I am tackling my first season in DI.  I am at D- Boise St.  I am only recruiting to fill 2 spots.  Is there any advice for first time DI coaches?  Also, would it be a decent idea to cut a player if I thought I could get a better play than that during recruiting?  I have never cut a player and have never done anything on the DI level.  All advice would be appreciated.

i would just fill the 2 slots this season. you'll definitely bump your prestige up in the next few seasons (even with the players you inherited, as you're probably a much better game coach than pork melon) and if a player is bad enough, he might quit on his own.

I was in a similar situation at NMSU five seasons ago, taking over a D prestige team with mostly crappy players. My recommendation would be to play it safe and sign two guys that fit your offense and defense. You could go a few directions here - immediately get on the list for a nearby recruit you really like, wait it out with cash in reserve to protect him and then get a second guy when you feel it's safe to do so. Or you could play the waiting game, let all the other local schools scarf up their recruits and then pounce on the leftovers. In any case go for high potentials wherever possible even if the current ratings seem more worthy of DII player.

I remember having 2 star recruits tell me to beat it but I did sign two one stars that first season, albeit with 3 scholarships of $$. Don't get greedy - DI recruiting is a mercenary process. Give another coach with better prestige/more cash/an impulsive nature the opportunity to snag your recruit and he will without hesitation. Remember you are at the bottom of the food chain

My eye was on the future, and I had some hiccups along the way but my team was a C+ after season 5. You're going to take some lumps but respectability and the postseason is only a few seasons away if you play your cards right

I just started at D1 this year too - took over Mercer a D- school. I took a different approach, and since I am new, I may have really screwed myself. I inherited a really slow team with like 7 sophomores. I looked at the improvement level of each player from the previous season, and saved it so I could see if some of the players with bad stats were improving a lot. I actually cut 4 players, and filled 5 spots with the money from 1 scholarship. I focused on players with a lot of potential, and with better speed, athleticism and defense than what was on my team. Even though they were rated lower overall, I think they will be much better than what I inherited by the time they are juniors and seniors. My situation might be different because my team was so young when I took it over, and I didn't have the patience to sit through 3 long seasons while waiting for them to graduate. Plus, I felt that if I worked on my press early, that having a good press that would create turnovers once the IQ goes up, would help me win some games that I might not win otherwise. We started out 3-0, but are now 3-7. But we are improving much faster than the other teams in my conference.

id suggest cutting jenkins and taking a walkon.  you only graduate 1 this upcoming season, so having that extra scholarship of cash will be beneficial.  i'd normally say to try and use that 30k to recruit 1 higher end player next season, but in reality with 6 jr's already youd need to fill both slots next offseason or you'd basically lose that extra money the following year. 

in any event i think having that extra cash helps you next season.

be patient. i cut way too many players my first season... be willing to take your lumps your first season or two

Posted by chapelhillne on 10/11/2011 9:20:00 PM (view original):
I just started at D1 this year too - took over Mercer a D- school. I took a different approach, and since I am new, I may have really screwed myself. I inherited a really slow team with like 7 sophomores. I looked at the improvement level of each player from the previous season, and saved it so I could see if some of the players with bad stats were improving a lot. I actually cut 4 players, and filled 5 spots with the money from 1 scholarship. I focused on players with a lot of potential, and with better speed, athleticism and defense than what was on my team. Even though they were rated lower overall, I think they will be much better than what I inherited by the time they are juniors and seniors. My situation might be different because my team was so young when I took it over, and I didn't have the patience to sit through 3 long seasons while waiting for them to graduate. Plus, I felt that if I worked on my press early, that having a good press that would create turnovers once the IQ goes up, would help me win some games that I might not win otherwise. We started out 3-0, but are now 3-7. But we are improving much faster than the other teams in my conference.

I ended up going 9-19 in my first season, but my team average rating went from 583 to 637 in the first year, and right now I have 4 freshmen and 5 sophomores. One of my Freshmen was the conference player of the year, and he improved by 98 points. My SF improved by 83 points and is looking like he will be a very good player as well. The 4 guys I cut had only improved by like 20-30 points, if that. So, I think right now, my decision was good because most of the guys I cut were sophomores and I would have been stuck with them for two more years. Now, I have a rapidly improving team that fits my defense much better. My freshmen also got a lot of playing time, so by the time they are seniors, they will probably have A+ IQs. I will  try to remember to update this post every year. This year, I am losing 2 players, both of whom I ended up using for backups. I am thinking about cutting one more of the players that I started with, since he will be a junior, and is becoming a fairly insignificant backup. If I can get another freshman with really good potential, he'll be a backup anyway, so I may as well have a backup that will be a starter in a couple of years, as opposed to someone that will never start.

Playing time doesn't impact IQ at all.

yeah cutting right away can hurt you since you're replacing them with low-prestige-recruited players

Posted by dahsdebater on 10/23/2011 6:18:00 AM (view original):
Playing time doesn't impact IQ at all.

I did not realize this - are you sure about that?

I literally found the worst D-1 team I could find when I went to D-1 for the first time.  Portland, D-1 Naismith.  Took a couple seasons, but turned them around if you look through the seasons there.  You can site mail me if you have specific questions.  Unless a player is entirely useless, or a REALLY low rated freshman/sophomore, don't cut him. Overall I would give 2 main pieces of advice. 

