Any advice? I'm tired of playing in an empty conference in Tark and thinking of moving up. I'm not qualified for any really good jobs, but I could get a couple of jobs in the PAC-10. I'm specifically interested in Oregon.

What are the keys to winning at a school like this? Recruiting, scheduling, etc.

Any advice would be appreciated. I consider myself a pretty good but not great coach and I'd hate to go there and suck for a while before being eventually fired.

In 17 seasons in Alabama(Tark)  I never figured it out...

It's taken years of growing and shaping but now have a small grotto where my WIS shrine is built. I meditate, burn incense, and sacrifice my money offerings on the HD altar there. This method works better than the rocking in the fetal position plan.

This was my plan:

Year One- Cut all the bad players and bring in my players.  Schedule 10 cupcakes for season 2.
Year Two-  Cut the mistakes I made in recruiting- Schedule 8-9 wins in OOC.
Year Three-  Cut any remaining mistakes- Start scheduling teams with double digit RPIs.

My Rutgers team is still a work in progress.  To me, the goal is to get to 17 wins before the conference tournament.  I figure if I get to 17, I have a real shot at the tournament.

I am hoping year four is when I can start to recruit real high end players.   I failed miserably in year three trying to do so.

Oregon is a monster in Crum (currently ranked #1 this year and, on an on-going basis, one of the top three teams in the Pac). 

Build slow, focusing on guys in Oregon, with an occassional foray into WA or ID, depending on how many scholies UW has and its prestige. 

Once you turn the corner, you have your own turf and can fight with UW over the regional players.  You have a much better baseline prestige than OSU and WSU.

Over five years, you can turn it into a powerhouse. 

Oregon has also been (at times) a top 10 non-ACC program in Allen in recent history.  I'd say there are much tougher jobs out there to build than Oregon. 

the tough thing with Oregon in Tark is that Stanford to the South and both Washington and Washington State to the North are very, very good programs.  Helps a little that Oregon State is not very strong but to get the real top end guys to Eugene is going to take a little luck with those other schools needing to take a little step back.  

Posted by lakevin on 7/27/2012 9:37:00 AM (view original):
Oregon is a monster in Crum (currently ranked #1 this year and, on an on-going basis, one of the top three teams in the Pac). 

Build slow, focusing on guys in Oregon, with an occassional foray into WA or ID, depending on how many scholies UW has and its prestige. 

Once you turn the corner, you have your own turf and can fight with UW over the regional players.  You have a much better baseline prestige than OSU and WSU.

Over five years, you can turn it into a powerhouse. 

Oregon, OSU, and WSU have the same baseline.  The same.

One thing that's been very helpful to my success at Oklahoma State and Northwestern has been, for the first couple of years, to let your conference mates run all over me in recruiting.  If Gonzaga or a Big Sky school gets uppity, smack them down with the fury of all the Pac-10 postseason cash... but don't try and fight Wazzu or UW until you have a >30% chance of winning.

Also, what was said above about winning all of your non-con games the first few years?  Is exactly spot-on.  If you don't have the talent to make the PIT, then you should be going 10-0 in noncon every year.

Remember, there are more than enough guys with positional ratings in the 20s and 30s.  Build a team of them, and use RS and ineligibles to get five year guys, and all of a sudden you have an NT team.

Posted by lakevin on 7/27/2012 12:36:00 PM (view original):
Remember, there are more than enough guys with positional ratings in the 20s and 30s.  Build a team of them, and use RS and ineligibles to get five year guys, and all of a sudden you have an NT team.

What does "succeed" mean in the OP question? My earlier response was based on me feeling that making the NT 2 out 3 seasons wasn't good enough and I didn't feel successful.  lakevin is absolutely right in his advice, my question is that good enough? I guess that's step one? And I just still can't/haven't figured out step two, which is making the leap and using the B+ prestige and big conference recruiting cash to become a perennial Sweet 16 type team.

after i dropped both my a+ prestige d1 programs, a season after i meant to (which meant my resume was destroyed, with apparently 50% being the last season in which i had a 1-26 record at one school....). so im currently rebuilding south carolina from b- prestige, low talent, and no NTs in 25 seasons (1 pit). I haven't popped the big one yet, and last season i totally forgot to schedule and then did nothing all season (wife having the baby and all), so they made the PIT - or else it would (should) have been my 4th straight NT appearance. but its went pretty well overall, after the standard 1-2 seasons of uselessness, i had 3 straight 2nd rounds with the third of those being a sweet 16, and am residing at an a-.

