I'll tell you my story (hopefully someone will benefit from it) and then maybe you can post some of the dumb things you've done to help me feel better about things, because I am way more down about some silly simulation game than a grown man ought to be...

Tark signings just began last night. I'm at Colorado there. We had 7 openings and good post season cash (but only a C+ prestige).

Recruiting at Colorado is interesting. There aren't a lot of other BCS schools within a few hundred miles, but there aren't always great recruits around either, and a couple nearby mid majors are always something to deal with. 

This season [a highly rated 5 star center] was generated 30 miles from my campus. I was hoping for under 70 bonus treatment, but didn't get it, but I did get the backup message. [West coast school #1] showed up either 1st or 2nd cycle. Despite [WC 1] I decided to continue to pull him down. [WC 1] was a long way away and had other stuff going on. I pulled him down and took the lead from [WC 1], knocking them off somewhere overnight the first day. 

Meanwhile I did some evals on a number of other recruits on my board. I was surprised at how few evals it seemed to take to get "considered" by these recruits. I ended up showing like 14 considering me, with very little effort. I prioritized my picks based on the info from the evals and offered the other 5 freshmen I wanted to complete the 6 man class of my 7 openings. I sent redshirt notices to the rest. 5 of them said naw, its cool and kept showing on my list. (Really wish there was a "We are never going to sign this kid he is more of a stalker than a recruit" button)

So I still had quite a lot of cash at this point. [West coast team #2] shows up considering on [5 star center] (I get no change of status email). FSS confirms I am "definitely leaning towards". I pump a few HVs in anyway. Meanwhile [Local mid-major] starts sniffing around one of my 3 stars. 

I knock [LMM] off that kid and maintain lead on [5 star center] and still have a respectable reserve going into the final day. [LMM] comes back sometime that morning. I let it slide for a couple cycles, figuring if there is no action anywhere else I throw a few HVs on the [LMM] kid last cycle before and try to knock him off and sign the kid outright at 8. This works as planned. 

What I didn't plan is the bad part. Also last cycle I threw about 50 more HVs on [5 star center] to try to knock [WC 2] off too. 8 rolls around and I check my signings. The first message is this one: 

Coach, the WCAA has a maximum limitation of 6 players per class so we just can't sign [local 5 star center].

Stephen Landrum
Director of Athletics
Colorado

See, last season I redshirted one of my recruits. I know the rule that redshirts count as the listed class and that they interfere with the 6 man class thing. I've seen this posted before. I've warned people about it before. And I didn't pay attention to it and it cost me a 5 star center at a C+ program in the middle of a decent BCS conference. 

So that's my long winded story. Tell me one of yours. 


tl, dr - lost 5 star because I forgot to count last year's redshirt against 6 man class. Feels bad. 


EDITED: Decided to remove the other schools involved in case they are still recruiting other players and/or in battles or anything.

dac - sorry to hear that, I was excited for you reading the story knowing you might land him. It will be hard to watch him playing for another school the next few years. I haven't made any mistake that large but I haven't been at D1 very long and I am not at a big school, but I am sure I will screw up large at some point.

Right when you stated you had 7 scholarships open I figured the max limit reached was where the story was going to end.  That's rough... been there, done that (though not with a 5*).

OUCH! got to land those local studs when you can at colorado, that sucks :(

Man that sucks Dacj, i'm sure you'll recover fine :)

some of those 'other' kids are a pair of 3 stars that will be 830-850 type players, another who's a 2 star 800 projection, so we won't be horrible, but the real kicker is the 489 guy I signed after going back and forth and finally deciding I liked his potentials enough for a career backup - he'll finish just about where the 5 star starts at...

I've done that same thing, on the D3 level so it wasn't as big a deal, but the guy I lost was the best of the bunch and a real difference-maker.  Wound up being a 1st-team All-American on a very good team twice.

Terrible story, Darryl.  But I've done the same thing....tried to sign too many freshmen.

I've also spent a ton of money on a recruit, had him considering only my school,  but didn't get him. Why? I never offered a scholarship

I've also started a walk-on in a crucial game because he had the same name as my stud player

It hurts now but you'll feel better in a few days.

Posted by alblack56 on 11/7/2012 8:35:00 AM (view original):
Terrible story, Darryl.  But I've done the same thing....tried to sign too many freshmen.

I've also spent a ton of money on a recruit, had him considering only my school,  but didn't get him. Why? I never offered a scholarship

I've also started a walk-on in a crucial game because he had the same name as my stud player

It hurts now but you'll feel better in a few days.

Thanks Al, I appreciate that 

I just did a very similar thing last recruiting cycle in Knight. Had 6 openings, but forgot I had RS'd a kid the season before. So going into the last cycle I had 5 guys considering only me, and made a late move to grab a higher-level player (a battle I would have won). The problem was that the 5 players considering me all signed immediately at 8 p.m., putting me at the 6 freshman limit, so I was not able to compete in the battle I'd just entered. I ended up wasting tens of thousands of dollars on a guy would've been by far the jewel of my class, all because I forgot about the RS'd player and class limits, and was left with egg all over my face. Karma from the anti-poaching gods, I suppose!

