I've had a D1 team for like 6 years and cant remember how to coach D3. It seems recruits drop down at some point tho? When does that happen ? and is it best to always wait for drop downs or to recruit right away or both ?

Posted by smorse40 on 4/7/2016 12:06:00 PM (view original):
I've had a D1 team for like 6 years and cant remember how to coach D3. It seems recruits drop down at some point tho? When does that happen ? and is it best to always wait for drop downs or to recruit right away or both ?

Dropdowns:
Say you call a kid and get a backup option message. Another possibility is he'll eventually "drop" down to you. This means he'll be available on your D3 search and can be recruited no differently than any other D3 player. WHen he drops, you'll get a message from the player letting you know he's interested in your school again. The risk here is he could drop anywhere from day 2 to day 4 and he'll drop to higher prestige schools first, so you may wait forever only to find another higher prestige school is already being considered and then you need to decide if you want to battle. The reward is you can sign a pretty decent player for fairly cheap without spending the $2K to pull him down.

Understanding pull and drop downs is key to being successful at D3. Also understanding you probably can't pull 3 kids down is important because it's just way too costly, so you're better off pursuing a couple of cheaper D3 options and then maybe going after 1 or 2 D2 kids.

If you are going to stick with zone, then there's really no reason to have more than 10 scholarship players. Ever. Take 2 walk ons every year and take the cash for open scholarships the following season. You only need 8-10 guys to run zone (a benefit to zone is guys can easily play 30+ minutes a game without getting tired). If you roster 12 guys you'll never get all 12 on the court in a game. Recruiting money is huge...get the money for open scholarships. Trust me.

If I'm playing in a relatively empty conference, then I'm much more willing to offer a guy a start and sign a kid for as cheaply as I can (which is a start + schollie, or $110). Knowing I'm playing against a bunch of sims helps make this decision easier. Similarly, if you're in a rebuilding phase then sign kids for $110, start them right off the bat, and maximize their improvement. When I took over my last rebuild my first season I signed 4 kids for $110. We sucked that first season but I certainly wasn't gonna do anything relevant with simmy's recruits. Take your lumps early to reap the benefits a couple seasons down the road.

Copy and paste

Thx!

Posted by smorse40 on 4/7/2016 12:06:00 PM (view original):
I've had a D1 team for like 6 years and cant remember how to coach D3. It seems recruits drop down at some point tho? When does that happen ? and is it best to always wait for drop downs or to recruit right away or both ?

Best practice is to send a kid 1 coach call.

If the coach tells you something along these lines: "Hey Coach, thanks for the call to chat about Philip Tilman. I'm just trying to be courteous so don't take this the wrong way - he doesn't even know who you are. May want to move on," then he probably won't drop down. But if the coach mentions anything about a backup plan, then you have a very real shot.

From there, you can either spend a bunch of scouting trips to see the kid to hurry the process along and maybe get him to drop sooner. Otherwise, you wait for an email like this from your assistant: "Hey. Jason Johnson's girlfriend, just called me - looks like she's concerned that he won't get a scholarship since he was aiming too high. We have a shot if you want to take it." That is your notice that the kid dropped down. As long as you showed interest in him prior to the drop, you'll automatically get that email.

Not everyone gets that email at the same time. When I get the email on Johnson I went to check and he was already being considered by another school because they got that email one cycle earlier than I did (that school had B+ prestige and mine was C). So the scouting trips can increase your chances if you really want a kid.