obviously, the game plan at that b+ to a- range will change a lot, but getting there in the first place is a big challenge. here are my tips for getting there:

trim the fat. i think i cut 3 players and they weren't even that bad. you have to cut the players who are too ******. depending on the team you take over, you usually don't hope for a post season right away - so cut now, and take your lumps up front.

when recruiting, DO NOT FILL YOUR SCHOLARSHIPS. DO NOT FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO DO SO. you NEED the extra 30k from 2 walkons to recruit better talent. and so many coaches make the mistake of signing bad players to fill spots. remember - an open spot can hurt you for 1 season. a bad player will screw you over for 4. anything up to 4 walkons should be considered acceptable (especially when you are in that early rebuild period before you hope to make post seasons), and I would intentionally take at least one and hopefully 2 each year.

you have 0 chance of signing the best players in the country. thats ok. look for the diamonds in the rough. one of my best players in my first class was a juco 3, ended up to be very good for me. you need to find players who will develop into being very good at SOMETHING. top teams have players that are very good at EVERYTHING. but you don't need that to make the NT regularly. you can read my recent interview if you haven't for a bit more information on philosophy on team planning (building a team with good synergy, where the players complement each other), but in short, team planning is super super important.

so, you just need to be disciplined. teams have to have good rebounders. so, dont hesitate to take a big with 5 lp and no per/bh/pass that other schools might pass by. its not hard to get a 65/70 ath, 90-100 reb, 80+ def/sb player. those players can help you compete.

you also need a couple top notch scorers. you aren't going to get the 95ath/spd/per/bh guys. so find a guy who is maybe going to project into 60 ath, 60 def, 95 spd, 95 per, say maybe 70 bh/pass. those players exist, but top schools don't want them. they look at those guys, and go that guy is too much of a liability. you need to look at him and go wow, that guy can score 18 ppg on my crappy team at high efficiency, what a gem, i better grab him.

so again, just make sure you aren't looking for mediocre guys who are decent at everything but good/great at nothing. they are useless and you will never make it on those guys. if you can get a good well rounded player, fine. but if you are taking lower talent guys, you need to find people who are good at SOMETHING so you can take advantage of it. now, they cant be such a huge liability it kills you, like you can get a 100spd/per guard with 5 defense and 10 passing.

also be creative about who you are willing to play at your SF positions, and backup positions. that will help a lot.

in terms of actual recruiting mechanics, dont over shoot early, but find the role players you like and jump on them fast. these kind of players would eventually go to better BCS schools who miss on their players, if they were available or going to a lesser school. but any BCS school is formidable enough, you can hold off just about anyone from your specialized players if you get them early. look hard, don't hold yourself to 360 miles on these kinds of players, and take advantage of internationals.

also, remember that without making the post season, wins are how to get your prestige up. if you aren't shooting for 10 wins a season till you get to an a- prestige, you are really shooting yourself in the foot. (readers beware - this is advice for BCS conferences. if you are trying to rebuild in an empty conf, it could be a different story, although its generally true for ANY team who doesnt expect to make the NT, that you need to whore yourself out for as many wins as possible).

good luck!

To address a few points:

My definition of successful would be a consistent NT team(not every year) but maybe 3 of 5 years. with another PIT mixed in. An occasional Sweet 16 or Elite 8 type run.

Gillispie I think I already follow your recruiting advice in my low level D1 teams. I built a really good team at Fairfield(in my opinion anyway) and a decent team an UNI by doing that. I guess I'm just not sure how high to aim with a better school in a better conference.

And a better coach got Oregon anyway. I'm trying to decide whether or not to take Fresno State or wait a season. I should make the NT again due to being in such a ****** conference so my prestige shouldn't drop at all.

Also, should I plan on scheduling absolute scrubs when I first start? As in 300+ RPI teams?

I'll echo gillispie's advice about finding diamonds-in-the-rough. I really like that approach for building up a BCS doormat. At a BCS school, you have the budget to do a lot of FSS to find such players. Use it. That's exactly what I did when I took over Arizona in Smith with a "B" prestige. That doesn't sound so bad, except when you consider all but one of the PAC-10 California schools and Arizona St. were A/A+ and the MWC is loaded in Smith (with next-door neighbor New Mexico being an A team), and Arizona was a total wasteland for recruiting, often with no BCS-caliber recruits within 360 miles (which is why I eventually left the school). So I was really boxed in for recruiting and had no choice but to look for under-the-radar players from across the country. 

Anyway, in my 4th and 5th seasons at Arizona, I made back-to-back Elite 8's with a grand total of 2 players who were recruits with stars (one of which was a freshman that 5th season). Everyone else on those teams was a zero star diamond-in-the-rough player, mostly recruited in my first 2 seasons there, and most of them sub-550 when recruited. So it can be done.