After I post this, let's hear your stories!
So, bulldogg431 and I have been working together on a few teams for about the last year. We've got five teams on different worlds that we've been playing with, and each of them has had significant success... But none like the Washington and Lee team on Leahy.
We took over this team in season 89. They had only ever had one playoff appearance and had NEVER won a conference title. The year before, W&L had been 6&7. GUESS had their roster rating at 70, and their recruiting class at 220. Over the previous 10 seasons, they had averaged the 180th ranked roster in all of D3 with the 160th ranked recruiting class.
Since we took over this team, in 4 seasons, we've gone 8-5, 11-2, 10-5, and now 13-1. Each season has shown steady improvement, including a playoff appearance this season and the school's first ever conference title, a dominating win over the conference's previous juggernaut (a team that had won more than 120 straight conference games). W&L owns the #3 ranking and a #1 seed in the playoffs.
Our biggest improvements, though, and the ones were most proud of are our roster and recruit rankings. Our roster rankings have improved over the four years: 138, 42, 27, and 7. Our recruiting classes have improved just as much: 42, 11, 9, and 4. We really feel like this team has a legitimate shot to win the whole thing only four years after we took over, and we're very proud of this!
We were curious to hear some of your stories about improving a school who had been one of the mediocre teams or cellar dwellars. Anyone else having success with fun little strategies like this?