Posted by acroth2 on 10/24/2013 11:22:00 PM (view original):
When I have high prestige I always jump early, pull people down, mark my territory and then sign the guys I want and even beat out some sims or humans with less spots open in the division above me. With a low prestige you'll be able to see very few if any players from the level above you. Granted while waiting for players to drop down higher prestige schools will be able to see them first. I'd wait till after signings have started and then with less players unsigned in each state the scouting reports cost significantly less to purchase. Which will allow you to scout a wider area for the same price, and find players with better overall potential/ratings. It'd be really risky to jump on people early, because if any school with better prestige jumps on them as well you'd have to cut your losses and lose the money spent so far. Juco player or two might not be a bad idea to try to win some more games faster and raise your prestige faster. Good luck to you.
this is solid advice except that prestige is not a big deal in d2/d3. i would try to get on good players available to me ASAP because they certainly go quick. in a different time, there were so many fewer totally useless players than there are today. it has really driven up competition for anyone decent, so i definitely recommend trying to get *some* players early.
it also used to be, without potential, a much closer correlation of talent with ranking (even the unranked players you cant see have a ranking, that decided where they fit in terms of d1/d2/d3 for each school). the recruit generation system and the player ranking system were designed to be closely correlated. when potential was added, the recruit generation system changed dramatically while the player ranking system was untouched. i think some coaches still get the idea they need to worry only about players a division up, drop downs and pulldowns. it used to be the case, and theres still a lot of quality old threads on the subject that reference that paradigm. but things have changed - now the optimal mix of recruits usually consists of players who start in your division, and some who dont.
as far as doing things early/late, heres the rule of thumb i would recommend. go for guys who start in your division early, and if you have at least a little experience with this game, you can immediately go for pulldowns within 200 or 360 miles, too, depending on your comfort level. wait on anyone over 360 miles and a good rule of thumb for newer coaches IMO is never go for more pulldowns early than half the # of scholarships you have to fill. this way you can try to get on guys early and scare other schools away, but you won't get yourself in trouble overreaching.