TEX needed a GM 6 months ago. 

Fresh off a couple cups, everything must've been good, right? 

Wrong. The team was going through mass-burnout. After a second-round exit in S63, the tipping point was reached. Puoli promptly announced his resignation, citing an awaiting busy summer. RedCape also went inactive, albeit quietly, and is still present in the LR to this day. Prior to this, a top young centerman in Aephino disappeared. Mikkel Asmus Sondergaard disappeared shortly after signing a massive 3 season contract. Avakael, one of the team's only prospects, quit after failing to win the SMJHL defensive defenseman award. A decline was imminent, and the team found itself without leadership. 

Then you have me, a newbie who had discovered the SHL just 6 months prior. Not knowing the FHM meta, I went with a sniper build. I dumped most of my points into shooting accuracy. I was drafted pretty late in both the SMJHL and SHL, due to a limited activity level and no income sources. The SHL needed a simmer after Kalakar quit. I saw the huge salary and PT pass, I immediately went for the opportunity. I was the only applicant for this position, and Sparky hired me on the spot. Prior to this, I paid zero attention to the SHL. So all the teams and players were new to me. I noticed Texas, the team who drafted me, was actually doing pretty good. They ended up winning the cup. I was thinking "hey, I'm going to a successful team." This was great news to me as I was stuck on a basement Regina Elk team. Bjorn Bjorn retired midway through S63. That meant I was going to have an SHL roster spot next season. I was getting called-up early. The hype was real.

To my knowledge, I was the only applicant for this job. No one else within the LR expressed interest in GMing, as it was believed that you needed to treat it like a full-time job. (I never treated it like a full-time job, look where that got me.) Right off the bat, I needed to renew everybody's contracts. Leviadan and Oh-Taay brought up some concerns. They couldn't see themselves with TEX long-term. They recognized the incoming downfall, and wanted to escape. The LR was dying, and only getting worse. What have I gotten myself into? I quickly secure a deal with ATL to salvage a couple future pieces for Leviadan. I acquire Dextaria from TOR in order to show Oh-Taay my intentions of competing in S64. The LR never got better, but I managed to compete with CHI for the president's trophy. The team actually did better in S64 than it did in S63. Without a 2k TPE player in Leviadan. I won the fucking Lance Uppercut award, in my first season. I felt a little guilty, as I didn't believe I deserved it. Also because I knew that I made the impending doom worse, by trying to win another cup in S64. 

I was going into this rebuild alone. I planned out how I was going to trade everyone away, because they would just leave like Leviadan. 

Insert @CapnCooper. Dude signalled full intention to ride out the rebuild. I was blown away. If I were in his position, I would've DIPPED. Amazing person, I made him AGM because there were no applicants and he wanted to help out. I immediately felt pressured to make this work. Not just for me. I'm okay with failing myself, but I'm not okay with failing other people.

Step 1: Trade away all valuable pieces. I worked out a sign-and-trade with CHI for Oh-Taay. I sent Lemobens and High Haschdi to TOR for a bunch of picks. I should've stopped there.

Step 2: Acquire young, active players to give life to a dead LR. My logic was: "No one will want to stay on a team with a dead LR." What's the point of drafting people if they could just pack up and leave before ever playing a game for you? I was so insecure of this, I needed to make this LR active. What I ended up doing was using most of the picks from the TOR trade, and sending them to WPG. For Durden and Tightpants. At first it seemed like a genius move. But they both went inactive. And the SHL community really let me know how stupid I was. I just want to thank @Ace and @Wally for helping me navigate through that toxicity. But this is still a move that has kinda fucked the franchise. And I still feel bad about it. 

Step 3: Drafting. I had a plan to get specific players in S65. But shit hit the fan when trades fell through and I ended up with 1 active prospect in DAD. The S66 draft went amazingly. Wanna know why? I wasn't there. I gave Cooper full reign, and he executed. Still a lot of people talking shit over the move we made in that draft, but it doesn't matter because we got two amazing prospects in @Anthique and @kast3rborous. I hope you guys stay.

TEX has always had a reputation, people have always been skeptical about joining this team. First it was an unfair stigma. People loved to shit on TEX and HAM for "breaking the sim." They claimed we forced people to build a certain way. I just want to say Puoli never made anyone do that. He was an amazing GM who gave everybody the freedom to build what they wanted. If you needed help or suggestions, he would go over your build and give you multiple avenues. He devoted his time to GMing, and absolutely deserved every bit of success he earned. I was never able to fully replicate his style, but I damn well tried. 

The next incident involved me retiring my player. I had always felt a disconnect with my player after discovering FHM had a meta. I was sad about dumping my points into shooting accuracy. After some unsuccessful J seasons I was thinking about recreating. I already had the name picked out. I was thinking, maybe S69. Or S75. I liked those numbers. But after putting up a 50 point rookie season in the SHL, I had second thoughts. I could have a HOF-worthy player on my hands. If this player wins the Jesster, I think I gotta stick it out to see where it goes. But he wasn't even nominated. So I went ahead and recreated into a defenseman to help the team in the long-term. This brought a lot of flak, and a lot of people saying they will never go to TEX. 

And now we have the present, where my fuck-up has nobody wanting to be drafted by TEX. In the franchise's most important draft. I have found myself needing to step down. The longer I stay, the more I fuck-up my players experiences. Stepping down now also fucks the team, as my player is going poof. Just a lose-lose. I originally had thoughts of stepping down a couple months ago. I was going to stick out the 3rd season, then step down, and quietly max-earn and sim SMJHL games. But that's not an option anymore. I have this reputation following me. People thinking I had malicious intent. I'm not that kind of person. 

I mentally can't handle this type of heat. 

To Texas, I'm sorry. You guys need a GM. A GM who is well-connected within the league, and can attract free agents. Because I've left you in a fucked position. Like John Chayka to the Arizona Coyotes. I'm especially sorry to Cooper who has dedicated his time to the franchise. I hope you get it turned around, or at least enjoy some SHL success on a different team.

To Yukon, I'm sorry. You guys have been so welcoming, being on your team has been, and will always be my favorite sim-league experience. I really hope you get that cup, with or without me. @Big Newff @Fluw

Yagoyi out. (you know what's crazy, I'm leaving exactly 1 year from when I joined)