EA Sports College Football 25: Details on coaching carousel in Dynasty Mode

With EA Sports College Football 25 dropping later this month, the video game released its deep dive into Dynasty Mode on Tuesday.

The recruiting version of Dynasty Mode received a complete revamp along with the coaching carousel and building your own coach. According to an EA Sports release, developers wanted gamers to experience the coaching journey. The video game company dropped more than 80 pages on what to expect in the game.

“What we found was that both current and former coaches broadly fit into three main categories,” EA said in a breakdown of Dynasty Mode. “Some are incredible recruiters, while others are motivators who maximize the potential of their players, and lastly tacticians out-scheme their opponents with on-field X’s and O’s.

“There were also a number of coaches who were more of a hybrid between two categories. For example, there were coaches who were great at both recruiting and X’s and O’s. After breaking down hundreds of coaches, two things were loud and clear: no coach was great at everything and there is no single path to being a great coach.”

EA’s research into the coaching side of college football came up with three conclusions that will be featured in the game. Those include no coach is great at everything, coordinators and choosing the right staff matters.

For coaches to progress and become better coaches, users will complete coach goals that award XP. Earning XP will allow coaches to be awarded Coach Points, which can be used to upgrade abilities. Included in the game are four categories that can be single game, weekly, season or career goals. Those categories are draft, game, recruiting and stats.

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Breakdown of coach archetypes

Eleven different coach archetypes are in EA Sports College Football 25. Each archetype will have prerequisites and objectives that must be completed in order to purchase. Once goals are completed, the archetype will become available for purchase with coach points. When creating a coach, fans will select a base archetype to start with.

The base archetypes are recruiting, motivation and scheme. From there a coach can become an elite recruiter or hybrid coach who excels in multiple areas. According to EA, there is no single formula to reach these statuses.

“All coaches will start with a base class or coach archetype, which can be thought of as your special ability in a traditional RPG,” EA wrote in the blog. “Just like our real life coaches, the base archetypes fall into three categories: Recruiting, Motivation (think player development and program culture), and Scheme (on field X’s and O’s).”

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Climb the coaching ladder

According to EA, Dynasty Mode begins the minute users sign their first contract. Fans will have the option to select whether they want to be a head coach, offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. Similar to a head coach, coordinators will have performance expectations and recruiting control. Coordinators will also be able to play both sides of the ball in the game.

“Every time you start a new coaching job, you’ll be asked to sign a contract with that school,” EA wrote in its blog. “The contract will have a set contract length and performance expectations. Just like in real life, failure to meet those expectations will result in bad things happening.”

Expectations can include winning a certain number of games, winning a conference title, or making the College Football Playoff. A key piece will be meeting contract expectations, however, not every win and loss is equal. Beating higher-ranked teams will have a greater impact. But losing to an FCS generic team will have the same implications as real life.

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How does the coaching carousel work?

The coaching carousel begins during conference championship week, according to EA. All contracts will be processed as schools determine if they want to fire, extend or let a contract expire. Head coaches will have the power to fire coordinators during the week, too.

The first round of job offers goes out during bowl season.

“Just because you didn’t receive any offers in the first week of bowl season or if you didn’t like the offers you received, doesn’t mean your carousel experience is over,” according to EA. “Remember, the coach carousel takes place over the course of multiple weeks. The first week of bowl season is just the beginning. As schools hire and poach coaches from other schools, their previous jobs will become available as an unexpected job opening and the schools will look to hire a replacement the following week.”

Similar to the real world of college football, schools will have factors to determine who they hire as their next head coach. This includes a coach’s level, scheme, archetype, recruiting pipeline and prestige.

The domino effect will also be taken into account. Every job will list out the candidates in the mix. Once the week is advanced, one of the three candidates will leave their current job for the open one. This allows gamers to predict which jobs could become available next.

Coordinators will not leave unless they are fired or hired. Starting Bowl Week 1, coordinators can be hired.

Who will be in EA Sports College Football 25?

Some notable freshmen could be missing if they have not enrolled yet or received a school email, which is needed to register. Some late transfers who are still in the process of enrolling may also be missing at release time.

If an athlete isn’t included immediately, it does not mean they won’t be added, the EA spokesperson said. The game has been programmed so additions and changes can be made after the release.

Nearly every major star in the sport has opted in, with the only notable holdout at this point being Texas quarterback Arch Manning. The Longhorns’ starting quarterback, Quinn Ewers, is on the game’s cover.

EA Sports overshot its goal of 11,000, meaning roughly 2,600 athletes who went through the process won’t be included. The 14,000 number includes a lot of walk-ons. The contract offered by EA and OneTeam did not promise athletes’ NIL would be used. The video game company is spending $6 million to secure athletes’ rights, believed to be one of the largest NIL deals ever executed.

Athletes at Army, Navy and Air Force cannot accept compensation for participating in the game, however, EA is expected to include players from the service academies in the game.