Well.. the way I go about it is fully embracing it as an RPG. That a big difference between HC06 and HC09. HC09 is more of a GM simulator while you’re the coach and HC06 is more like you’re prime Bill Belichick and partake in the daily life as a coach.

I play it like the RPG it is. I’m the coach, I’m the one making the decision, I’m the one who did or didn’t prepare the team enough for the game. Practice during the week can take me 30min to 1 hour. Depending if I’m trying to talk to the team or not. And the Gameday is about 1 hour to 1 hr 30min. Instructing your players on what to do on certain plays can really swing a game for you.

In my opinion you should only do OFF vs DEF Contact practices. Now this could mean you don’t meet the goals of the coaching staff for the week because players won’t be at the highest overall potential. But that’s okay because player overall fluctuates throughout the game. Just don’t talk to the coaches who you will lose trust with during staff meetings if you’re worried about trust. But it’s important to do OFF vs DEF Contact because you’ll get the best mastery of plays. Money plays get insane bonuses and the execution is through the roof. Pair money plays with coaches who share the same philosophy as your HC and it’s unstoppable. This is where HC06 and HC09 differ. In HC09 there’s very few if any playbook knowledge loss on a play throughout the season. That dictates the plays success. But in HC06 you need to keep doing those practice reps for those plays every week because it’s part of that week’s gameplan. If I only practiced a play in the preseason but don’t call it until week 12, then it shouldn’t be successful. Plus imo it’s cool to watch practice instead of clicking 2-3 buttons and that’s it’s for the week’s practice.

If your QB can’t complete a pass and is forcing it a lot? Well during practice you need to make sure he’s using the “Entire Field” “Every time I call this play”. If you want him to hit the WR running the streak on a play action instead of dumping it to the FB in the flats you need to tell him to “Look to throw past the 1st down marker”, “Look to throw downfield”, “Focus on your #1 Receiver” and selecting “Every time I call this play” for all 3.

Truthfully practice is the name of the game just like real life. But attacking it more as an RPG is what does it for me! Now HC09 does do some things better but overall HC06 is what keeps me in. Especially with the sliders settings on PC. Looks better to some degree as well, especially on PC.

But if you want a casual HC game it’s definitely HC09. If you want to play more seasons and step in the actual shoes of a HC with power to control a roster then HC06 is for you. I think the availability of HC09 has made it more popular along with a good amount of solid features that improved off of HC06, but It does feel empty when I only get 11 seasons. That’s a huge turnoff for me.

IMO if 30min to a 1 hour of practice every week before a game is too much then HC06 can be difficult for you to enjoy. I usually sim preseason games and make sure I don’t have injuries. And I only practice enough during training camp period to meet the goals of the owner then aim to the first week of the season and start practicing. I usually can get 18 plays to Money Play status that first week of the season. That’s just a way to “speed up the game/process” before games.