2 items that I view as important but often get ignored in these debates are the unseen infrastructure necessary to succeed (database, offsite tools, etc.) and the involvement of American D1 and D2 managers in owning and finishing the training of NT players.
For Falke and Bob, how are we doing in these 2 areas and what will you do to improve infrastructure and to encourage more involvement from high-level managers? What other issues do you see as important to NT success that are often left unspoken in these debates?
We do have the resurrected database now, so the challenge for the new coach will not be creating infrastructure but figuring out the optimal way to utilize it. I have some rough ideas on how to get from data to scouting and gameplanning, but it will be (as new processes inevitably are) a bit of trial and error until it smooths out.
Falke is spot on as far as needing to have a bit of dialogue on the front end with managers who show interest in having NT players in order to see about matching a potential selling owner to a manager and not waiting for the TL to just happen. Sorry to just steal his answer, but it's the right one. In addition I'd say my experience in the top league has been that folks are generally very cash poor, and aiming this dialogue to ascending D2 teams could sometimes be easier to find people able to take on a NT prospect.