D2 and D3 coaches, I'd be interested in hearing how often you have failed to pull down a higher level player you wanted.  Have you found yourself investing a huge chunk of your budget into a player and then had him poached by someone else?  What do you do to minimize that possibility - or is it a constant risk?

Just thinking about how hard it is to move a D+ prestige D2 team up when I need higher prestige to get good players and I need good players to raise my prestige.  (I realize that's a simplification and that I need to take it a step at a time, but it does seem kind of Catch-22 situation).

If you spot a really good player within hailing distance, do you just jump on him with both feet and accept the fact that another school might grab him away from you? 

What do you do if it destroys your recruiting class - that nucleus class you were banking on to reverse your fortunes?

To be honest, I have yet to lose a player that I have tried to pulldown or targeted since my initial 4 seasons with Williams in Tark. This is true now with all my teams being A+ prestige but was also true when my teams were in the B range. 

I've only missed once. There are so few battles at DIII that when I see a player I like, I immediately go after him

Be aggressive with pulldown, especially with lower prestige. Lower prestige means you can pulldown fewer players (and probably worse players) so it's less likely that a higher division team will go after him, since they should be aiming higher. 

I've missed out lots, especially lately.  I went for a big pulldown class a couple of seasons ago and lost out on 3 of 4 recruits.

i built my EConn team off big pulldowns over the course of several years, and had a really really good team especially the past 2 seasons.  If I was any good as a coach, we probably could/should have won the championship this year. 

But, live by the sword die by the sword.  My last two recruiting classes I didn't ge the guys I targeted and had to take lesser guys with the little bit of cash I had left.  I have one more good season with the core guys I have left but it's going to be dicey after that

 You can try to pull down players with a lower prestige but I'd prefer to wait for drop downs. If you aim really high and wait until the last 24 hours to sign players you will sign a class that resembles a class a B prestige team will sign. Once you are a little higher in prestige you can pull down a few more players but I would make sure it's closer to the signing period.

 This season with my Div II B- prestige team (second year) I pulled down the #137 PF. You can aim high but be careful while at the lower prestige area.

Posted by jbob23 on 3/1/2011 8:59:00 PM (view original):
 You can try to pull down players with a lower prestige but I'd prefer to wait for drop downs. If you aim really high and wait until the last 24 hours to sign players you will sign a class that resembles a class a B prestige team will sign. Once you are a little higher in prestige you can pull down a few more players but I would make sure it's closer to the signing period.

 This season with my Div II B- prestige team (second year) I pulled down the #137 PF. You can aim high but be careful while at the lower prestige area.

What if that #137 player was only 10 miles from your campus and you're at D+?  Go for him or not?

So far I have yet to have a ranked player even talk to me, so it might be a moot point.

The only "misses" I've had is when a team a division higher snags the player.

Posted by jbob23 on 3/1/2011 8:59:00 PM (view original):
 You can try to pull down players with a lower prestige but I'd prefer to wait for drop downs. If you aim really high and wait until the last 24 hours to sign players you will sign a class that resembles a class a B prestige team will sign. Once you are a little higher in prestige you can pull down a few more players but I would make sure it's closer to the signing period.

 This season with my Div II B- prestige team (second year) I pulled down the #137 PF. You can aim high but be careful while at the lower prestige area.

I strongly disagree with this. There will be players that lower prestige teams can pull down that will never drop down. Had it happen to me on multiple occasions. These are the quality of players that a low prestige DIII team needs to target.

Posted by jbob23 on 3/1/2011 8:59:00 PM (view original):
 You can try to pull down players with a lower prestige but I'd prefer to wait for drop downs. If you aim really high and wait until the last 24 hours to sign players you will sign a class that resembles a class a B prestige team will sign. Once you are a little higher in prestige you can pull down a few more players but I would make sure it's closer to the signing period.

 This season with my Div II B- prestige team (second year) I pulled down the #137 PF. You can aim high but be careful while at the lower prestige area.

I strongly disagree with this. There will be players that lower prestige teams can pull down that will never drop down. Had it happen to me on multiple occasions. These are the quality of players that a low prestige DIII team needs to target.

Posted by ethan66 on 3/1/2011 10:18:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jbob23 on 3/1/2011 8:59:00 PM (view original):
 You can try to pull down players with a lower prestige but I'd prefer to wait for drop downs. If you aim really high and wait until the last 24 hours to sign players you will sign a class that resembles a class a B prestige team will sign. Once you are a little higher in prestige you can pull down a few more players but I would make sure it's closer to the signing period.

 This season with my Div II B- prestige team (second year) I pulled down the #137 PF. You can aim high but be careful while at the lower prestige area.

What if that #137 player was only 10 miles from your campus and you're at D+?  Go for him or not?

So far I have yet to have a ranked player even talk to me, so it might be a moot point.

We have seen D3 teams beat out D2 teams while pulling down players. Unless you think a D1 team in the area is interested in this player, I would absolutely pulldown asap.

Recruiting is not just about who will talk to you, who won't, and who you can pull down. Geography, such as what kind of schools are near you, matters alot.

I've had a low DI team snag a pulldown from me on many occasions. Occupational hazard. You just have to move on to your next target, and save enough money to at least have enough for a backup plan.

I definitely agree with live by the sword, die by the sword.  Concordia Moorhead in Smith has been my team a long time.  I have aimed too high the last 3-4 seasons and have not had alot of  success pulling the guys down I wanted and therefore wasted a ton of money and had to sign guys I did not want but had to because money was scarce.  My team is in shambles and my prestige has plummeted....... Makes the game a lot of fun though.....

Maybe I have just been lucky but I don't recall ever losing a pulldown to a higher level school. The risk is always there and you just have to accept that as part of the process. I think the main key is to not make yourself a target. If you have 3 open spots and have 5-6 players considering you that is a red flag. Also, I think it is important to spend enough on a player so that when another coach looks at your prospect in FSS he see you are 'tight" or a "high priority" or whatever else it says. When I look at a another coach's prospect in FSS and see phrases like "XX has shown some interest in him but he is keeping his options open" that immediately tells me that this might be a player I could steal away. If I have say 4 open spots, I will probably only go after 3 players early on so anyone looking at my prospects knows that I have money available to defend them.

I believe that most DI and DII coaches know that they can't just swoop in on a player considering a lower level school and automatically expect to win the battle. There are too many examples of DII schools beating out DI schools for players. However, if that lower level player leaves himself vulnerable then the higher level school's chances increase dramatically. So in answer to your question about the really good player within hailing distance, the answer is absolutely jump on him but do it smart.