Recruiting strategy and tactics breakdown for Season 28:

If I had made that promise of playing time to Hedrick during the first cycle, I would've had him to myself. As it was, two other schools got into a little battle over him. He would have been nice if I had my Plan A work out, where Weaver signed as a starter and Rayborn signed as a redshirt. I knocked IUPUFW off of Rayborn when I got up to $20k on him. That school was in the midst of a disastrous recruiting season, getting into four simultaneous battles. I knew I could take them, so I went ahead with my plan on him. At first, when they were the only team on him after I'd stuck a few thousand into recruiting him during the first cycle, I tried to just stay in by promising the start and minutes. That worked, so I paid closer attention and eventually took it up to the $20k while telling him he was redshirting. A while later, Cincinnatti, a very local school (4 miles away from the kid) showed up, and I figured it was probably a lost cause. The only reason -- and means by which -- I stayed on him, was by offering him the start and 20 minutes again. When the Bearcats didn't knock me out and I unbelievably got to sign a trio of great players (Jimmy Smith, James Freeman, and Fred Webb) for peanuts, I put in another 10k after Cincinnatti took over the lead on the kid. I had noticed that Indiana, my competition for Floyd Weaver, had a bunch of other battles that they were in with other Big Ten teams, so I figured that I'd be safe for the guy with about $50k in him. That didn't stop me from feeling a little nervous as I upped the ante on Rayborn to $42k. It was a big relief to sign my star guard after 11:00 came this morning.

I would've preferred to keep Jeremy Marvel as opposed to Michael Triplett. Marvel is actually a very nice player, who would've contributed in a very positive way to the team for two years, whereas Triplett is purely a placeholder. Still, all I needed was a placeholder, and that was my original plan with Triplett and Derek Simon. It was only after a cycle or two had gone by with nobody showing interest in Bicknell and Marvel that I sent promises their way. When they responded and considered only me, I gave each a scholarship. Eventually I rescinded the offer for Simon, but kept it on for Triplett, which proved to be a wise decision when Pacific (not Manhattan) took my spot on Marvel's considering list. I was a little disappointed but not surprised. What did surprise me was when, last night, Pacific first didn't sign him and then dropped off of him completely. I let my conference mates know in the coaches' corner, hoping in particular that kdforester, of Indiana, would divert a thousand or two his way, which actually would've been really appropriate for his team (he was full up on guards and SFs - actually with three SFs, one of whom looks a bit like a SF/PF hybrid...if you've read my SMU thread, think Rodney Batista - and he eventually signed three freshman Cs but could've used the option of redshirting one so he doesn't have an empty frontcourt like this again).

Let's see, there were a couple other swing-and-misses, but really they were more check-swings. Clyde Dalzell was a first-cycle target that was another to consider IUPUFW. I didn't think he was worth a battle for my program, since he was basically a bench/development guy, so I backed off only to see Xavier get into a tussle with the ubiquitous little team. I then targetted Lindemann as a redshirt, because IUPUFW had horned in on Rayborn so I had to consider him as a starter, and Lindemann was undecided after the first cycle. Notre Dame and some other school also showed up on his considering list at 11 PM, and I knew I didn't consider him to be worth the trouble, either, so I took another strategic retreat, supplemented by an inform-of-redshirt so I didn't have an overly-long considering list. After that, I pumped money into Floyd, never trailing, but nervous, and waited for the first wave of signings to unload a fair chunk of the $36k I was sitting on as a rainy day fund.

All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with how things worked out. I feel like I made sound decisions and wound up with a very nice class, with or without Rayborn.

The grade I give myself: A

I still could've hypothetically done better, but considering all the holes I had to fill and the relative limits of my position, I am very, very pleased. I seriously doubt I could've done better, but until I sign a class of only five-star guys, I'm not giving myself any A-pluses.

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Warning someone away and spending $50k on the recruit just to be sure that you sign him isn't colluding. I did get very lucky that nobody went after Webb, Freeman, or Brown. Sometimes you get lucky. Last year I got very unlucky at SMU when Oklahoma targeted every single one of my recruits. It balances out...I was helped along a lot this time by the name "Michigan State," I think, which has to carry quite a bit of weight in coaches, considering how strong of a program it is in many worlds.

[edit:]

Here's a whole thread dedicated to debating this point:

http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/threads.asp?ForumID=30&TopicID=329354&ReturnPage=&PagePosition=1&ThreadPage=1

If issuing an unconditional threat is considered an offer worthy of being called "collusion," which I doubt but don't know for certain, then I'm wrong and will have to avoid ever doing that again. I think it's fair game to communicate somewhat as long as you're not divvying up guys, especially if the communication isn't before the initial rounds of recruiting expenditures. Again, though, I could be wrong. It depends on whether one uses a broad interpretation of the language we've been given or a narrow one. I suppose I'm a strict constructionist. The people who disagree with me would be more along the lines of "living document" theorists.

it could have just as easily been a bluff. kdforester and I have never dealt with each other before, except maybe in passing in the forums. We certainly haven't recruited against each other before, nor have we exchanged sitemails. I didn't tell him the amount of effort I had put in or intended to continue to put in. He didn't have any reason, beyond the fact that his $24k hadn't made a dent in the race, to believe that I was telling the truth about my position being unassailable and my will intractable. He could take that or leave it as he saw fit. To some extent, as far as I knew, it was a bluff. I didn't know how much he'd spent. He didn't know how much I'd spent. The only information that was disseminated was that I asserted that I would beat him for the recruit, regardless of what he did, so he might as well get out. Without me meeting the guy in person and letting him look in on my laptop over my shoulder, the information was limited to his feedback from the recruit and my assertion. He chose to fold.

But whatever Admin says about it, I'll adhere to.