1. Even though you have a LOT more money for recruiting all of a sudden, try to stay within 500 miles or go International.  Take guys with flaws that are nearby, and make them work in your system.  I chose for example to take guys with bad defensive ratings, but changed my system to a zone.  That way I could get guys that could shoot and be fast, but that no team higher than a C prestige would bother with because their defense would be rated like 40.  Also, there's a decent amount of low "rated" players in the 520-580 range that will have 5-6 high potential ratings.  I had one guy who was like the 85th rated center end up leaving for the NBA after his Jr year after  RSing him his first season he ended up over 800.  If you end up chasing guys across the country, they'll be easily poached, so stay local, and take guys with an obvious flaw.  IE, a guy who is 200 miles away and is rated 80's across the board with a 30 in defense, is much better than a guy who is 60's across the board and 1500 miles away.

2. Make sure you schedule enough tough OOC games.  After the first 2 seasons or so, you'll have enough of your own recruited players that you'll do well in a low D-1 conference(they don't generally have many humans that stay for 5+ seasons without moving on).  I made the mistake of scheduling too weakly, and it cost me an NCAA tournament berth one season and almost in a 2nd.  Even if you know it's a slaughter, take a game against an ACC team in the road for the RPI boost.

Posted by chapelhillne on 10/22/2011 11:57:00 PM (view original):

Posted by chapelhillne on 10/11/2011 9:20:00 PM (view original):
I just started at D1 this year too - took over Mercer a D- school. I took a different approach, and since I am new, I may have really screwed myself. I inherited a really slow team with like 7 sophomores. I looked at the improvement level of each player from the previous season, and saved it so I could see if some of the players with bad stats were improving a lot. I actually cut 4 players, and filled 5 spots with the money from 1 scholarship. I focused on players with a lot of potential, and with better speed, athleticism and defense than what was on my team. Even though they were rated lower overall, I think they will be much better than what I inherited by the time they are juniors and seniors. My situation might be different because my team was so young when I took it over, and I didn't have the patience to sit through 3 long seasons while waiting for them to graduate. Plus, I felt that if I worked on my press early, that having a good press that would create turnovers once the IQ goes up, would help me win some games that I might not win otherwise. We started out 3-0, but are now 3-7. But we are improving much faster than the other teams in my conference.

I ended up going 9-19 in my first season, but my team average rating went from 583 to 637 in the first year, and right now I have 4 freshmen and 5 sophomores. One of my Freshmen was the conference player of the year, and he improved by 98 points. My SF improved by 83 points and is looking like he will be a very good player as well. The 4 guys I cut had only improved by like 20-30 points, if that. So, I think right now, my decision was good because most of the guys I cut were sophomores and I would have been stuck with them for two more years. Now, I have a rapidly improving team that fits my defense much better. My freshmen also got a lot of playing time, so by the time they are seniors, they will probably have A+ IQs. I will  try to remember to update this post every year. This year, I am losing 2 players, both of whom I ended up using for backups. I am thinking about cutting one more of the players that I started with, since he will be a junior, and is becoming a fairly insignificant backup. If I can get another freshman with really good potential, he'll be a backup anyway, so I may as well have a backup that will be a starter in a couple of years, as opposed to someone that will never start.

Early in the second season we are 5-3 with an RPI of 64. I think the best way to sum up my thinking is that if you take over a low level D1 team, be sure to copy down the ratings increases from the year before. Then look at sophomores that are not very good, and see if they also did not improve much. These are the types of players I cut and replaced with Freshmen. The Freshmen that I replaced them with all had very high potential, and were just about as good as the sophomores I cut. As sophomores now, they are WAY better than the ones I cut when they were sophomores. I would not cut Juniors or Seniors though, because you will only have them for 1-2 years anyway, and if you do a good job of coaching, you can win with decent Juniors and Seniors, while still getting playing time to your new recruits.  In recruiting this year, I ended up just going to the two players I had scholarships for, and decided to keep the Junior I had thought about cutting. From the looks of the other posts, I think my approach is unorthodox, but I think that it will help my team to be much better in a shorter period. We shall see.

That's what I did chapelhillne with Alcorn State in Phelan. I cut 2 my first year, another 2 this season, so I cut a total of 4 players already. If a player doesn't belong on your team, cut him. There are enough players around 500-540 with alot of high and high/highs that you can recruit for cheap. 

Posted by dahsdebater on 10/23/2011 6:18:00 AM (view original):
Playing time doesn't impact IQ at all.

Playing time impacts we, we impacts IQ.

http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=5479

My first nine seasons at DI^

I took two of those seasons off, which is why the team didn't quite build up as quickly as I would have liked, but now that I've dedicated my time to the team, they've turned out pretty well. (25-1 with wins over Kansas and Florida State isn't bad)  

My strategy has always been to recruit for potential at a school with such low prestige.  Never go for players who are great right away because you likely don't stand a chance.  Look for the mediocre players with great potential.

For example one of the best players in the nation, who just happens to be my current starting shooting guard, started off at 489 overall, but due to amazing potential he's skyrocketed to nearly a total rating of 800.  

But that's just my two cents.