I don't visit the forums very often, but I have a question that I hope someone might be able to answer...Recently, during Crum recruiting, in session 2, a 5 star recruit, Don Howe, transferred from W.Va. to Ohio State. This is a recruit that I had battled W. Va for last season. I obviously lost the battle, but it was like 52-48, my way...Something must have happened to the W.Va coach, because Howe never played a minute this season, which is why he obviously transferred. Also, the coach never changed his lineup all season, and didn't return as the W.Va. coach for this coming season...This player contacted several schools about transferring. Austin Peay, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Ohio State were contacted for sure, because they all had interest in him, but why wasn't my school Michigan State contacted? Especially since he was from the state of Michigan, I had recruited him heavily the season before, and I had 3 openings still available in recruit session 2? Any logical explanation would be greatly appreciated.

Hawaii was not contacted by the player. We contacted him.

I dont think players who transfer remember prior season recruiting effort.

I know when recruits go juco, they retain a portion of the effort/interest you built up. But when they go to a school and then transfer, I believe it resets. They’re starting from scratch (someone correct me if that’s not the case). The big difference here is that he chooses - I don’t know how, probably not entirely random, but you can’t influence it - which schools he contacts to let them know he’s available. You can also scout for transfers by reserving some scouting cash for the second session, and running an assistant search over his area. So some of the schools that are on his considering list may have “discovered” his availability, rather than having him reach out.

OK fd343ny, so did you contact Howe by the method ascribed by shoe3, with the assistant searching his hometown area for transfers?...Thanks so much shoe, for the info, i really haven't dealt much with transfers over the years, and wasn't sure how the recruiting process worked with them. I did read somewhere that they could contact up to 50 teams within a 500 mile radius, from their hometown, that's why I wondered how Hawaii was contacted by them. 3 other teams also showed interest in Howe, they were Vanderbilt, and 2 sim-coached teams Xavier, and the team they were transferring from West Virginia, which seems really weird to me...So, all the teams other than Hawaii were within a 500 mile radius, but I still don't understand why they wouldn't have contacted MSU, which was less than 100 miles from his hometown...Seems like a completely random list of contacts, especially since the team he was leaving W.Va, was also contacted.

I search for transfers and found him in a way along the lines shoe described

I would not assume that the player contacted any of the other schools that pursued him unless those coaches have told you that that is what happened,

In my experience, transfers who contact me are guys I would never want - most transfers get signed by schools that contact the recruit.

I think you are chasing ghosts with contact as the issue. The unfortunate feature of the game - as said above - is that effort is not remembered where a player signs elsewhere.

the transfers who contact me are worse than walkons. i never thought about having to scout for them in 3.0, that is pretty interesting.

Thanks guys, for all your contributions. I now feel that I have a much better idea, and understanding, of, how transfers work. Looks like my lack of understanding, and just "bad luck", were the primary contributors as to why I had no contact, and therefore no recruiting actions in this particular case...By the way fd343ny, in this case, Ohio State, was contacted by the transfer before they signed him.

interesting - were any of the others listed in original post confirmed as being contacted by the player?

Since Ohio State is in the same conference as us, they were easy to confirm. I have not checked with any of the other human coaches, however I'd definitely assume that Xavier, and West Virginia were contacted by Howe, since they have sim coaches. All coaches showing interest in the transfer, other than Ohio State were (very low), with Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, and Hawaii, also offering scholarships. As far as running similar offenses, and or defenses as Howe, only W. Va, the team they transferred from ran both flex, and zone. Austin Peay was the only other team that ran Flex, and Hawaii was the only other team to run zone. Ohio State runs Motion, and Man to Man. My team runs Triangle, and Man to Man... Contact selection seems pretty random to me.

FWIW, I was also contacted by Howe. But he showed up as having “F” grades across the board and I was out of scouting money so I just looked the other way. And like you said he didn’t play a single game last season so I couldn’t look at his ratings that way either. I don’t think I contacted him the season prior but I don’t remember either. Honestly, I just thought getting contacted by a recruit was 99.9% random.

I suspect that transfer contacts are random, but perhaps with a local geographic dimension.

I have no clue how the SIM teams handle transfers/scouting