So I'm taking over Chaminade in Naismith, and trying to figure out how bad recruiting will be there. I think I'm the only human-coached school in the state, which should surely help, but don't know if it's so limiting that I'll have to run a zone D, or if I can get the players I want to press or play man... likewise, any advice on O to run? I really wanted to do a FB/Press team, but just don't know if it's feasible. Right now we're pretty bad, but have decent Flex/Press IQs: 

www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx

Anyone with Hawaii experience want to chime in? I'd appreciate any advice. 

I ran a team in Hawaii on my LL316 account for a bit.  My strategy was to keep all local talent in house (obviously) and also to hit up the internationals, since at least with them we'd be recruiting on an even playing field.  You can do fb/fcp there at D2, but I think you'll want to concentrate on 1 area to excel at.  I'd go with high ath/def, ignoring offense when necessary, and hope for a ton of turnovers to create points.  

But you'll probably have to run a zone.

I also recruited Alaska, for the same reason as the internationals.

thanks. 

anyone else? 

I currently run a motion/zone at Chaminade.  I stay with local talent which isn't a lot and try to pulldown DI in that state. Currently Hawaii doesn't have a human coach which helps. I recruit a lot of internationals too.  I think if you want to run FB/FCP go after JUCO and transfers after the signing period starts. I seem to get a couple when nobody is considering them. As you probably know make sure they run your off or def or both.

motion and zone is probably the best way to go with hawaii recruits they normally are lower in one of the two areas ath or speed. I havent coached a d-2 hawaii team yet i would try to stick close to the islands and with a mix of some internationals. Sometimes you can get a player from hawaii in d3 with calling the player and coach if you think they are good enough upside promise a starting spot.

Notes I made over the years for Hawai'i/Alaska

1. Fight like hell for all in-state talent that you want. 
2. Internationals are your friends. 
3. Look for sleepers -- kids that nobody is on after the initial wave of recruits start considering. Ditto for after signings start. If needed, ditto again for right before the signing period closes when most players that are going to drop have dropped. 

Thoughts on Hawaii D2 ... never take Hilo... makes it more difficult to pulldown any D1's from the Honolulu area.

Have to take what the Islands give you (and get them cheaply)... imperfections and all.

You get a fair shake with Internationals ... if your good (and lucky) at that (I'm not).

If the two Alaska D2 schools are empty, definitely recruit Alaska (like internationals a fair fight)... but if there are human Alaska coaches, don't even scout it  ... they are going to pick up anything decent.

And stay away from the mainland early. Avoid mainland battles ... cuz your going to lose ... even to high prestige D3 schools. Find recruits later that nobody is on and cross your fingers.

That doesn't sound so hard does it?

Spent 4 years at HI-Hilo and if you don't land the locals, you're in for a wild recruiting ride.  The mainland and everything is really so far away, thus it is quite the challenge.  If they ever opened a new world, I'd scoop them up for a lifetime though.

I've got a team in Alaska and also a team in Puerto Rico under this ID and let me tell you, everything you thought you knew about recruiting is out the window in those remote areas. All bets are off!

No seriously, it's a challenge, of course, but it's not that bad. Kind of fun actually and certainly interesting. To echo what's been said already, try to make sure you get any and all local talent. There isn't much of it in any of those spots, but you can sometimes run across a really good player. Then my recommendation would be patience, patience, and finally, more patience.

You're obviously not going to win a battle, probably against anyone, due to the distances involved. Oh sure, there could be a time when you've got six openings and the other school has one, but even then, that could get expensive if the other coach won't let go and move on. You know what I mean.

What I found worked best for my Puerto Rico team (Alaska too, to be quite frank) was to actually wait until signings to really even begin recruiting. It's risky, sure. because all the really good players are probably going to be gone. But to me, that's the price I pay for wanting to try one of those remote schools.

As you know, after signings FSS becomes much cheaper. I had several openings so I was able to scout a large number of states. I was still able to find some pretty decent players (some were actually "really" good), although they all seemed to have warts of some kind or another, but again, the price you pay. I found players that for some reason or another the local teams just didn't have any interest in, meshed strengths and weaknesses, and nearing the end of just my third season there have a C- prestige team sitting at 28-0, ranked in the top 5, with an RPI of 6. Best part? We only lose one player this offseason!

Now I also feel like I ran across the perfect storm during recruiting that first year. Lots of schollies, lucky to find some real diamonds in the rough, was able to offer starts and minutes (since it was a total rebuild and my upperclassmen all sucked), and lots of high potentials.

I decided to run zone for two reasons. One, I thought it would be more practical given the limitations I'd have during recruiting. Two, I hadn't run zone teams in awhile and didn't want to get too rusty (fwiw, my Alaska team also runs zone. We just lost in the Wooden S16 last night, so it's possible to be successful at those schools. In fact, one of the previous coaches at that Alaska school, went 34-1 and won the NT!). kept the offense in place at both schools since I'm comfortable running any of them anyway (well, besides FB. Still have never run that one, not even for a single season) and rolled with it.

If you're comfortable recruiting internationals, I would highly recommend it. Some people are, some aren't. I like them, even for my "normal" D2 teams. Lots of nice "sleepers" to be found there. careful though, they can get expensive quickly if you're not paying attention.

Lot of rambling there, hope at least one thing in all that jumble helped. Hawaii is going to be my next challenge I think. Good luck and be patient grasshopper!!

I was at Hawaii Pacific for 3 seasons and it was not too hard to recruit there.  Getting local guys is key when you can and internationals.