I'm at DIII St. Lawrence in Naismith, which is currently recruiting.

Every season I have noticed there is a tremendous lack of recruits who are very close to this campus. This season I have exactly one recruit who is within 70 miles of campus at the DIII level (he's 50 miles away). There are only four within 100 miles. At the DII level, no one is closer than 80 miles away, and again that is one recruit.

Some seasons the closest guys I've had were in Ottawa, Ca., which is 100 miles from campus (which is near the Canadian border).

When I look at maps of the area I see the Adirondack Mountains are nearby but there are small towns in other places where recruits could come from, so it's not like no one lives there or it's in the middle of nowhere.

Other schools I'm at in different worlds usually generate several recruits within 70 miles each season, including some as close as 10 miles on a regular basis. So what gives?

I suspect the recruits are first placed into a state and, then, assigned a high school

I know there's a formula for placing recruits in a state. I suspect the high school placement is more random. If so, then areas with few schools will see fewer recruits than a more densely populated area.

Well, Canton really is pretty isolated. Here's your 70 mile radius: http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm?clat=44.595616&clng=-75.16909399999997&r=112.65&lc=FFFFFF&lw=1&fc=00FF00

As for multiple 10 mile recruits... Well I only have two schools, but one is right next door to Baltimore and D.C. and the other, well, when my guys throw up bricks the rebounds come down in Atlanta.

Side note - I wonder where the editing tools went. I don't think I somehow turned them off, but they're not there above the text-entry box anymore.

bistiza, i feel your pain in Ashland, WI.

In my opinion, there is a tremendous value in having a DII/DIII school near a big city.   I didn't pick NYU or Cal Poly Pomona  by accident.    

I was much less successful in NH, WI, and bumblesometing PA.

Having started this game by coaching at Presque Isle, Maine, I know exactly this of which you speak. Just remember, it's not a job...it's an adventure!

Posted by hogstench on 11/30/2012 12:02:00 PM (view original):

bdpoor, I feel your pain in Laramie, WY.

I live in Wyoming -- I'll send you some photos of your 70-mile radius sometime hog!

I live in Trenton NJ.  There are probably 20 million people that live within 70 miles of my home.

Posted by rednu on 11/30/2012 12:40:00 PM (view original):

Posted by hogstench on 11/30/2012 12:02:00 PM (view original):

bdpoor, I feel your pain in Laramie, WY.

I live in Wyoming -- I'll send you some photos of your 70-mile radius sometime hog!

haha, can only imagine ... have a better shot at getting a 5 star cow than a 1 star kid

At least there are some people who sympathize with my situation. I guess it's somewhat realistic if there aren't really that many high schools (people?) in the area.

Note to self - big cities close by equals more easy recruits.

Then again, do big cities usually have more other universities for competition for existing recruits too? I would think so in most cases.

I used to coach at Bemidji (MN).....just 100 miles from (DRUMROLL)  Fargo, ND.  Recruiting was exciting!

I have St Lawrence in Tark.

I have previously coached Skidmore in this very same conference for the first 40 seasons of this world (2 different ID's), so when I came back from my "retirement" I naturally wanted to return to something familiar so I went to the upstate but was unable to get my old school, so I chose one in the same division thinking close enough is good enough for me, right? Wrong. Couldn't have been much more wrong.

The recruiting in St. Lawrence is HORRIBLE, for the reasons you have already stated. The only advantage I have from a recruiting standpoint is that a lot of coaches don't want to waste scouting trip money on Canadian recruits unless their core ratings are very good to start. Myself, being closer to them, I can afford to dabble with them a little more at dirt cheap prices. I am of course captive to the RNG in this advantage, in that most times, a dog, really is a dog. Most of the recruits covered under the FSS are simply too far away from me for me to feel like I'm ever really "secure" in recruiting them, but I have been lucky enough to find some overlooked recruits on the cheap and also some lost and forgotten recruits hiding under the rocks in other less recruited states.

I was pretty shocked by the difference in recruiting between Skidmore and St. Lawrence. I wouldn't have thought there even could be a difference this drastic, but there certainly is a very big difference. Recruiting at St. Lawrence is not for the faint of heart.

Posted by rednu on 11/30/2012 12:36:00 PM (view original):
Having started this game by coaching at Presque Isle, Maine, I know exactly this of which you speak. Just remember, it's not a job...it's an adventure!

I did time in Presque Isle as well. Most remote school in the game...
Fortunately for me I did it in Allen where the NAC is one of the top D III conferences in all of HD and had lots of postseason money to help offset the location...

biz, Canton is a desolate wasteland... the nearest "cities" are Watertown and Plattsburgh, and neither are very big or terribly close...

I coach at Drew in New Jersey.  I'm close to both New York City and Philadelphia so there is an abundance of recruits. But, WIS has 54 DIII schools in PA and 45 in NY. So recruiting is a constant battle.  I currently have 15 players on my recruiting list. 13 of them are considering one or more local schools.