Ok, so this is my first time playing, and I chose my alma mater D3 school... and I find out I will have 3 players on the roster (1 junior and 2 sophomores). 

Does anyone have any advice on how to make this recruiting season not an epic disaster? Because I imagine it's going to be tough on the budget to come up with 9 quality players. Should I go after fewer and accept a bunch of walk-ons? I'd like to get these classes less lopsided for future years.

its going to be a tough couple of season, but with recruiting cash for 6 players you should be able to get some decent players.  I wouldn't look to fill the roster in the next recruiting session.  Use the money to get yourself 4 or 5 strong players (as strong as your prestige will let you). save a little bit of money and then get a couple of other players after signings start.  There will usually be a couple of one year players available right at the beginning of signings (players other teams cut).  this could be a good option. 

Don't stress about filling your roster.  If you have ten scholarship players that is fine.  Nine is doable for a season.  Building the program is a project, but you should be in good shape in a few seasons.  Good luck

Make sure to get up to 10 scholarship players, or the sim will sign up to that point for a new coach (happened to me with my ripon team)

Posted by beardown13 on 5/4/2013 9:37:00 AM (view original):
Make sure to get up to 10 scholarship players, or the sim will sign up to that point for a new coach (happened to me with my ripon team)

did they ever remove the player for you?

to the OP, i usually would say dont worry about filling up, but you definitely dont want the sim to sign guys for you. you can always cut them next year if they do, but its not that bad. if you can find some 1 year players (senior transfers) just to fill spots, that will stop the sim from signing guys for you. also, if you can find some decent 2 year jucos, that will help you balance your class out.

if you are totally new i would go read aejones's how to win in d2/d3 thread. you really need to focus on the cores early on. make sure all your players have over 20 work ethic and will have over 70 stamina after growth, just as a basic usability requirement, but then you really want to focus on spd, def, bh, pass for your pg, ath/spd/per/bh for your sg, ath/reb/def for your big men. big men scoring kind of sucks so low post is kind of a bonus for a big man. this is an oversimplification but it will get you started in the right direction.

Can't you prevent the Sim from signing extra guys just by running out of money? 

If so, try to focus on getting 4-6 very good freshmen (however many you can afford), grab a JUCO or two if they're available and helpful and you have spare cash, otherwise just spend all your money on nothing and take a few walkons. 

I thought, if you don't fill your roster, you get walk-ons.    I thought SIm only recruited 'genuine' players for you if you made no effort to recruit at all

Posted by alblack56 on 5/4/2013 6:56:00 PM (view original):
I thought, if you don't fill your roster, you get walk-ons.    I thought SIm only recruited 'genuine' players for you if you made no effort to recruit at all

i think thats true in general, but apparently not for the very first season

Posted by alblack56 on 5/4/2013 6:56:00 PM (view original):
I thought, if you don't fill your roster, you get walk-ons.    I thought SIm only recruited 'genuine' players for you if you made no effort to recruit at all

apparently for first year coaches the sim "assists" them if they don't fill to 10 (per the other thread posted by that commenter I can't remember the name of...)

No they never removed the player, and they said I would take a reputation hit for cutting him, even though I didn't actually sign him.

this was the quote from CS about sim signing players
"The SimAI will sign players for new users if you have 3 or more openings at the end of recruiting. It does not usually fill all of your spots but it will sign some."

dont spend all your money early

dont get into any fights over players - there should be others almost as good around

dont try to find perfect players - if you find a guy who can play defense and rebound, take him and count on others to shoot

if you can find a guy who is an okay athlete and can shoot but isnt great in some other areas, take

a collection of players each with a flaw or two can be fine