Template talk:Infobox NFL biography/Merge issues to be resolved

Merge issues to be resolved
This is a working list of template design issues that have arisen as a result of the pending merge of Infobox NFL coach into Infobox NFL player, and remain to be resolved in the final version of the surviving template, Infobox NFL biography:


 * 1) jersey number: The jersey number for active coaches, former coaches, and former players should be automatically displayed in the "career information" section of the template.  Jersey numbers for active players should remain where they are, in the top section color bar and displayed together with the active player's current team; for example, as "No. 13  Miami Dolphins".  For a variety of reasons, however, the display of jersey numbers and current team in the top color bar does not work well for retired players, and either active or former coaches.  The change in placement of the jersey number should be relatively automatic, and should not require complex data input from template users.  I believe this is mostly consistent with DeeJayK's proposed version of the surviving template now found in the sandbox.
 * 2) player position: The former player positions for all former coaches and all former players should be automatically displayed to the "career information" section of the template.  The change in placement of the player position should be relatively automatic, and should not require complex data input from template users.  Current player positions for active players should remain where they are, in the top section of the infobox.  I believe this is mostly consistent with DeeJayK's proposed version of the surviving template now found in the sandbox.
 * 3) current title:  The current coaching title of active coaches should be displayed in the top section of the infobox, underneath the top color bar that displays an active coach's current team.  This would be consistent with the display of the current jersey number and current team name for active players in the top color bar, with the player's current position in the section immediately underneath.  For former coaches, this parameter should be removed, and the list of former coaching titles included only in the "career history" section.  "Current title" should be tied to "current team," such neither will display unless both parameters are in use.
 * 4) alma mater: Add new parameter for the college or university of a coach who did not play college football; this parallels an existing parameter of Infobox NFL coach.  When this parameter is in use, the "college" parameter for the subject's college team should be excluded.
 * 5) new parameter names:  The parameter names for the win-loss records for regular season, post-season, and cumulative totals need to be resolved, and the parameter names replaced on all existing transclusions.


 * 1) Sports-Reference.com college stats link: (?)

Minor issues for later

 * 1) color of HOF banners: The electric yellow banners clash horribly with NFL team colors, which most often is a problem for active NFL coaches.  Players who have been out of college long enough to be eligible for the College Football HOF are rarely still active NFL players, and members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame are, by definition, retired.  So the clash of colors only affects a small subset of active players and coaches.

Clean-up issues to be resolved

 * 1) Databasefootball link: DatabaseFootball.com has not been actively maintained sine 2011, and was never a particularly good sports statistics site.  This parameter was deprecated and made inoperative some time ago, and it was supposed to have been removed.  Every instance of parameter dbf= and its input data contents will be removed by bot action.
 * 2) debut/final parameters: These eight parameters -- debutyear=, debutteam=, finalyear=, finalteam=, coachdebutteam=, coachdebutyear=, coachfinalteam=, coachfinalyear= -- were deprecated and made inoperative some time ago, and they were supposed to be removed from all transclusions.  Ever instance of these four parameters and their input data contents will be removed by bot action.
 * 3) height/weight parameters: The old versions of these parameters -- heightft=, heightin=, weight= or weight_lb= -- need to be universally replaced by height_ft=, height_in= and weight_lbs=, respectively, by bot action.  Once replaced, all alternate parameter name coding will be removed from the template.
 * 4) position parameters: Redundant position parameters -- currentposition=, currentpositionplain= -- need to be universally replaced with position= by bot action.  Once replaced, all alternate parameter name coding will be removed from the template.
 * 5) deprecated coach parameters: These coach-related parameters -- coachSB=, coachAB= and coachchamps= -- should made inoperatice, and their input data should be moved to the "highlights" section of the infobox, consistent with the manner in which the infoboxes for all players and most coaches are already formatted.  Once completed, these paramters hould be removed from all transclusions of the template by bot action.

Tracking categories to be created

 * 1) deprecated coach parameters: Need to track the following coach-related parameters: coachSB=, coachAB= and coachchamps=.
 * 2) hidden text in position parameter: Need to track player positions and jersey numbers in hidden text; to be added to new coach title parameter.

Common NFL article formatting problems

 * 1) birth place in lead: The birth place should not be stated anywhere in the lead of the article, including, in particular, the birth date parenthetical.  The birth place should be stated in the infobox and the "early years" section (or its equivalent) in the main body text.
 * 2) division championships: We do not list division titles for players; these are minor accomplishments.

WP:OVERLINK issues

 * 1) coach: The word coach, by itself, does not need to be linked in NFL bio articles; its meaning is almost universally understood in all varieties of the English language.  It is a low-value, non-specific link, and only be used when it has specific relevance to the subject of the article, e.g., the article subject is "Offensive coordinator".
 * 2) NFL season links: It's time to de-link the NFL seasons in the player tenures, coach tenures, and awards listed in the infoboxes of NFL biographies.  Unless the particular honor or award links to article about the particular annual award, e.g., 2016 Pro Bowl, 2015 College Football All-America Team), the years should not be linked.  Links to NFL season articles are generally non-specific, low-value links, and should only be used when they have specific relevance to subject of the article.
 * 3) player positions: It is entirely proper to link the player position of the article subject in the infobox and lead section.  It is overkill to link every instance of another player's position in the text.  Give your readers some credit.

Capitalization issues

 * 1) Defense
 * 2) Offense
 * 3) Special Teams


 * 1) Coach
 * 2) Head Coach
 * 3) Assistant Head Coach
 * 4) Assistant Coach


 * 1) Offensive Coordinator
 * 2) Offensive Backfield Coach
 * 3) Offensive Line Coach
 * 4) Quarterbacks Coach
 * 5) Running Backs Coach
 * 6) Tight Ends Coach
 * 7) Wide Receivers Coach


 * 1) Defensive Coordinator
 * 2) Defensive Backfield Coach
 * 3) Defensive Backs Coach
 * 4) Defensive Ends Coach
 * 5) Defensive Line Coach
 * 6) Linebackers Coach
 * 7) Secondary Coach


 * 1) Special Teams Coordinator
 * 2) Special Teams Coach
 * 3) Assistant Special Teams Coach


 * 1) Owner
 * 2) Chairman
 * 3) President
 * 4) Executive Vice President
 * 5) Vice President
 * 6) General Manager
 * 7) Director of Pro Personnel
 * 8) Director of Scouting


 * 1) American Football
 * 2) Football
 * 3) High School
 * 4) High School Football
 * 5) College
 * 6) College Football
 * 7) Pro Football
 * 8) Professional Football

college academic majors business administration, communications, economics, political science, social studies English, French, Spanish

American Football League (AFL) National Football League (NFL) United Football League (UFL) United States Football League (USFL) Arena Football League Canadian Football League (CFL) American Football Conference (AFC) National Football Conference (NFC)

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Big Ten Conference Big 12 Conference Pac-12 Conference Southeastern Conference (SEC)

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Related infobox conversions

 * 1) Final NFL infobox merge: Template:Infobox pro football player (count 395, as of February 2, 2016)
 * 2) Conversion of all CFB players or NFL career personnel using Infobox gridiron football person.