I have read many posts here about recruiting and have tried to implement what I learned. I thought that I had this down. I have a team in a different world and am rocking recruiting. However, this particular team had a terrible recruiting class this last time.

I am in my 5th season as coach at the same school in DIII. I came off of a winning season. My reputation and loyalty are both A+. Job status is Very Secure. This current season I am having a great year, with a 7-1 record currently. I will lose some amazing players this offseason, but return enough quality players to have a good team next year. After that, I am currently in trouble.

During the season I assemble a list of players that I am interested in. I:

• Look for players 360 miles or closer that are DIII level
• When recruiting begins I usually have the AC call and will have him go on a scouting trip for my favorite targets.
• If any are yellow or green, I target them immediately. This past year, no players were yellow or green at the start.
• I do not target players being recruited by humans
• I ask select players for campus visits
• This past year several got to yellow at this stage. I offered another CV.
• Money is now running low.
• I offer scholarships to yellow players. Sometime I promise starts or playing time.
• This past year, two went to green and signed.
• When signing started most yellows signed elsewhere. Money is very low.
• I started targeting other players, got some to green, but by the time of final signing, they signed elsewhere.
• AC had to recruit many players.

This was by far my worst year ever recruiting wise. I have always done better than this. What can I do next year to improve my situation?
Any help is appreciated.

• No point in doing this during the season unless your d1a. Vision can change at d3 causing you to waste money on guys outside of vision and at d3 there is almost no point in taking on sims, too many similar players and there is enough UND players where its rare to need to take on a sim at d3. Only take on a select few sims if you feel those players are actually worth it.
• If they are yellow, the order in which the teams are listed on the Summary page is who is in the lead for that recruit. Generally my assumption has been you need to put in nearly double effort the other yellow coach has done to turn them green BEFORE signing starts. After signing starts that 2x starts to decrease but now you know which ones to prioritize spending on.
• d3 especially, AC scouts first cycle to a bunch, you'll get a bunch of local kids green on just AC scouts. Then from there out maybe HV's second cycle if they remain UND and help make them accept CV if needed after that. From there you should only be spending on CV's and maybe promises.

There are plenty of other nuances that could go on for a while, there is some good pinned beginner topics on recruiting. The discord some people may help more closely but the biggest thing at d3 really imo is to heavily target only UND players and when you have money left over you can go after sims or other human players.

thank you so much for that advice!

Posted by the_dance07 on 6/3/2024 12:13:00 PM (view original):

• No point in doing this during the season unless your d1a. Vision can change at d3 causing you to waste money on guys outside of vision and at d3 there is almost no point in taking on sims, too many similar players and there is enough UND players where its rare to need to take on a sim at d3. Only take on a select few sims if you feel those players are actually worth it.
• If they are yellow, the order in which the teams are listed on the Summary page is who is in the lead for that recruit. Generally my assumption has been you need to put in nearly double effort the other yellow coach has done to turn them green BEFORE signing starts. After signing starts that 2x starts to decrease but now you know which ones to prioritize spending on.
• d3 especially, AC scouts first cycle to a bunch, you'll get a bunch of local kids green on just AC scouts. Then from there out maybe HV's second cycle if they remain UND and help make them accept CV if needed after that. From there you should only be spending on CV's and maybe promises.

There are plenty of other nuances that could go on for a while, there is some good pinned beginner topics on recruiting. The discord some people may help more closely but the biggest thing at d3 really imo is to heavily target only UND players and when you have money left over you can go after sims or other human players.

I had never heard that when recruits are yellow the order in which the teams are listed dictates who is in the lead on a particular recruit. I am not sure that that assumption is true. Could some of the long time coaches on here elaborate on that please. Earthpilgrim--I am sending you a sitemail.

Posted by jsfoppa on 6/3/2024 3:02:00 PM (view original):

Posted by the_dance07 on 6/3/2024 12:13:00 PM (view original):

• No point in doing this during the season unless your d1a. Vision can change at d3 causing you to waste money on guys outside of vision and at d3 there is almost no point in taking on sims, too many similar players and there is enough UND players where its rare to need to take on a sim at d3. Only take on a select few sims if you feel those players are actually worth it.
• If they are yellow, the order in which the teams are listed on the Summary page is who is in the lead for that recruit. Generally my assumption has been you need to put in nearly double effort the other yellow coach has done to turn them green BEFORE signing starts. After signing starts that 2x starts to decrease but now you know which ones to prioritize spending on.
• d3 especially, AC scouts first cycle to a bunch, you'll get a bunch of local kids green on just AC scouts. Then from there out maybe HV's second cycle if they remain UND and help make them accept CV if needed after that. From there you should only be spending on CV's and maybe promises.

There are plenty of other nuances that could go on for a while, there is some good pinned beginner topics on recruiting. The discord some people may help more closely but the biggest thing at d3 really imo is to heavily target only UND players and when you have money left over you can go after sims or other human players.

I had never heard that when recruits are yellow the order in which the teams are listed dictates who is in the lead on a particular recruit. I am not sure that that assumption is true. Could some of the long time coaches on here elaborate on that please. Earthpilgrim--I am sending you a sitemail.

its only in the recruiting summary page. The order on the player card is random

yes that seems to be the case

i believe Admin meant originally for both to be random but screwed up the summary page at some point in the distant past

one can speculate whether recruiting would be better with both random

it would certainly be harder

Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

Drop it!

who is ricemt28

bombs dropped on D2/D3 what does that even mean

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

id say do it. I would be surprised if anything could get any of the d2/3 forever coaches up tho. I've been trying to get most worlds up to a good spot in d1aa and eventually d1a but some of my teams in d2 I am just partial to and enjoy that its a different game then d1a.

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

I say go for it. I just took on a D2 rebuild project and I am actively recruiting.
Just considering it you giving me recruiting advice :)

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

Another supposed hack????? Either say it or don't bring it up. WTF is wrong with people?

Posted by kevsgirl on 6/6/2024 4:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

Another supposed hack????? Either say it or don't bring it up. WTF is wrong with people?

lol relax he didn't say its a hack. I assume its just how OP top end vision is given he eluded to only d2/d3

Posted by kevsgirl on 6/6/2024 4:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by ricemt28 on 6/6/2024 1:04:00 AM (view original):
Thinking about dropping the bomb on D2/D3 recruiting so it's no longer an advantage for people hanging out there and we get upward movement of coaches to D1. If the community wants it I will and we will see the long time lower level coaches have to move up when it's common knowledge. Need some enthusiasm back in this game.

Another supposed hack????? Either say it or don't bring it up. WTF is wrong with people?

Not a hack or loophole. Just a recruiting a recruiting method that isn't intuitive to a new user based on everything they read on the forums about recruiting.