I've been coaching Abilene Christian (D2) on Smith for 20 seasons, now.  I have a national title on my resume along with an E8, a FF and some Sweet 16s.  But frankly, I'm bored.  The Lone Star conference has become pretty darned good, so it's not a lack of competition.  And I like the coaches in that league, even if they are kind of quiet most of the time.   I think I either need to change something up or drop Smith.

That brings me to the thought of trying D1.  I've read a lot of complaints here about how D1 is broken and too overly dominated by the Big 6.  So I'm going into this with my eyes open.  But I think it would be a fun challenge to take a mid-major and try to build the program at least into the occasional NT berth and a good prestige.  I'm not out to set the world on fire.  I just want to relax and have a little fun.

Frankly, I'm not sure I want to do this.  I can make some guesses on how I should recruit but probably won't know for sure until I get a few bruises.  I suspect my approach ought to be to hang back and make my moves at or after signings.   I'd need to schedule well without scheduling myself into a 0-win season.  I have no idea if there's a danger of being fired at low-mid major, but that's not part of my calculations.  Whatever happens will happen.

So I need some input.  I have a day or two before I have to decide.  The mediocre programs aren't going anywhere (they're plentiful on Smith right now).  I want to find a D1 conference that is active and that gets some teams into the tourney every season.  Not much more than that -- first I have to figure out the best way to recruit at low-mid major D1 and how to go about scheduling games I can win but which would raise my RPI.

Input welcome, including telling me "Run while you can!".  I'm not committed to this, I'm just kicking it around in my head.  I'll keep my D3 team for now so it's not like a massive failure would be the end of HD for me.  Worst case, I just re-up for another season at Abilene Christian.  West Texas isn't all that bad if you don't have to live there :)

ethan, feel free to sitemail me any questions if you decide to do this. I'll be glad to help out some if I can

Thanks, Dac!  Sent!

come to Horizon, we are up-and-coming and a league that is "relaxed and fun" as well. With a couple newer coaches, those programs should be competitive soon. Adding you to our coach list would be a major boost and we could establish ourselves as a clear cut top-8 D1 conference, with the Mountain West basically a Big-6 league now.

I'd like to build up CUSA in smith.  Currently theres only 3 us (marshall, southern ****, and tulsa are human coached).  i plan on being at Marshall (my alma mater) until they fire me (i just completed season #2 so im rebuilding a squad that dropped all the way from a b- in season 57 down to a d- in 66 (when i took over).  The thing that i think will be good w/ cusa is we're spread out geographically so you won't be battling conference mates (much) for recruits.   Memphis is available and has been human controlled up until last season when it went to a sim so theres talent on that squad that will help you immediately.  Memphis will have 3 open scholarships and will return 3sr, 4jr, and then 2 sim freshman.  They run FB/FCP.    Or you can stay out of my area and head out west and pick up a texas school :)

Thanks guys. I was actually looking at Horizon as a possibility. Ironically, Lone Star just added the ex coach of aBig 12 team who didn't have kind words for the D1 game. His complaints are exactly my fears.

I'll look around some more & decide this afternoon. Tougher than I thought to leave a pretend team after 20 seasons. Even if it is in Texas :)

We have three human coaches in the Mizzou Valley and would love for you to join us!

I'm a D1 Coach in a few different worlds but have noticed something very cool happening with ConferenceUSA in Knight.

I took over SMU as a D and two other coaches in the conference 11 Season Ago.  Fast forward to today and we have two SIM AI in the conference and had four teams in the NCAA Tournament last season.  Our conference RPI is very close to breaking into the Top Six.

It's really been quite fun if I'm being honest.  I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

I've taken over several rebuilding projects at the D1 level (IUPUI, Eastern Illinois, VCU, Columbia, Ball State, SMU) and enjoyed every second of it

If my app is approved, I'm going to be faced with a major rebuilding job.  I did take Abilene Christian (D2) from a D prestige to an A+ (at one point) so I know how it's done at that level.  My concern is in getting the D1 players needed in order to do the same thing at the next level. 

If prestige is more important in recruiting, how do you win recruiting battles at D- and get the kind of players to make you competitive?  Are you so far behind the 8-ball that you're faced with years of gradual baby steps?

Funny, but when I was thinking this all over, the much larger recruiting budget and the longer recruiting reach were two of the biggest appeals for me.  I've psyched myself into the jump, but now I'm waiting to hear if I'm "good enough".

Posted by ethan66 on 9/4/2013 5:59:00 PM (view original):
If my app is approved, I'm going to be faced with a major rebuilding job.  I did take Abilene Christian (D2) from a D prestige to an A+ (at one point) so I know how it's done at that level.  My concern is in getting the D1 players needed in order to do the same thing at the next level. 

If prestige is more important in recruiting, how do you win recruiting battles at D- and get the kind of players to make you competitive?  Are you so far behind the 8-ball that you're faced with years of gradual baby steps?

Funny, but when I was thinking this all over, the much larger recruiting budget and the longer recruiting reach were two of the biggest appeals for me.  I've psyched myself into the jump, but now I'm waiting to hear if I'm "good enough".

I actually enjoyed the challenge of D- recruiting.

You have a lot more money than you've ever managed and it allows you more time to find those few lowly rated guys with tremendous WE and growth potential. 

I have a FR on my D- Columbia team right now that has 91 WE and was all blues on his scouting report.  I threw everything I had ($) at him and landed him....he's started everygame so far (17 games in) and has improved +83 already. 

Sit your returning players and throw whatever FR you get into the fire the first year.  Second year you can redshirt a guy and make the others your 2nd String behind the SO's.  That's when you start seeing improvement (in my experience).

Ethan, I took over D- Drake in Smith four seasons ago.  This season, with my initial recruiting class being seniors and no AI players left, I made the tournament with the team for the first time.  Prestige has now risen to C+, so I think you can reasonably expect a similar initial four years.

I second the earlier advice someone gave you about cutting dead weight.  I only had two or three open schollies in my first year, but I immediately cut several awful players to turn the roster over more quickly.  This means you have to be thrifty in recruiting, but with D- prestige there won't be much competition for the guys you will be getting.  So I was able to sign several guys for under $8K to make up for the fact that I had lots of open spots and not a ton of cash.

In terms of recruiting, be aware that even guys ranked outside the top hundred at their positions will initially be reluctant to talk with you.  Using FSS, identify recruits outside of the top 80 or top 100 and contact them, then wait for them to drop down when other D1 schools aren't after them.  Seconding Kyle's advice, focus mostly on what they'll be like as seniors, and play them heavy minutes right away.  Make as many promises as you need to sign that initial class, because most of the rest of your roster will be garbage; getting a good initial class is, I think, the most important thing you can do in terms of showing up in the dance four years later and boosting prestige.

Any other questions, sitemail me or post here and I'll do my best to help.

Get a few role players for your bench that no one wants but will do a good job in their role...
For your man recruits, get high potential guys with good we.


Eventually you will be able to grab some 2 and 3 stars depending on who's nearby and what they want and need. But don't get greedy and try to get guys who are out of your league too quickly