: The only piece of advice I ever got from asking a coach directly was back when advanced depth charts first came out. I was having trouble with teams who had similar talent to mine and I was ready to quit. Melch advised me to up my effectiveness % (I had been around 70-75). Everything else is self-taught or comes from reading the forums and interviews.
Bruin Killer: I have noticed that you take a lot of time in the forums to help some of the new guys. Do you have any up and coming prot�g�s?
Pudley4: No. I�ve had a lot of different coaches site mail me with questions, but there isn�t any one specific coach who I�ve helped out more than any others. I like helping out newer coaches because I know how frustrating it can be to not be able to find the answers to questions they might have. I also see a lot of wrong information given out in the forums. One thing I try to do is be as precise as possible when answering questions. Sometimes my answers will be a little wordy because I�m trying to make sure I give an answer that is exactly correct. When more experienced coaches ask more open-ended questions, I�ll be more likely to give them a hint, or give them an idea to think about rather than just an answer that might be nothing more than my own opinion.
Bruin Killer: I am sure you have been around long enough whether by design or accident to establish some rivalries. Coaches you have faced in multiple words, and or divisions. Who are the coaches you want most, and want you just as bad?
Pudley4: The coach I�ve probably played the most often in important situations is Paranoid. In Rockne it seemed like almost every year his Claremont team and my St Olaf team would meet up in the playoffs. In Wilkinson it was Washington & Jefferson vs. Mt Union, sometimes for the NC. I know that one of Helgi�s goals at Pomona-Pitzer is to beat Mt Union.
Bruin Killer: Who's your daddy, yep that's right. Which coach owns you?
Pudley4: Plague. His Bowdoin teams in Rockne and Texas Lutheran teams in Wilkinson derailed many of my playoff runs. I think the only time I beat him was that first season in Heisman, when his team was below-average.
Bruin Killer: Who calls you daddy, which coach do you own?
Pudley4: turdburgler. Many seasons ago in Rockne, Melch and I were at Concordia and St Olaf. We both moved up to D2 and created 2nd ids to take over our old teams. turdburgler got Concordia before Melch could get them back. They had come off an 18-1 season, but I handily beat them the next two seasons. turdburgler then went to Loras and I beat him every time I met him in the playoffs.
Bruin Killer: Is there a coach that you have not played yet that you would like to? And why.
Pudley4: Jeffkahleb. Anyone with 20+ NCs is doing something right.
Bruin Killer: There have been several meltdowns in GD, please tell us the most obscene "asinine" thing you have seen a coach do?
Pudley4: I always read the coaches corners for all of the conferences in the Divisions I�m in, so I saw this while it was happening. A coach moved some players to compensate for some injuries he had. When the players came back from injury, he tried to move the others back to their original positions, but of course they took big ratings hits. He got pissed and changed his entire team around, making it completely worthless. He did stick around and rebuild them, but it was ridiculous to trash them in the first place. There�s even a warning when you change a player�s position that tells you won�t be able to change them back.
Bruin Killer: What do you think is the greatest achievement you have seen a coach accomplish?
Pudley4: Probably crave taking two teams to the NC game last season (season 29) in Rockne. At BC he won the ACC, which is the toughest D1A conference; and at Alabama he won the SEC, which is only slightly behind the Big Ten in the race for number 2. Alabama also beat Big 12 champ Oklahoma on the road, helping them make the NC game.
Bruin Killer: There has been a lot of discussion about the new WIS fairness act of 2007, so let's take a minute to talk about it.
Bruin Killer: Let's start off with list sharing.
Bruin Killer: Have you ever shared a recruiting list with anyone, and if so how did that turn out? Do you think it was worth the time it took to write?
Pudley4: I won�t name names, but there was a coach I shared lists with for a couple of seasons. It didn�t work out very well because there were so many �elite� D3 programs in my area who could also see those recruits. Within 500 miles there were: Rockford, MacMurray, Albion, Oberlin, South Sewanee, Washington & Jefferson, Hamilton, and Bridgewater. More recently we�ve seen: Curry, St John Fisher, Averett and a couple of others I forget. That�s too many teams to be able to effectively work anything out before recruiting starts.
Bruin Killer: Let me ask - if you, Will, and I shared lists, do you think it would change much without further discussion? Wouldn't we still battle for the top recruits? (FSU=Bruin_Killer, Florida=Pudley4, Miami FL=Wlarson)
Pudley4: It would change a little. Right now if there are 3 OL near Miami, I�ll usually wait a few cycles and see if Miami is going after any of them, then I�ll go after the �leftovers�. If I had his list before recruiting started I�d be able to go after them right away. It would make my recruiting a little more efficient, because I�d know right away if I was getting any of those OL, or if I needed to find others. It would also help out the smaller schools in the area because they�d know right away if I was dropping down onto the lesser OL recruits. For the true studs, we�d either end up battling for them like we do now, or we�d have to have further discussion about �splitting them up� (now that I think about it, I don�t think I�ve had any deals made with either of you since I�ve been here)
Bruin Killer: What do you think about multiple ID's in the same world and division, or consecutive divisions "D-1 and D-1AA". Out of all of the fairness rules this is the one they omit, but makes the most sense to me.
