Coach guide
How to play
Rules of thumb for each level of your career — schedule, jobs, postseason, and what you actually manage day to day.
Schedule
High school seasons move forward in phases. Games appear on your schedule and resolve over time as the world advances — you do not need to sim every tip-off by hand.
Between chunks of games, the season opens windows for roster work and job decisions. Watch the phase banner so you know what is open this week. When a phase finishes, standings update and the next stretch of games lands on the calendar.
Production-mode season calendar
On a production-calendar world, Phases 1–4 are about one wall-clock week each on a shared daily grid. High school plays about 8–9 games per week (you idle between tip-offs while the pro league keeps moving). Phase 5 is a short end-of-season window with no games. Times below are production mode — fast-mode worlds compress the same order into a shorter cycle.
| Phase | How long | Games you’ll play | Roster management | Contracts / market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offseason | Until the new season opens after advance | None | Set lineups and strategy; check facilities; optionally Create next year’s custom freshman on Recruiting → Next Class | Rank preferred jobs on Jobs if you want to move |
| Phase 1 | ~1 week | Regular season (~8–9 games this week; conference + OOC) | Keep starters / rotation current between games; manage minutes and injuries | No recruiting or trade market at HS |
| Phase 2 | ~1 week | Regular season (~8–9 games) | Same — adjust lineups as the schedule rolls | No recruiting or trade market at HS |
| Phase 3 | ~1 week | Mostly regular season (~8–9 games); conference tournament starts near week’s end | Same through conference play | No recruiting or trade market at HS |
| Phase 4 | ~1 week | ~8–9 games: finish conference tournament, then national postseason (qualified teams); eliminated teams may play exhibitions | Same through tournament and national games | Job market — optional moves to other HS or college seats (you are not fired at HS) |
| Phase 5 | ~24 hours, then season advances | None (postseason is done) | Last chance to save a Next Class request before advance creates that freshman | Season wraps; any P4 job move applies on advance |
College recruiting and pro trades do not apply at high school. When you take a college or NBA job, use those tabs for the full action calendar.
How players improve
Players develop from season to season. Playing time, practice focus, and the quality of your program’s facilities all shape how they grow — think of facilities as long-term investments in training and medical support, not a spreadsheet of multipliers.
Your job as coach is to give the right players minutes, keep the roster healthy, and build an environment where talent can climb.
Players
Your roster is made of people with positions (Guard / Swing / Big), height, and skill profiles — shooting, defense, playmaking, rebounding, athleticism, and more. On your own team you see those traits clearly so you can build lineups and rotations that fit the talent.
Condition & fatigue. Players tip off with a condition level that slips when they log heavy minutes and recovers with rest and medical support. In-game fatigue builds the longer someone stays on the floor — a gassed star is not the same player as a fresh one. Manage the rotation so you are not asking for peak basketball on empty tanks.
Injuries. Bad luck, wear, and fragile durability can put someone on the shelf for games. Injured players sit out until they return; do not leave them in your starters. Medical facilities help the program stay healthier over a season, but nobody is immune.
Preferences. HS rostered players are not shopping college offers on your board — you coach them, you do not recruit them. When those same athletes later choose colleges (or pros), they still carry personal tastes for money, prestige, and winning. You will meet that language on the College and Pro tabs.
Scouted ratings & visit intel. Those are college recruiting tools. At high school you evaluate your own kids with full team visibility; college coaches must scout and visit to peel back the fog on prospects. See the College tab when you climb.
Job status
High school coaching is the low-stakes on-ramp: you are not fired and there is no college-style job grade, contract tick, or “at risk” ribbon to manage.
Strong seasons and titles still matter — they grow your coach stars and make better openings show up when you browse Jobs. Weak seasons just mean a slower climb, not a pink slip.
Job changes
Use Jobs when you want a different HS seat or a jump to college. Rank preferred destinations; the end-of-season job market can hire you away if an opening matches.
You are not forced out for poor results at HS. Once you have a career in a world, you do not re-claim a random team — moves go through the job board. College (and pro) seats bring real firing and renewal pressure; see those tabs when you get there.
Postseason
This is why you grind through January and February. High school postseason is single-elimination theater — one bad night and the bus rides home.
Conference tournament first. Every team in your conference is thrown into a bracket seeded by regular-season record. Win or go home, round by round, until someone claims the conference crown. Surviving that gauntlet is a banner moment for a small school and a résumé line that college programs notice.
Then the national tournament. A 64-team single-elimination field — the high-school version of March Madness. Six rounds from the opening tip to the final: survive and advance, or pack it in. There are no best-of series here; every game is Game 7 energy. Make the field, then string together wins while the whole bracket collapses around you. Cut down the nets as national champion and your program — and your coaching career — never looks the same.
Teams that miss the dance (or get bounced early) may still play exhibitions while the bracket runs. The spotlight, though, belongs to the survivors.
How players make decisions
High school players are not shopping college offers on your HS roster. Your focus is development, playing time, and graduating talent into the next level of their careers.
When those same athletes later choose colleges (or, much later, pro teams), they weigh money, prestige, and winning — themes that show up everywhere in Sim Hoops. Happiness with playing time matters once they are on a college or pro contract and facing extensions.
Recruiting & roster actions
Full college-style recruiting (scouting conferences, visits, binding offers, transfer portal) is not available at the high school level. Your signature roster tool is Create a custom freshman instead.
Once per season, open Recruiting → Next Class and save a player request:
- Name — what they go by on your roster
- Position — Guard, Swing, or Big
- Archetype — a play-style nudge (scorer, playmaker, defender, rebounder, or leader)
The request applies at season advance (last save wins). Skip it and the class auto-fills as usual. Quality is the same at every program star level — this is your personal stamp on the next class, not a pay-to-win recruit.
What else you manage here:
- Lineups & rotation — set starters (2 guards, 1 swing, 2 bigs) and who gets minutes.
- Strategy — tempo, offense, and defense styles.
- Facilities — invest when the front office allows; buildings age if ignored.
When you move up to a college job, open the College tab on this page for the recruiting playbook.
Program size, stars & budget
Bigger, more prestigious high school programs generally have more resources — better facilities, deeper talent pipelines, and higher expectations to match.
Program stars are the public signal of that standing. Bigger programs usually mean more budget firepower and tougher competition — and they look better on your résumé when you job-hunt. You will not run a college recruiting budget here, but stars still tell you whether you are coaching a quiet rebuild or a powerhouse.