Whille I agree that a person should not be elected solely based on how high they moved up in the divisions...anyone running should be able to demonstrate that they understand everything pertaining to running a team, and not have glaring weaknesses in their own personal team.
Agree with this.
Furthermore, I think you can be a great manager that has even advanced to the NBBA and still NOT be qualified. You can know the ins and outs, ups and downs, etc... of the game engine and tactics, but that isn't enough. The person that runs for the national team needs to understand what it takes to build and maintain a community of support for the NT. Needs to understand the goings on of the NT over at least the recent future. They need to be able to communicate in a positive constructive way to others on the offsite. They also need to be able to listen sometimes, but also have the confidence to let their testacles hang and stick to their guns at other times. The running of a national team also requires lots of time on BB as well as the offsite. There is a ton of responsibility on the person that is elected and many things that people do not always think about that are not already involved in the offsite and inner workings of the program.
Honestly, out of the candidates so far, nobody completely fits this bill. Buckeye and bllr have zero credentials in my mind regardless of their success or lack thereof in this case as a regular bb manager.
Out of the current candidates, Jason fits the bill the most. I am confident in his team building, tactics, community involvement, and also the time he would put into it. My only reservation with you, Jason, is the lack of involvement on the offsite. However, you're interaction with all the managers involved there as well as the fact that you have closely followed the USNT/U21 teams still gives me the confidence you could get the job done.
It remains to be seen, but as of now we have only 1 capable candidate at this point in time.