Ok, so I have a question about recruiting. I'm not sure if this has been discussed before so I apologize if it has. In Phelan, I am at Florida State. I just got into a recruiting battle with Southeastern Louisiana. I am an A+ prestige and SLU was a B-. I was probably a low A+ as I was an A but got bumped to an A+ after having one player drafted.

We were battling for a PG who was 160 miles from SLU and 480 miles from FSU. The PG signed with me at 8am on the final day of recruiting, so the battle was very close. I will edit this post later with specific recruiting amounts but I was curious what the relationship between distance and prestige was. I spent most of my recruiting budget on this guy and was barely able to sign him. I had over 90k to start recruiting with. The player had no preference on proximity.

So, my main question is, what is more important, distance or prestige?

Both are important, but distance is the great equalizer. You were paying two to one money on the guy with what could have been only a letter grade difference if he were a high B- (saying you were a low A+). Given the prestige/distance difference, he could have easily stayed on him with 2/3 of the money you spent if not a bit less. I'm guessing SLU had more open scholarships for this to happen?

Yeah, SLU had 7 openings and I had 5. I think with post-season money we were probably close to even in cash to start with.

Your response makes it seem like distance is more important. I'm not saying that having a high prestige should allow you to get anyone you want, however, it just seems that prestige should have a little more influence than distance. Maybe not as much in real life, but it just seems crazy to me that a distance advantage is worth that much.

Sully, after breaking down the 'total recruiting value' that both teams put in (disregarding the monetary amount spent, obviously) It would have taken close to twice the effort for him to have beaten you.

Now it will be interesting to see which sort of visits were used - I assume that you were using campus visits and he was using home visits.

But back to the prestige v distance The fact that his effort was less per $ then yours it makes it much more probable that he could sign said player away from you but that B- to A+ gap is very hard to close.

I don't know that i agree with doomey's 2/3 money spent idea - since money really doesn't come close to showing the picture of what effort was used when the distances are so different.

Making the same visit assumptions you did, z, and attempting to measure value/cost from that. 2/3 might not be totally accurate, but it seems close

Distance is a quantifiable effect - we know exactly how much different the cost of recruiting effort is

Prestige is more a matter of speculation

and, the difference between the effects of different types of effort is somewhat speculative

So, looking at HV. He had roughly a 2-1 (350 v 700) over me. On CV, he had roughly a 3-2 edge (1200 v 800) over me. Based on previous experience I feel like a letter grade in prestige is about a 2-1 advantage, at least with an A+. So, depending on who spent what on each type of visit, it seems like we would be almost equal based on my prestige advantage and his distance advantage. Maybe, he would have to spend slightly more based on 1 and 2/3 grade advantage that I had?

Does that sound right?

Quote: Originally posted by sully712 on 2/21/2010So, looking at HV. He had roughly a 2-1 (350 v 700) over me. On CV, he had roughly a 3-2 edge (1200 v 800) over me. Based on previous experience I feel like a letter grade in prestige is about a 2-1 advantage, at least with an A+. So, depending on who spent what on each type of visit, it seems like we would be almost equal based on my prestige advantage and his distance advantage. Maybe, he would have to spend slightly more based on 1 and 2/3 grade advantage that I had?Does that sound right?

not to nitpick, but isn't it more like 300/750 for HV, and 800/1350 for CV?

anyway, i would say given the distance and prestige situation, he had the advantage. not huge, but i definitely think he had the upper hand.

but by your own admission you might be a low A+... and he could be a high B-. That's what I was saying in regards that we could be looking at closer to 1 grade than 1 2/3. Big differance.

So, I got the #s but not the specifics. I spent 68k, promised start and 25 minutes. He spent 55k and 30 minutes and a start. So, clearly, he had an advantage. I think I took the lead around 65k in.

So, my next question is, does this seem right. I know we are trying to make it tougher for schools to just recruit nationally but in this case the distance was not huge (300 miles). I would think prestige should matter a little more. Not that an A+ should always win but I'm just a little surprised.

Maybe not. Maybe this is what everyone thinks it should be?

YOu had prestige, he had distance and promised more minutes.

Sully it seems alright on the outside - As I mentioned earlier it is very hard to tell without knowing the # of visits and kinds.

i'm totally fine with these numbers and this outcome, and not surprised by those numbers.

EDIT: when you say 300 miles, the key is that you are more than 360-370, which is a big breaking point in $ costs, and he's at 160, which is close to local on costs.

So, roughly 166 HV vs. 53 CV. Assuming a 2/1 ratio, HV/CV, he was up on that score 83-53 converting his to CV. Concidering he offered more minutes as well, I'd say your prestige kicked in pretty well (his effort was roughly 60% of yours (or more specificly he had to do 60% more to have the same weight) when you said the tide turned, which seems pretty close to the 2/3 I guessed).

Either way, I'd say your prestige did you right proper in those terms.

sully, you said in your original post 480 miles, not 300. If it's the kid from Monroe, then it would be at least 480 from Tallahassee. Those were the numbers I was going off.

Yeah I agree doomey. Now if it was hv to hv that both used I might be more surprised with the outcome but I don't see anything wrong with it at this point.