I agree with boogie that you can win with whichever defense you want to win with, given the right players. That said, it sounds like you want to play Man eventually and are OK with not winning much this season and next if it helps you out long-term. 

Make the switch now, and recruit towards playing Man in the future. Roll all your Defense practice time into Man, and make the switch probably at the beginning of next season.

JJ's also right that you can recruit near-elite players pretty early in D2. Scout a lot, be patient, and look for guys with lots of High Potential in the core areas for their positions. 

I agree strongly on the pick a defense, and then be sure to put adequate amount of time into practicing it.  If you have players in the 80's and 90's defensively but they are C- in the M2M IQ they will still be very vulnerable and not perform to their potential.  The opposite is sort of true as well.  If you have players who are not great in the defensive categories but are A+ in the M2M IQ you MAY see little better results.  It is difficult to put 25 or 30 minutes towards IQ and watch your players only improve in a core category 7 points, but you have to realize the trade off of IQ is unseen but valuable.      

Posted by jjwarden on 12/13/2010 1:09:00 PM (view original):
I agree strongly on the pick a defense, and then be sure to put adequate amount of time into practicing it.  If you have players in the 80's and 90's defensively but they are C- in the M2M IQ they will still be very vulnerable and not perform to their potential.  The opposite is sort of true as well.  If you have players who are not great in the defensive categories but are A+ in the M2M IQ you MAY see little better results.  It is difficult to put 25 or 30 minutes towards IQ and watch your players only improve in a core category 7 points, but you have to realize the trade off of IQ is unseen but valuable.      

I only wish I had guys with DEF in the 80s-90s :)   Just considering the players I regard as probable starters right now (not including FR SG Toups who won't technically be on my roster until tonight), I have:

PG Harris - DEF 21, SPD 81, Zone: B, M2M: F
SF Andersen - DEF 43, SPD 41, ATH 42; Zone: B-, M2M : F
PF Deweese - DEF 35, SPD 31, ATH 34; Zone: A-, M2M: F
PF Oberle - DEF 34, ATH 41; Zone B-, M2M C+

(Toups has SPD 50 with HIGH potential, and 30 DEF with Average potential).

You can see what I mean by having mediocre to poor DEF ratings and about that bad on ATH/SPD (except for Harris).

I don't have a problem with practicing M2M and playing Zone this year until my M2M IQs go up AND my guys get in better condition.  The question is whether they're going to be better equipped physically to play Man to Man next year - enough not to get burned by good offensive teams.  So to answer your post, JJ, I desperately need both core category improvements *and* IQ.  Last year I gave Off and Def 20 minutes each.  I could go 25 on Man this year without cramping player skill development horribly, I think.

The post that kind of shocked me back to reality so far is when jjboogie suggested giving any adjustments I make 6 seasons to really judge results.  And here I thought 3 or 4 seasons was me being long-sighted and patient :)  You're right, it's probably going to take more than one roster cycle to get this program into some stability.  My recruiting class last year (with 7 players) was a cry of despair since I had only 5 players at all.  I needed warm bodies and I actually ended up with 2 or 3 pretty good recruits.  I intend to be more patient and focused from here out - every season I learn a new wrinkle in the recruiting game.

I'm all about patience and long-range planning with this team.  I couldn't do this any other way.

to be clear, you can be winning 20 games in 2-3 seasons depending on what kind of conference you are in and what kind of scheduling you do for non-conf...in a weak conference, you could even make the NT in 2-3 seasons.  in a power conference, probably not.

it will take you 4 seasons to get your first full SR. class of guys you recruited AND gave 4 seasons of OFF/DEF minutes to whatever you choose playing.  it takes 5 seasons to have your first 5 year, redshirted senior.  so prior to that, you can start to see results but it won't be until year 4 that your first "wave" hits.  so mainly, years 1-3 building, practicing, getting better...then year 4-5 you gotta be shooting for 20 wins/RPI sub 50 (or much better) and then year 6 is when you really know if you have a sustainable plan in place (it should be similar to years 4-5 maybe a shade better)

PS - don't be afraid to dump 1-2 of those 7 guys you recruited if 1-2 of them end up not being any good...playing time, low WE, and missed potential can sometimes have you facing the reality in their 2nd or 3rd season that they just aren't that good and won't be (happens to the best of us).  nothing wrong with dumping one of them and getting the money the following year.  if you use your money well, you can fill that open spot in the same season you dump them you just have to do it before signings start (you won't get the open schollie money until the following season and only if it's still open).  the point is i would rather try and snag a really good recruit with that open spot than have a SO/JR playing 8 minutes a game with no future - and if you face that reality it's okay to make a cut here and there, it won't kill your rep enough to worry