Pudley4: So far I haven�t seen or heard of any issues with any of the current coaches who are in this situation. However, as time goes on it�s natural for the line of what is considered right and wrong to slowly move in the direction of wrong. WIS needs to determine what they consider right and wrong and define it the best they can. They also need to realize that in the future, especially if the game becomes more popular, they will get players who won�t follow the same �ethical� standards that current coaches do, and WIS needs to have guidelines in place before trouble starts. As I pointed out in the forums, the current policy completely ignores the damage that can (and will) be caused by coaches with multiple id�s who break WIS guidelines. Yes WIS can take teams away, but what happens to the recruits who were stolen from other schools by a team a level above; or who were held for the coach�s lower level team; or who were held but ultimately dropped and signed by a third team? The best solution is not to allow multiple id�s in the same world at all. This includes co-coaching. I�ve signed players at Florida who were in the 500�s overall � I�m sure they showed up on D2 searches, so even that distance between levels is not far enough. Putting a distance limit between schools is a slippery slope because recruit holding can still happen long-distance (especially between levels) and even at the same level there can be conflicts between schools long-distance. Make the line in the sand very clear � no multiple id�s.
Bruin Killer: What do you think about coaches negotiating for players during recruiting? ie: you take this one, I'll take that one, or give me this one I'll give you the next one.
Pudley4: This is something that I have done and will do. Experienced coaches know that getting into battles can destroy not only their current class, but can also destroy their future classes by wasting carryover. Their �opponent� in the battle also comes to the same conclusion, so it�s in each coach�s best interest to somehow find a way to avoid the �mutually assured destruction� which can occur. This splitting of recruits differs from real life because in real life there is a limit on the number of contacts each school can have with each player. There�s no need to conserve resources for future recruits because the school and coach has more than enough time (with multiple assistant coaches available) and money (with huge budgets). Any time WIS puts in a restriction on recruiting (money, time, etc) it�s going to be in each coach�s best interest to make a deal to save resources. If WIS limited the total number of HC visits each school could make during the 8 days of recruiting, coaches would want to make deals to preserve those visits for when they had real battles. If WIS limited the amount that could be spent on each recruit, schools would still make deals to limit the variance. Here�s a simple example: say WIS limits each school to one recruiting action per recruit. Elites are going to get the best recruits, because Florida�s action is worth more than South Florida�s. However, the elites will be on relatively equal ground with each other, so it would most likely come down to randomness to determine which recruit signs where. If Miami, Florida and FSU are going after 3 OL, 3 DL and 3 DB, it�s best for each of them to get one player at each position, rather than end up with 3 DB and no OL or DL. So Miami, Florida and FSU discuss and come up with a way to split up those 9 recruits so each school gets one of each position.
Bruin Killer: Do you think WIS has more important issues to tackle with the GD game than monitoring site mails looking for the above? Or do you think this is just WIS trying to put fear into the law abiding citizens of GD? Basically more smoke, and mirrors with no major penalties.
Pudley4: Well, that�s kind of a loaded question J I do agree that there are many more important things for them to worry about and to fix; however, the situation they described as the impetus for this new policy (10 of the 12 coaches in a conference were splitting up recruits and excluding the other two) absolutely needed to be dealt with. This is just another example though, of how too many decisions in GD seem to be nothing more than knee-jerk reactions to problems (recruit distribution, carryover reform, etc)
Bruin Killer: Do you think the standards for D-1 elites are too high, and if so what do you think they should be?
Pudley4: In some cases they�re too high and in others they�re too low (how�s that for a non-response). One of the problems with GD (although others will say it�s a �feature�) is the imbalance between conferences. The Big East is a BCS conference, yet it has zero elites. Coaches at Syracuse and UConn should have a huge advantage over the rest of the non-elite BCS teams in other conferences. Those two schools will probably end up being the most traveled �stepping stones� to an elite job (unless the coach decides to stay and win NCs there). The Pac Ten only has one elite - USC. With the current system, any good coach should be able to stay at USC forever. Conversely the SEC has 4 elites, which means that on average every other season two of the elites will have 2 or 3 road games vs. elites, which are almost always losses against evenly-matched teams. It�s even worse for OSU, Penn St and ND � they�re all in the same division so they should only �expect� to make the CC game once every three seasons. That�s a recipe for a lot of turnover at those schools.
The other issue is how coaches move up to elites. Should coaches really be able to jump from D1AA straight to an elite? I don�t think so. I�m not sure they should even be able to jump from non-BCS to elite (please spare me the Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer examples). Is it really tougher to go 18-1 at a D1AA school like Princeton, playing 6 of your regular season games against humans, and having a great recruiting area with not many D1A teams around, than it is to go 11-3 at Wisconsin? With 4 elites in the Big Ten, that means you beat at least one of them, plus won your Level 3/4 Bowl game; or you beat at least 2 elites. It�s the same with non-BCS teams. It was much easier for me to go 11-1 at LA-Lafayette than it was to go 8-3 at Arkansas. I think if WIS made coaches go through each of the D1 steps, we�d see more coaches moving up. As it currently stands, many times the fastest way to an elite is by staying back and trying to build up a lower-level team, NOT by moving up to BCS. That�s backward.