Just did it myself in Tark D3 this recruiting season.  Forgot all about the rule.  Left one big recruit hanging out there...Tried to find  a way to cut a player that I just signed but no dice...

Have never done this, but every year I end up botching my D1 recruiting. I always assume an A+ school with less openings can't win a battle with me at my B+ school with him being >350 miles and me being <350 miles. Twice I've taken it for granted that I could get some decent recruit for ~50k or so in that situaiton, and went to spend random unnecessary 10k on evals or some other substandard recruit knowing that there were no other schools within 350 miles and I have a bunch of money in and I can't lose. Losing those is the most embarrassing.

Also this cycle in Tark I had two openings so I decided "ah whatever, I will just throw it on this decent guy and maybe I'll win this battle and then I won't have to recruit and I'll get all the effort for having the money on him early." Not only did I lose the battle, but like 3-4 guys who I would have been happy to sign dropped to me and I didn't have the money to snag them. I've been absurdly lazy with recruiting lately and it's just embarrassing. 

Posted by aejones on 11/8/2012 5:27:00 AM (view original):
Have never done this, but every year I end up botching my D1 recruiting. I always assume an A+ school with less openings can't win a battle with me at my B+ school with him being >350 miles and me being <350 miles. Twice I've taken it for granted that I could get some decent recruit for ~50k or so in that situaiton, and went to spend random unnecessary 10k on evals or some other substandard recruit knowing that there were no other schools within 350 miles and I have a bunch of money in and I can't lose. Losing those is the most embarrassing.

Also this cycle in Tark I had two openings so I decided "ah whatever, I will just throw it on this decent guy and maybe I'll win this battle and then I won't have to recruit and I'll get all the effort for having the money on him early." Not only did I lose the battle, but like 3-4 guys who I would have been happy to sign dropped to me and I didn't have the money to snag them. I've been absurdly lazy with recruiting lately and it's just embarrassing. 

cut back on teams now before you turn into me circa 1 year ago, with your best program missing the NT 3 times in 4 seasons... its cut now or cut later in worse shape, sadly, when you come down from the high of getting really into it and knowing what it takes to win and dominating, but over time you stop learning as much and you get into a pattern and it stops being so exciting. you want to keep your programs but just dont want to put the time in... well, you are best off to cut down on teams so you still spend enough time on the teams you care about most, to keep them respectable, or else over time, that embarrassing feeling will turn into disgust and finally, indifference. trust me on this one.

Posted by gillispie1 on 11/8/2012 2:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by aejones on 11/8/2012 5:27:00 AM (view original):
Have never done this, but every year I end up botching my D1 recruiting. I always assume an A+ school with less openings can't win a battle with me at my B+ school with him being >350 miles and me being <350 miles. Twice I've taken it for granted that I could get some decent recruit for ~50k or so in that situaiton, and went to spend random unnecessary 10k on evals or some other substandard recruit knowing that there were no other schools within 350 miles and I have a bunch of money in and I can't lose. Losing those is the most embarrassing.

Also this cycle in Tark I had two openings so I decided "ah whatever, I will just throw it on this decent guy and maybe I'll win this battle and then I won't have to recruit and I'll get all the effort for having the money on him early." Not only did I lose the battle, but like 3-4 guys who I would have been happy to sign dropped to me and I didn't have the money to snag them. I've been absurdly lazy with recruiting lately and it's just embarrassing. 

cut back on teams now before you turn into me circa 1 year ago, with your best program missing the NT 3 times in 4 seasons... its cut now or cut later in worse shape, sadly, when you come down from the high of getting really into it and knowing what it takes to win and dominating, but over time you stop learning as much and you get into a pattern and it stops being so exciting. you want to keep your programs but just dont want to put the time in... well, you are best off to cut down on teams so you still spend enough time on the teams you care about most, to keep them respectable, or else over time, that embarrassing feeling will turn into disgust and finally, indifference. trust me on this one.

you might be right but at this point it really isn't a time sink except during recruiting. i have quite a bit of free time now around the holidays too, if i start to pick up and get a bit busier come spring i might eventually. anyways, even at like 80% recruiting effort i have the "system" down enough to be competitive to win it all year in and year out with pretty much every program but my d1 team. if it is the difference between 10% equity to win it and 3% equity to win it i don't really care, i can half *** it and still dominate. 

right now im in the f4 in naismith d3 where i have no seniors, im 21-1 in tark d2 and 25-2 in wooden d3. all those teams have decent title equity. now that i've gone away from 2-3 zone, my team in knight is competitive every year. pretty much all of my teams have ~5%+ title equity every season (no super classes unless it's my first few seasons with the program) even though i just set it and forget it, and that's fine with me.

What is Title Equity - I have not heard of that before.