When Head Coach came out 3 years ago, it was highly advertised in the Madden market. Madden fans bought the Head Coach game, expecting... well, Madden. Then, these Madden fans were dissapointed because the game wasnt Madden.

EA realized many things when they created Head Coach. First they realized that most gaming markets are moving away from games specifically designed for hard core fans. And why not? I mean, after all, if it’s appealing to the main market as opposed to a certain section of the market, then it will sell better as a whole.  EA also realized that they had a good game idea. They did a small amount of work on this idea, and then gave the audience most closely related to the audience this game would sell to a very vague idea of what the game would be. In laymans terms, EA didnt tell you what the game would be, they just put a football coach on the cover of a box and players that looked like madden players on the back of the box and then displayed it on the front page of Madden Strategy Magazines. Of course Madden fans are going to buy it.

So the Madden fans buy the game, and for those who could sit through the long and painful offseason eventually got to the regular season. So they’ve signed their team, they’ve drafted their players, they’ve worked their guys up to their top overalls, and then they realized, we cant even play the freaking games! All it lets you do is call the plays! Then to add to the frustration, the players you have dont even run the plays you call right! You have players who are used to Madden staring at the scream shouting "If I would have ran that play, I would have spun to the outside and it would have been a Touchdown", or "why would you run out of bounds! You could have easily gotten 8 more yards there!", or "Why would you throw that interception! TO was wide open on the other side! You dont have any other receivers Donovan! That’s why I told you focus on your #1!", or, well, theres no need for me to continue. So the players get over this frustration, and they realize that they have an option that allows them to yell at their players on the sideline. But when they do, the players react negatively. So they go and try to give their guy positive motivation, and he reacts negatively! How in the world can you win?

So whose fault is it that Head Coach became the most taken back game at Gamestop? Well, partially EA for lack of advertisement, but partially also on the Madden fans for expecting it to be what it wasnt. EA put the idea on the backburner.

But EA realized something. There were hard core football fans out there who were looking for a game just like this! And if the game were a bit more polished, it would actually have an acceptable market.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if Head Coach was dead. 2 years later, the fans of the original Head Coach were forced back to Franchise Mode on Madden. Sure they could have popped the old Head Coach back in the game, but lets face it, if your that die hard of wannabe coach, you’re going to want to play with an updated roster.



Then, these hard core coach wannabe’s heard something that gave them inspiration. EA hadnt done away with the Head Coach idea! No, they had simply spent a full 3 years making it into the game these fans had really wanted it to be. It wasnt until EA released some of the information of the game that fans really got excited.

Everybody knows that Play Calling may be the biggest part of Coaching. If you call the right play at the right time, it could result in whether or not you win or lose. However, in the past, playbooks and play calling never really reflected the real NFL, and it was honestly just sort of random. But no longer are those days, as Head Coach 09 has built their playbook/play calling system from the ground up, and they have come up with what designer Donny Moore calls "the best play calling AI ever seen in a sports game."