Bruin Killer: Playoffs or Bowls for D-1?
Pudley4: In real life � Bowls. I like the fact that each week is a de facto playoff game. I also think it makes some of the lower level bowls more interesting to watch. I wish they�d go back to the traditional matchups in the Bowls, and if it ends up with a split National Champion, oh well. I loved being able to watch 8 bowl games on New Years Day. I hate the new �spread out the games� plan. In GD with the current schedule (11 conference games, 2 non-conference games) - playoffs. Even with the worlds starting to fill up at the D1A level, there are still too many teams who end up undefeated and have no shot at the NC. Crave finished undefeated in the SEC for like 4 straight years but didn�t make the NC game, despite having one of the most talented teams. This past season USC got shut out even though they were as talented as BC and Alabama. Another byproduct of the current schedule is that non-BCS teams are ranked too high compared to their talent, which leads to mismatches in most BCS vs non-BCS Bowl games. Most seasons there are 15-20 of these matchups, and it�s rare that the non-BCS teams win more than 2-3 of them.
Going to an 8-5 schedule should solve some of these problems � with more inter-conference games we should see a better correlation between a non-BCS team�s strength and their record. This will help with Bowl matchups and rankings. One suggestion I made for the 8-5 schedule was to divide up the 120 D1A teams into groups of 20 based on their talent (group 1: 1-20, group 2: 21-40, etc). Have each team in each group play one non-conference game against a team in each other group. That way everyone�s schedules are relatively equal. If they wanted to, they could slightly unbalance the schedules � have each team play a second game against a team in their own group, and drop the game against a team in the opposite group. So the group 1 teams (the top 20) would play a second game against another top 20 team, and would not play a game at all against a group 6 team (the bottom 20). This would accomplish a few things � it would help differentiate the best of the best since they�d have to beat 2 top 20 teams; it would balance out the top 20 schedules (they�d have both a home and an away game against a top 20 team each season) and it would help the lower teams improve their record (by replacing a sure loss with a winnable game).
Bruin Killer: Ok Jeff, you are now God you get to change one thing and one thing only. What would you change in GD?
Pudley4: A lot of the suggestions I made earlier are related, and I�d like to see them all put in. If there was one gameplay change I�d make it would be to increase the out-of-position penalties (along with that, we�d need to see who was playing each position). This would reward coaches with deep rosters. It would allow coaches to exploit depth issues in their opponent�s roster. It would help prevent the �starting position exploit� because coaches couldn�t afford to put several of their players at 95+%, effectively reducing their roster. It would force coaches to set their players at much lower effectiveness numbers which could result in more varied outcomes (more upsets). For GD as a whole, I�d change the way they administer it. We seem like an afterthought. Customer support seems like an afterthought. Changes to the game seem like afterthoughts. Our questions and concerns seem unimportant. Even if JConte is the only one who can correctly understand the sim and make gameplay changes, they could still have other employees who are working on other changes to constantly improve the game (more stats, improve how the sim evaluates players and teams, put together a new FAQ, publish a list of the best tickets, create a Beta world where coaches test out upcoming changes, make sims recruit better, etc)
Bruin Killer: Do you think WIS should take in to account coaches who take on rebuilding projects, before firing a D-1 coach?
Pudley4: I would like them to, but I think it would be very difficult for them to put in code that would fairly evaluate each situation. They�d probably need to manually look at each school and decide if the coach was improving the team enough or not, and we all know that�s not going to happen.
Bruin Killer: You and your wife are hosting a dinner party, and can invite up to 3 guests �you�ve heard this before� of all the people in history who would you invite?
Pudley4: I don�t discuss religion or politics on forums and I rarely discuss them in person, because people are so adamant with their opinions that nothing ever gets accomplished, so I�m not going to elaborate on this answer: Jesus and Satan.
Bruin Killer: What is your favorite curse word?
Pudley4: Bullshit.
Bruin Killer: Sexiest female of all time? �If you say your wife you have to submit a photo.�
Pudley4: Christie Brinkley is the most beautiful woman of all time.
Bruin Killer: Best advise you were ever given?
Pudley4: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after.
Bruin Killer: Finally you if you can go back to anytime in your life what age would you go back to, or would you stay 36. Why?
Pudley4: Every day I�m with my family I enjoy and appreciate them more and more. I wouldn�t want to go back and give that up.
Bruin Killer: Thank you for sharing a little about yourself, your thoughts on the game, and some of your strategies. It was a pleasure getting to know you a little better, and I hope you enjoyed the experience.
Pudley4: I did. Thanks for all your hard work, Kenny.
