Showing this for reference for new folks in D1 and to show how a coach can come in late and flip your class. Will learn from this.

32 open scholarships

Budget: $480,000

West Virginia: National Champions
New job: No playoff money

Notes:

• 11 green, 21 yellow at one point
• Ohio State after 24 hours flipped every recruit he went after of mine
• Temple jumped in late for DB, DL
• Georgia Flipped Lead Late
• Big East budget: $165,000 playoff money
• Big Ten: $35,000 playoff money

DB - ($87k) Loss to Temple

TE - ($33k) Loss to Georgia

QB - ($27k) Loss to Rutgers

OL - ($20k) Loss to Pittsburgh

DL - ($19k) Loss to Ohio State

DB - ($19k) Loss to Pittsburgh

DL - ($16k) Loss to Syracuse

OL - ($14k) Loss to Ohio State

OL - ($13k) Loss to Ohio State

DB - ($12k) Loss to North Carolina

DL - ($10k) Loss to Temple

RB - ($19k) Loss to Ohio State

DL - ($13k) Loss to North Carolina

DB - ($9k) Loss to Ohio State

DL - ($9k) Loss to Ohio State

OL - ($8k) Loss to Pittsburgh

LB - ($8k) Loss to Ohio State

WR - ($8k) Loss to Ohio State

LB - ($8k) Loss to Ohio State

LB - ($8k) Loss to Ohio State

LB - ($8k) Loss to Miami Ohio

WR - ($5k) Loss to Lousville

WR - ($5k) Loss to Tennessee

Signed

OL - $17k

OL - $15k

DB - $14k

LB - $10k

LB - $6k

LB - $6k

LB - $1k

TE - $9k

P - $6k

Alek, with that many scholarships to fill (and no bowl money) you had to realize that while you have a lot of money, you’re actually spread really thin.

That said, with the $480k you could have scouted a lot more players to identify high WE/High Potential recruits with attributes you like that you could then use to fill the majority of your class (let them grow over time and perhaps then take your shot at a handful of calculated difference makers once you have a lot of your initial targets identified—part of this is going after recruits that the OSUs, BEAST teams, other elites are unlikely to go after as well to avoid battles).

Tough to go with a one size fits all recruiting strategy, every school/division/world has it’s own nuances, and game theory principles can be helpful. Self awareness would be helpful also (ie. not blaming anyone else for your failed strategy, but instead looking inwardly at how you could best set yourself up for success in future seasons).

Could be a moot point now since you’ll have the bowl money next year, but hope it’s helpful.

Good luck, and hopefully you stick it out at WVU.

Thanks for the insight, yes I never dealt with a huge class nor been on the east coast. Completely different animal, I usually recruit in the top 10-15’s. This has been such a disaster it makes me want to stick with WV for a long time. We may go 0-13 to start off with.

I imagine players hate to give away strategies, but what the heck. I now scout a ton of players and go after slightly lower rated players with higher potential and decent GPA's. My first class (3 VH, 8 H, 1 A) is going to be a great performing class in 2 or 3 seasons. If I can repeat that 3 out of 4 classes, I think I'll have decent teams. I also probably put a bit more into player training as opposed to formation training compared to most.

I once spent $87K on the last recruit I needed, an OL when I was at Minnesota and lost him on the last day, I think to Notre Dame. Lesson learned. I don't do that anymore.

Yep. This is the all time worst example of recruiting in the history of all divisions and all worlds in GD. Congrats.

Posted by chainsaw4 on 11/27/2023 10:24:00 AM (view original):
Yep. This is the all time worst example of recruiting in the history of all divisions and all worlds in GD. Congrats.

It is Alek, after all.

The Ohio State coach left.

Doesn't matter who is at OSU - You took a national champion with 22 solid players - Took 28 Sims over 2 seasons - Going to go 0-32 in conference over first 4 seasons - All self inflicted

Alek,
I've had some disastrous recruiting seasons. However, none, quite like yours. I think you win. However, I've come close a couple of times. I just took over GT in a world, and have had 2 (out of 3) lousy recruiting seasons. Loss QB battles in each of the last 2 recruiting seasons. I feel like I'm the worst recruiter who has won several NCs. So, I guess I'm not all bad.