I currently have been at a D3 school for 8 years with some success(2 championship game appearances, another 2 Elite 8s and 8 NT in 8 seasons). I'm looking to moving to D1 in the future. Probably in the next 5 years. My question is would it be better if I moved up and played D2 for some seasons to help me be qualified for more jobs? Or can I stay at D3 and have the same kind of opportunities that I would have if I was coming from D2? Just wondering what people have seen from their experiences.

Also what kind of prestige can I expect to be available to me after about 13 or so seasons? Obviously it might depend on what success I've had at that point.

If you are looking to get to a power conference job as soon as possible from Case Western, my advice is to stay where you are until you’re ready to move to a decent-looking small conference D1 school. You should be qualified for D level D1 jobs in the next season or two, if you don’t like what’s available now. You want to find the right one in a conference where you can establish yourself quickly; so don’t pick a school at the bottom of a conference that already has 2-3 well-established, successful long-term coaches making the NT every season, choose one where you can reasonably rise to the top quickly. It doesn’t have to be empty, but just keep in mind small conferences usually only get 2 NT spots, maybe 3 tops, so if those are already spoken for, keep looking, if the plan is to get to that power conference fast. You want to be making the NT within the first 4 seasons after you move, sooner if possible of course.

If you can perch yourself on top of a small D1 conference for 8 seasons or so, getting you to a consistent B prestige, you should be qualified for most open B level power conference jobs. This is roughly what I did in Phelan.

If you were just starting out in a world, it’s a little faster to get there from D2, if you move up after just one season at D3, but at this point, I would skip that step if I were you.

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 5:22:00 PM (view original):
If you are looking to get to a power conference job as soon as possible from Case Western, my advice is to stay where you are until you’re ready to move to a decent-looking small conference D1 school. You should be qualified for D level D1 jobs in the next season or two, if you don’t like what’s available now. You want to find the right one in a conference where you can establish yourself quickly; so don’t pick a school at the bottom of a conference that already has 2-3 well-established, successful long-term coaches making the NT every season, choose one where you can reasonably rise to the top quickly. It doesn’t have to be empty, but just keep in mind small conferences usually only get 2 NT spots, maybe 3 tops, so if those are already spoken for, keep looking, if the plan is to get to that power conference fast. You want to be making the NT within the first 4 seasons after you move, sooner if possible of course.

If you can perch yourself on top of a small D1 conference for 8 seasons or so, getting you to a consistent B prestige, you should be qualified for most open B level power conference jobs. This is roughly what I did in Phelan.

If you were just starting out in a world, it’s a little faster to get there from D2, if you move up after just one season at D3, but at this point, I would skip that step if I were you.

The fact that this is how new users have to climb to a recognizable D1 school legit makes me sick... beek44 out of curiosity in what world are you trying to do this?

Well .. I am not sure which is best .. grabbing an A level (or better) Div-2 or a lower level D-1 school. At the right Div-2 school, you can make 2 or 3 NTs in a row and get Div-2 A+ rating. That should qualify you for a bad power 6 school at least (and skip the bad D-1 conference).

I am not sure which route would be better in the long run. I personally like playing at Div-2.

Posted by adlorenz on 12/12/2020 5:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 5:22:00 PM (view original):
If you are looking to get to a power conference job as soon as possible from Case Western, my advice is to stay where you are until you’re ready to move to a decent-looking small conference D1 school. You should be qualified for D level D1 jobs in the next season or two, if you don’t like what’s available now. You want to find the right one in a conference where you can establish yourself quickly; so don’t pick a school at the bottom of a conference that already has 2-3 well-established, successful long-term coaches making the NT every season, choose one where you can reasonably rise to the top quickly. It doesn’t have to be empty, but just keep in mind small conferences usually only get 2 NT spots, maybe 3 tops, so if those are already spoken for, keep looking, if the plan is to get to that power conference fast. You want to be making the NT within the first 4 seasons after you move, sooner if possible of course.

If you can perch yourself on top of a small D1 conference for 8 seasons or so, getting you to a consistent B prestige, you should be qualified for most open B level power conference jobs. This is roughly what I did in Phelan.

If you were just starting out in a world, it’s a little faster to get there from D2, if you move up after just one season at D3, but at this point, I would skip that step if I were you.

The fact that this is how new users have to climb to a recognizable D1 school legit makes me sick... beek44 out of curiosity in what world are you trying to do this?

This is in the Knight world

An A+ D2 will qualify you for more D1 jobs than an A+ D3. Is playing at D1 your top priority? Or playing in a D1 power conference?

Eventually I’d like to get to a power conference team but obviously going to take some time.

I’m pretty sure he’s qualified right now for low D1. So the real question is whether it’s faster from low D1 or from D2. My opinion is that a *good* job will be faster and easier from low D1, provided it’s the right spot, and not stuck under a trio or more of established teams. Getting qualified for a B level power conference team from D2 does take quite a bit. You can get those power conference jobs from D2 fairly quick, but it’s usually Rutgers or Fresno St or Northwestern at D+, and those are really hard jobs, so buyer beware.

Posted by adlorenz on 12/12/2020 5:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 5:22:00 PM (view original):
If you are looking to get to a power conference job as soon as possible from Case Western, my advice is to stay where you are until you’re ready to move to a decent-looking small conference D1 school. You should be qualified for D level D1 jobs in the next season or two, if you don’t like what’s available now. You want to find the right one in a conference where you can establish yourself quickly; so don’t pick a school at the bottom of a conference that already has 2-3 well-established, successful long-term coaches making the NT every season, choose one where you can reasonably rise to the top quickly. It doesn’t have to be empty, but just keep in mind small conferences usually only get 2 NT spots, maybe 3 tops, so if those are already spoken for, keep looking, if the plan is to get to that power conference fast. You want to be making the NT within the first 4 seasons after you move, sooner if possible of course.

