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GDCFL Rules

Section 1 GENERAL INFORMATION

1) Coaches must own a current copy (1.5.2) of Grey Dog Software’s Bowl Bound College Football.  It can be purchased at the Grey Dog site: Bowl Bound College Football

2) Coaches must have an account on the SimNation forums.  All league announcements will be sent via email (unless otherwise requested) and posted on the forum.

3) When they join the league, all coaches must identify a 4 digit personal password to be used for uploading , and a school that is their "Dream Job". If you are interested in joining GDCFL, please review the Coaches Page and find a team with no human coach, then use the Join Form to apply for a team. (Note: only teams with Average (or lower) Prestige may be applied for by a rookie coach, please click a team's helmet to see their current Prestige.)

4) GDCFL has a 16 team playoff system to determine the National Champion. There are 27 other bowl games for non-playoff teams. Each conference championship game winner receives a playoff bid, the remaining 6 playoff teams will be selected at-large based on the GDCS ratings. Most of the non-playoff bowl games have conference tie-ins. Please see the Postseason Page for more details.

5) If you have other questions not answered on the rules page, please see the User Tips section in the Forum for more information.



Section 2 SIMMING UPLOAD and EXPORT

1) Regular sims (uploading and downloading) will be held per the season schedule that can be found here: GDCFL Schedule

2) Coaches will need to complete their exports on the days listed by 8:00PM EST.  Exports are uploaded with the online utility here (Please use these passwords to upload your file: LP: GDCFL, password: touchdown, see Section 4 of these rules for more details)

3) If you are going to miss multiple sims in a row, please post in the ‘Vacation’ portion of the forums.  If a coach fails to export 4 times in a season without notifying the commissioner, that coach will be removed and the team will revert to the CPU.  As long as the coach notifies the commissioner through the vacation forum, that they will not be able to take part in any given week, it will not be counted against them.

4) During the season league sims will occur every 48 hours.  During the season sim days will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  During off-season, sims may be more frequent and not on the normal days in order to expedite things.  Sims will never take place on a Sunday.

 


Section 3 SCHEDULING


1) Each team will be required to play a minimum of 11 games and no more than 12.  The BBCF software automatically schedules your conference games.

2) Out of conference games scheduled between two human coaches need to be listed in scheduling section of the GDCFL forums:  GDCFL Scheduling
When both parties have agreed to a certain week and location, the details should be posted in the forum.  All games agreed upon must also be entered into the game correctly by both parties or they will not take.  In cases where they are not entered correctly, we will need to manually schedule games in the final week based on posts in “GDCFL Scheduling” the forum.  Ample time will be given to hammer out scheduling deals. 
Home / Home scheduling agreements can NOT be entered in the game as they will not save for the following year.  Only enter the game for the current year.  Both parties should then post game information for the subsequent season in the “GDCFL Scheduling” forum so we can keep track of it. 

3) Out of conference games with CPU coached teams are scheduled by the human coach.  If you are having trouble filling your schedule and CPU teams won’t play you, these game will be manually entered in the final week on a first come first served basis.

 


Section 4 BASIC GAME PLAY


1) The league file can be downloaded from the link on the front page of the website using the League File link in the top Menu: League File. Once you have downloaded the League file, you will unzip the contents and place it in a GDCFL folder that resides in your saves directory. Please see these detailed instructions for how to download and import the league file.

2) Load the GDCLF league file in Bowl Bound, your personal in-game password can be set to whatever four digits you would like.  That password must be identified when you join the league. Check Veiw Stage details for the actions required for this game turn.

3) Once you have saved your changes, you select the Online button in the BBCF menu, then click Export Coach File .  That will create an export file (.coa).    Your .coa file that the game generates will normally be found in: C:\Program Files\GDS\Bowl Bound College Football\multiplayer\GDCFL. (Note "Program Files" may be replaced by "Program Files (x86)" on 64 bit operating systems.)

4) Upload your file by going to the upload utility from the site main menu: Upload Coach Files

  • Select your .coa file generated by the game (from the GDCFL folder on your C drive) using the form's Browse button.
  • Enter GDCFL for the League Password (LP). The upload password is touchdown. (Note: Passwords are case sensitive)
  • Click upload.

Please see these instructions on how to ceate and upload a coach file if you have further questions.

 


Section 5 COACH FIRING


Every startup (initial GDCFL member) coach will get a two season grace period before they are considered for replacement by the system (second season joiners will get a one season grace period).  Once we get to season three, every coach in the GDCFL will go on a job status clock. The Board Expectations rating, found on the Team Evaluation page, is a direct reflection of your school’s Board of Regents expectations of you as a coach. The expectations are based on things like number of wins, beating a rival and getting to a bowl.  In real life, failing to meet those expectations can lead to a coach being replaced.  It is the same in the GDCFL.  Failure to meet Board expectations may cause a coach to be replaced.  Here are the criteria for a coach to be fired:

1) A coach may not be fired from any team with prestige rating of Above Average or below.  He may only be fired from a team with High, Excellent or Elite prestige status.

2) A coach will be fired for having three consecutive “F” Board Expectation ratings.  A coach will also be fired for having three F Board Expectation ratings during any rolling five season period.  A coach will also be fired for having four Board Expectation ratings of “D+” or lower during any rolling five season period.
Keep in mind that the higher the prestige of the team, the greater the expectations are of the Board.  So there will be much higher expectations for a team with Elite prestige vs. a team with High prestige.

3) Once fired, a coach may take any open team whose prestige is average or below average.

