Does anyone know the minimum number of players you can cut down to when taking over a new team? I feel like I've seen this info on the forums once before, but I couldn't find it in a search. Thanks.

I have cut as many as 5, I think.

How many open scholarships did you start with?

I've been able to cut to 3 but that's it

I think you need to have at least two scholarship players.

Posted by mrg1037 on 7/15/2013 5:43:00 PM (view original):
How many open scholarships did you start with?

I think I started with 2 scholarships or 1. I will see if I can go back and figure it out.

OK - I went back and looked and here are two examples.

1. In my first year at Mercer, I had one open scholarship and a D- prestige, and managed to cut 4 players and get 5 new players with the money from one scholarship.
The year before I took over they were 8-19. My first year, they were 9-19, the next year 20-7, then in the 3rd year they were 27-4 and had a C+ prestige. I then moved to St. Louis, where I repeated the procedure.

2. In my first year at St. Louis, I had 2 scholarships with a D+ prestige, and cut 6 players, so I ended up with 8 new players.
I think that these were both in Knight. The year before I took over they were 6-21. My first year, they went 6-21, then 12-16. The third year, they were 24-5, and by year 4, they were 28-3., and the prestige went up to a "B" In the first year, when I cut the 6 players, the team rating that I ended up with after recruiting was better than the rating I started with before recruiting. In other words, the freshmen and a couple of transfers that I brought in actually improved the team before the season even started.

In both cases I focused on getting players with tons of potential. I also replaced players who were really not good at all. 

However - a word of warning - do not cut players before recruiting starts. I was in a conference one time, and a new coach came in and cut a player before recruiting, and his best player decided to leave because he had cut his "HOMEY". I don't think that this would happen in cuts made after recruiting starts.

I appreciate the help guys. I was planning on cutting down to 4 or 5 players, it sounds like I'll be able to do either one. For some reason I thought the limit was 5 but from your experiences it doesn't seem like that's the case.

I would only cut if you have players to replace them. You can always cut more the second year, and use any scrubs that you keep as role players off the bench. They will be better than walk-ons. 

My team is going to be atrocious in year one regardless, and I will likely be starting four freshman alongside my one half-decent returning player. I'm not worried about winning games next season. I would prefer a walk on so I get the recruiting cash the following season, instead of keeping a scrub around for 2-3 more seasons.

Posted by dacj501 on 7/15/2013 5:45:00 PM (view original):
I've been able to cut to 3 but that's it

This.   When you cut down to 2, then AD sends you a message saying that he cannot let you do that.  Of course, you could start with a team that has as many as 12 open scholarships, but you cannot force it to that point.