Overview – Below is a chronological accounting for how the USFFL handles the Team Selection Process to begin each new season.  Familiarizing yourself with this process will help you make the best decisions regarding the potential to switch to a new team when you feel the time is right.  NOTE:  Trading USFFL Teams with another coach is 100% allowed anytime except when the season is in progress. 

STEP ONE – Roll Call.  The commissioner sends out an email to the league asking for the annual roll call to determine which coaches plan to return to the USFFL for another season.  We do not move to Step Two until the roll call has been completed or the deadline for roll call has passed.

STEP TWO – Open Teams.  Once roll call is completed, the commissioner will announce the list of Open Teams to the league.

STEP THREE – Claiming Process.  The commissioner will send out a communication to the league announcing a 72-hour window for any veteran USFFL coach to put in a claim on one of the Open Teams.  A coach can also choose to put a claim on more than one open team, if they so choose, and should provide their order of preference for their multiple claims if they do so.  These claims are sent privately to the commissioner.  Once the 72-hour window has expired, the commissioner will use the USFFL Stack Ranking to determine which, if any, open teams were claimed successfully.  The higher your position on the USFFL Stack Ranking List, the higher priority you are given to claiming a new team.  NOTE:  Any successful claim of a new team results in your prior team becoming an OPEN TEAM and also drops you to the very bottom of the USFFL Stack Ranking List. 

STEP FOUR – Repeat Until Complete.  When step four has been finished, this will result in a NEW group of Open Teams.  This new list will be announced and step three will be repeated with this new list of Open Teams and another 72-hour window for veteran USFFL coaches to put in a claim on one of the open teams.  The process for step three just continues to repeat until we end up with a group of Open Teams that NO ONE places a claim on within the 72-hour window.  Once that happens, the veteran coaches are now locked in to their teams.

STEP FIVE – Wait List.  The remaining open teams will be offered the coach candidates that are parked on the USFFL Wait List, in order of their position on the wait list.  Each team from the wait list that claims an open team will immediately go to the bottom of the USFFL Stack Ranking List.

*** NOTE:  USFFL Stack Ranking.  Here are the rules which govern your position on the USFFL Stack Ranking List:

1.  Any coach that successfully claims a new team either via a trade with another coach or as outlined in Step Three above will immediately drop to the very bottom of the USFFL Stack Ranking List.  If more than one coach successfully claims a team during the same 72-hour window, the team with the higher original stack ranking will be placed above teams with a lower stack ranking at the bottom of the USFFL Stack Ranking List.
2. Any coach candidate from our wait list that claims an open team as outlined in Step Five above will immediately be placed at the bottom of the USFFL Stack Ranking List.
3. Any coach that plays an in-season or post-season USFFL game as a SUBSTITUTE for a team that is not their own will earn one sub credit.  For every 3 sub credits a coach receives, he moves up one spot on the USFFL Stack Ranking List.  This is done to incentivize substitutes and protect the integrity of the league results by ensuring that it is a very, very rare occurrence where a game must be auto-played.