4) A coach on the "Hot Seat" (with one season of a D+ or lower rating) may voluntarily leave a team for any open team whose prestige is lower than the one he is currently coaching.  For example, if a coach is at an Elite prestige school, he may move to any open school whose prestige is below Elite status.  If a coach is at a team with an Excellent prestige rating, any High (or lower) prestige team that is open would be available .... and so on.  The strategic reason for a coach to leave early would be to avoid being fired and having to start over with an average prestige team.

5) Coaches may move to any open team of equal or lesser prestige between seasons without meeting any criteria.  Their “Hot Seat” status will be removed once they change teams.

There will be seasonal alerts on the GDCFL Blog identifying coaches who have achieved a D+ rating and are on “The Hot Seat”.  Because of the rolling five year rule, once a coach is on “The Hot Seat”, he will stay until three consecutive seasons of C- or better ratings are obtained.

 


Section 6 COACH HIRING


When any coach initially joins the GDCFL he may only apply for any open team whose prestige level is Average or Below Average. Once they have played a season in the GDCFL, a coach may move to any team that is at or below thier current team's general prestige rating. A coach from a Below Average prestige team can also move to any Average prestige team if his team and coach prestige is positive for that season. To move to an open team with a higher prestige (excluding the previous exception for Average prestige teams), a coach can only move if they have met the hiring criteria of the new team.  To determine eligibility to be promoted the GDCFL will use the coach prestige rating found in the Team Staff tab in the game.  Here are the criteria for a coach to be hired by a team with higher prestige:

1) A coach must be at the same school for three consecutive seasons before being eligible for promotion to another team.  There is one exception to the rule and it will be covered in item 4 below.

2) There will be NO in season coaching movements except under the “Alma Mater” rule (See item 4 below).  An abandoned team will be coached by the CPU through the remainder of the current season.

3) A coach must have met a target Coach Prestige rating in his final season at his school to be eligible to move.  The prestige targets are as follows:

  • To move to a team with Above Average prestige the coach must have a Coach Prestige rating of 53 or better in his final season at the school he is currently coaching
  • To move to a team with High  prestige the coach must have a Coach Prestige rating of 61 or better in his final season at the school he is currently coaching
  • To move to a team with Excellent prestige the coach must have a Coach Prestige rating of 68 or better in his final season at the school he is currently coaching
  • To move to a team with Elite  prestige the coach must have a Coach Prestige rating of 75 or better in his final season at the school he is currently coaching

Once a coach has reached the target prestige, he will be receive a “Hot Commodity” status and speculation regarding his movement, even if he denies it, may populate the Blog.

4) The requirement to have been at a school for three seasons before moving may be waived under the following “Alma Mater” rule:
Each coach will identify his "Dream Job" when he joins the league. The Dream Job should be the one that a coach wants above all others. Once identified, each coach’s Dream Job will be listed as his Alma Mater on the Team Staff tab of the game. If a coach’s Alma Mater (Dream Job) is open, and the coach has the required Coach Prestige rating to move to his Alma Mater (Dream Job), he may opt out of his current three year contract and apply to his Alma Mater at any time. The coach will still have to meet all the Coach Prestige requirements for his Alma Mater at the time of the move.  This is the only circumstance where the three year contract rule, and the no in season movement rule will be waived.  A coach’s Dream Job is permanent once identified.

5) The coach may only move to an open (CPU coached) team.  He may not replace another human coach until the human coach has been officially fired or has voluntarily quit.  If two coaches want to apply for the same job, the coach with the highest Coach Prestige rating will receive the job.  If there is still a tie, Coach Prestige ratings from previous seasons will continue to be compared until there is a winner.

6) Coaches may be hired (move) to any open team of equal or lesser prestige between seasons without meeting any criteria.  Their “Hot Seat” or “Hot Commodity” status will be removed once they change teams.

7) Coaches may take a second team of their choice (providing they meet the pretige guidelines) under the following guidelines:

    • Coaches must specify which team is the primary team and which is the secondary
    • The second team must reside in a different conference than the primary team
    • The second team must reside in a different recruiting region than the primary team
    • The primary and secondary teams cannot intentionally play each other
      If they are unintentionally matched up in a playoff or bowl, the secondary team will be placed on CPU

 


Section 7 TEAM MOVEMENT


In the GDCFL, coaches will have the opportunity to take a non BCS (Mid-Major) team, and over a period of several seasons grow the Team Prestige to a point where they can be eligible to join a BCS conference.   Once moved, those teams will receive a manual prestige bump for joining a BCS conference.  The minimal bump would be to get them to the original GDCFL season one standard of 50.  If they are already at or above 50, then the bump would be whatever it takes to meet the requirements of a BCS league.  In general, moving to a BCS conference will result in a 5 point prestige bump.

The criteria for an invitation into a BCS league are as follows:

1) The team that is moving up must have maintained a minimum Team Prestige rating of 50 or above for four consecutive seasons.  All four seasons must be under the leadership of the same human coach.

2) The team that is moving up, must have a Team Prestige rating higher than the Team Prestige rating of the team that is being replaced.

3) The team moving up must have maintained an overall Team Expectation rating of C+ or higher in that same four season period.
The MAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt and Mountain West conferences each feed at least two of the BCS conferences.  When a team is moving from non BCS to BCS they will need to move into one of the conferences that their non BCS league feeds.  They will essentially switch places with the lowest prestige level team in one of the two conferences.
The conference alignments for feeding are as follows:

  • The Mid America Conference feeds the Big East , and Big 10
  • Conference USA feeds the ACC and the SEC
  • The Mountain West Conference feeds The Big 12, and the Pac 12
  • The Sun Belt Conference feeds the SEC, PAC12 and Big 12

As with the coach movement activity, speculation on team movement will probably populate the GDCFL Blog during the season.