Here are my cheap two cents on the issue about integrating new people into more experienced roles, at least on the DSFL level:
The DSFL has certain advantages over the ISFL - not as much pressure to win, teams are expected to work with limitations, most players are happy with that new car(league?) smell ---- but the challenge is keeping players engaged and not letting toxicity or a mundane experience manifest.
I think for the DSFL, to take advantage of the "mid-major" environment, there should still be a Head GM, with no term limit, who understands the ins and outs of the league and its duties. The Head GM would oversee his base of operations and ensure his team is running smoothly and have final call on all executive decisions.
Where I would change it, is establishing a mandatory rule for a 2-Co-GM structure under the Head GM. We all know that there are so many issues that make it difficult to be connected with everyone on a regular basis, so this would help mitigate that issue. You could have one Co work the Offense, the other the defense. One could be in charge of scouting/recruiting/roster management while the other monitors the status of the team. Responsibilities can be rationed out and delegated enough to give a healthy, but limited sample of all the duties a full GM must understand.
Even then, the Co-GM's could also be tasked with putting together the War Room, heeding suggestions from the Head GM. Within the War Room, smaller tasks can be further delegated to those selected team members --- it doesn't have to be strictly sim testing, it could be other items such as: ensuring update pages are correct, offering advice and data for player builds, making sure everyone does their transactions, does their point tasks, has a way to generate money, and so forth.
The way I see it, you create a hierarchy for novice players to ascend over the course of a couple of seasons. The responsibilities they undertake not only preps them for an eventual GM role, but it helps them actively learn their way throughout the league and how to navigate the various avenues and channels of the ISFL forum and discord. Likewise, they are also gaining knowledge for possible job opportunities which of course gives them money and decreases burnout risk. And the main positive is that you keep multiple people engaged and reduce the day-to-day responsibilities for the top dog(s), in the event they get overwhelmed and forget something, they have their own support staff built in to keep them stable.
I know you've all seen it, but I've seen players miss out on TPE because they didnt have a reminder ping them, I've seen people miss updates because they forgot their login info, I've seen people ready to quit because they thought their player was being shafted, but didnt have access to the sim files, and did not check the index that often either. I've seen people just ready to throw away their season because they didnt know the rulebook about height/weight changes and TPE redistribution. Myself, have given advice to new players on positions to select based on wanting playing time, draft status, or awards by cycling through rosters, contracts, and TPE regression cycles coupled with past indices to deduce a substantiated hypothesis about what position you should choose if you want A, B, or C.
There's a lot a too learn for new people, but it doesnt have to be a lot if it parsed out appropriately and timely enough so they aren't 7- months in wondering how much of an impact they can really have in the future.
The DSFL has certain advantages over the ISFL - not as much pressure to win, teams are expected to work with limitations, most players are happy with that new car(league?) smell ---- but the challenge is keeping players engaged and not letting toxicity or a mundane experience manifest.
I think for the DSFL, to take advantage of the "mid-major" environment, there should still be a Head GM, with no term limit, who understands the ins and outs of the league and its duties. The Head GM would oversee his base of operations and ensure his team is running smoothly and have final call on all executive decisions.
Where I would change it, is establishing a mandatory rule for a 2-Co-GM structure under the Head GM. We all know that there are so many issues that make it difficult to be connected with everyone on a regular basis, so this would help mitigate that issue. You could have one Co work the Offense, the other the defense. One could be in charge of scouting/recruiting/roster management while the other monitors the status of the team. Responsibilities can be rationed out and delegated enough to give a healthy, but limited sample of all the duties a full GM must understand.
Even then, the Co-GM's could also be tasked with putting together the War Room, heeding suggestions from the Head GM. Within the War Room, smaller tasks can be further delegated to those selected team members --- it doesn't have to be strictly sim testing, it could be other items such as: ensuring update pages are correct, offering advice and data for player builds, making sure everyone does their transactions, does their point tasks, has a way to generate money, and so forth.
The way I see it, you create a hierarchy for novice players to ascend over the course of a couple of seasons. The responsibilities they undertake not only preps them for an eventual GM role, but it helps them actively learn their way throughout the league and how to navigate the various avenues and channels of the ISFL forum and discord. Likewise, they are also gaining knowledge for possible job opportunities which of course gives them money and decreases burnout risk. And the main positive is that you keep multiple people engaged and reduce the day-to-day responsibilities for the top dog(s), in the event they get overwhelmed and forget something, they have their own support staff built in to keep them stable.
I know you've all seen it, but I've seen players miss out on TPE because they didnt have a reminder ping them, I've seen people miss updates because they forgot their login info, I've seen people ready to quit because they thought their player was being shafted, but didnt have access to the sim files, and did not check the index that often either. I've seen people just ready to throw away their season because they didnt know the rulebook about height/weight changes and TPE redistribution. Myself, have given advice to new players on positions to select based on wanting playing time, draft status, or awards by cycling through rosters, contracts, and TPE regression cycles coupled with past indices to deduce a substantiated hypothesis about what position you should choose if you want A, B, or C.
There's a lot a too learn for new people, but it doesnt have to be a lot if it parsed out appropriately and timely enough so they aren't 7- months in wondering how much of an impact they can really have in the future.