There's often discussion on here of what the best jobs in each division are, but I thought I'd go to the opposite end of the spectrum. Which schools do folks think would be the most difficult to win national titles at in each division (and why, if you'd care to share). I'm looking for the ultimate hat-trick of national titles that would forever leave a head coach immortalized if they were able to pull it off. 

For my picks, I don't have enough D1 knowledge to offer an educated guess, but I'd speculate the hardest job might be a low baseline prestige position in the heart of ACC or SEC country where there are also plenty of higher-tier mid major schools around (I realize that as the game stands right now, pretty much any non-Big 6 position could probably be categorized as "the field" and considered here, but if anyone wants to offer up a specific school, lets have it). 

For D2, I think I'd go with one of the Puerto Rico schools over the Alaska or the Hawaii programs largely because the latter two can at least FSS their in-state talent and get a rough idea of what they're getting while PR doesn't get that luxury. 

For D3, I'm definitely offering Maine-Presque Isle. I don't think another school in the division features the same challenge. You've got Canada on two sides, an ocean on a third and miles of nothing to the south before you actually start finding recruits. Even in-state folks are 70+ miles away and there's 100+ New England schools that will have a distance advantage on you if you try to battle for the good players in neighboring states. 

That sounds about right....I would completely agree with PR at D2, not having FSS is a killer.....one of the D- schools in the Northeast is probably where I would go for D1, maybe Monmouth?.....

Montana St- Billings is pretty isolated in D2 as well.....the PR schools at least have Florida I guess, I don't know where you find recruits in Montana...

Looking at some maps here are some others to consider based on location, prestige, other nearby schools, amount of recruits, etc


D1: Montana Uni, Montana St,  Uni of Hawaii

D3: Maybe Sul Ross State, kind of isolated in West Texas, not sure the # of recruits they get over there, could actually be pretty challenging especially if the ASC if full and texas has a lot of teams

Posted by the0nlyis on 6/24/2015 12:56:00 AM (view original):
Looking at some maps here are some others to consider based on location, prestige, other nearby schools, amount of recruits, etc


D1: Montana Uni, Montana St,  Uni of Hawaii

D3: Maybe Sul Ross State, kind of isolated in West Texas, not sure the # of recruits they get over there, could actually be pretty challenging especially if the ASC if full and texas has a lot of teams

I actually grabbed Sul Ross in a world once wondering if it was a strong place to build a dynasty because you had all of West Texas to yourself. The problem with that thinking is that West Texas doesn't produce D3 recruits and the borderline D1/D2 kid that occasionally pops out of El Paso is usually too high rated to pull/drop down. Having coached both SRS and MPI, I'd take SRS in a heartbeat if forced to pick. The big issue that MPI has that SRS doesn't is when you start to drift and look for kids in that 300-500 mile range. At SRS there's very few schools and even the ones that grab kids in that area are probably equally far, if not east coast schools who grabbed a state like New Mexico on the cheap to get a higher discount for something like Pennsylvania or New York. At MPI, if you're in that range, you're moving into the back yard of dozens of New England schools, any one of whom can put you at a battle disadvantage by deciding they like the kid as much as you do. 

Posted by Trentonjoe on 6/23/2015 11:18:00 PM (view original):
Montana St- Billings is pretty isolated in D2 as well.....the PR schools at least have Florida I guess, I don't know where you find recruits in Montana...

Interesting note: take a look at the map tool from the other thread. One could coach both Bayamon & Miami under separate ID's and still comply with the 1000 mile rule! Puerto Rico is great, if you want to build without using FSS at all.

At D1, I've noticed a high burnout rate at Cincinnati. Even though it's in a power conference.
At D3, there are advantages to isolation. Until Simon Fraser is added, none are really screwed.

Going off what rogelio just said, however its kind of the opposite of this thread is D3 Nebraska Wesleyan, I feel as it could be a pretty good school, I recruited only 1 season in Iowa, but have successfully recruited NE from D2/D3 far away, its pretty isolated as the closest schools in the Iowa Conf usually don't get picked.  Maybe not as advantagous as Colorado and Florida, and its not bad like Maine/MT/PR schools, but I don't see it getting a lot of love

I think it's really a geographic thing. When you are caught in the middle and there are owners around you, it's a tough job, it's tougher than be isolated somewhere. You have to fight on every recruit. To me, in DIII and DII, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Tennessee are the toughest state to be in if you play in an active world. California is easier for sure, big states like Texas too. You have another problem, sometimes recruit are further away from campus, but it's easy to solve.

Posted by the0nlyis on 6/24/2015 12:56:00 AM (view original):
Looking at some maps here are some others to consider based on location, prestige, other nearby schools, amount of recruits, etc


D1: Montana Uni, Montana St,  Uni of Hawaii

D3: Maybe Sul Ross State, kind of isolated in West Texas, not sure the # of recruits they get over there, could actually be pretty challenging especially if the ASC if full and texas has a lot of teams

I had some good success at Montana State and loved the recruit generation there.  There were always a couple 4* and 5* recruits in the state who got overlooked.  One time I signed two 4* high school teammates 10 miles from the school.

There has to be many D1 schools who are much worse off.