I have been playing this game for a while, I was trying and read up and saw some feedback saying that in recruiting, sending scouting trips is the way to get guys to consider you.  Well that was a bust to the tune of 15 thousand out of my budget.  Did I fall for the Okey doke.

Before you sent out all those STs, did you send phone calls to find out if the prospects could be pulled down or not? If you did not get the "fallback" message then the STs are blowing in the wind. Also, were the players Undecided or were they considering a higher level school? If they are considering another school already, then it could take a ton of STs to manage the pulldown.

Just a question, but how have you gone about recruiting and pulling players down this whole time?

scouting trips are the key to a PULLDOWN

But they are NOT the best path for regular recruiting

Read up the forum threads on pulldowns - in essence a pulldown is when a player thinks you are a backup option but you can with evals pull him down and get him to look at your school

If a kid is ready to be recruited - not saying you are a backup - then evals are highly INefficient tool

I recently did over 100 scouting trips, at division 1 to a guy that said we were a backup option, and he never dropped. I was a C prestige at Utah and this guy was the #9 prospect and 10 miles away. He was considering San Diego State, so perhaps that is why he never dropped.

Weena I did not I sent them to undecideds at the start of the cycle all within 200 miles.

Nachopuzzle Normally I cue up guys depending on my status.  I went local this time.

been ages since I did pulldowns, but I believe they only work where the player is both undecided and regards your school as a backup option.  Scores of scouting trips useless if both not true

AND if you are not a backup - if he is open to being recruited without a pulldown - then a scouting trip is a much less effective use of money than a home or campus visit

I believe that you can pull a player down that is being considered by another school but the difficulty increases by the other school's prestige and other factors. It is a lot harder though, and maybe it only works at lower levels. (The #9 kid might have higher standards than the ineligible D2 guy going to D3)