If you can perch yourself on top of a small D1 conference for 8 seasons or so, getting you to a consistent B prestige, you should be qualified for most open B level power conference jobs. This is roughly what I did in Phelan.

If you were just starting out in a world, it’s a little faster to get there from D2, if you move up after just one season at D3, but at this point, I would skip that step if I were you.

The fact that this is how new users have to climb to a recognizable D1 school legit makes me sick... beek44 out of curiosity in what world are you trying to do this?

It’s very encouraging to hear this from you. I think cutting down on this process would help retention significantly.

I'd be shocked if you weren't already qualified for a lower D1 school. Honestly, I'd go straight to D1 instead of hanging around a few seasons at D2 first. Basically I agree with everything shoe wrote.

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 9:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by adlorenz on 12/12/2020 5:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 5:22:00 PM (view original):
If you are looking to get to a power conference job as soon as possible from Case Western, my advice is to stay where you are until you’re ready to move to a decent-looking small conference D1 school. You should be qualified for D level D1 jobs in the next season or two, if you don’t like what’s available now. You want to find the right one in a conference where you can establish yourself quickly; so don’t pick a school at the bottom of a conference that already has 2-3 well-established, successful long-term coaches making the NT every season, choose one where you can reasonably rise to the top quickly. It doesn’t have to be empty, but just keep in mind small conferences usually only get 2 NT spots, maybe 3 tops, so if those are already spoken for, keep looking, if the plan is to get to that power conference fast. You want to be making the NT within the first 4 seasons after you move, sooner if possible of course.

If you can perch yourself on top of a small D1 conference for 8 seasons or so, getting you to a consistent B prestige, you should be qualified for most open B level power conference jobs. This is roughly what I did in Phelan.

If you were just starting out in a world, it’s a little faster to get there from D2, if you move up after just one season at D3, but at this point, I would skip that step if I were you.

The fact that this is how new users have to climb to a recognizable D1 school legit makes me sick... beek44 out of curiosity in what world are you trying to do this?

It’s very encouraging to hear this from you. I think cutting down on this process would help retention significantly.

I agree as well. Perhaps the only drawback is that D3 and D2 would be very underpopulated. But it does take a longer time than some are willing to wait. Maybe it could be kind of like it is now for going from D3 to D2, and once you play a season or two at D2 you can get to D1 low level, if that is where you want to be. Then it could be harder to move up once you are in D1, just like it is now. So maybe One season at D3, Two seasons at D2, and if you want to move up right away from there you get a low level D1. If you prove yourself for a longer period at D2, you qualify for a better D1 team.

“Perhaps the only drawback is that D3 and D2 would be very underpopulated.”

Speaking only for myself obviously, but IMO D2 is the place for coaches who don’t like the headaches of dealing with early entries, and/or dislike the concept of baseline prestige and prefer a more meritocratic experience. There will always be plenty of those coaches, so I suspect D2 will be ok.

I really don’t understand why D3 exists in the first place, given how wildly different it operates from higher divisions in real life. But as long as it exists, and as long as it is the new player port of entry, I’m personally less concerned about population, and more concerned about it being an enjoyable introduction to the game. If I’m the developer, my first goal is to get D1 worlds up closer to the ~185 population mark. About 10 in all the power conferences, about 8 in the 7 mid majors, about 5 in all the rest. I think that’s the level where this game is operationally designed to be the most competitive and the most fun for the most players. If D1 is healthy, I suspect the lower divisions will mostly take care of themselves.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I just looked at the baseline prestige list and compared it to what I'm eligible for and it looks like I'm eligible for a couple of Horizon League teams and three MAC teams which are I guess are baseline C prestige teams. Although their current prestige is D to D- range because they haven't been good. I'm waiting to make the leap to D1 with a few buddies that are hanging out in D2 but they've been at D2 just two seasons(3 seasons total for the World). So it's going to be another 2-3 seasons at least till I move. Just wanted to check and see if it would be better to move to D2 for the next 2-4 seasons or just sit and continue to cash in on my D3 team that I have built up.

Is it better to go to a C prestige team in like Horizon League or MAC that has 4-5 humans in it or go to a D prestige team in a smaller conference with like 1-2 humans?

Posted by shoe3 on 12/12/2020 11:41:00 PM (view original):
“Perhaps the only drawback is that D3 and D2 would be very underpopulated.”

Speaking only for myself obviously, but IMO D2 is the place for coaches who don’t like the headaches of dealing with early entries, and/or dislike the concept of baseline prestige and prefer a more meritocratic experience. There will always be plenty of those coaches, so I suspect D2 will be ok.

I really don’t understand why D3 exists in the first place, given how wildly different it operates from higher divisions in real life. But as long as it exists, and as long as it is the new player port of entry, I’m personally less concerned about population, and more concerned about it being an enjoyable introduction to the game. If I’m the developer, my first goal is to get D1 worlds up closer to the ~185 population mark. About 10 in all the power conferences, about 8 in the 7 mid majors, about 5 in all the rest. I think that’s the level where this game is operationally designed to be the most competitive and the most fun for the most players. If D1 is healthy, I suspect the lower divisions will mostly take care of themselves.

Well said. A viable D1 is the best way for this game to grow, imo.