I joined Knight with the intention of advancing to D1 as soon as possible. I took over a great team and made a run to the Final Four in my first year and now I’m wondering if leaving to rebuild a D2 would help career advancement prospects or if I’m better off running my D3 school until a ready-made D2 appears.
Are there guidelines for how many years and what success is necessary at D3 and D2 to go D1? Does it make sense to wait for the right D2 fit before leaving an A+ D3?
Thanks

I would wait for the right d2. With a D3 F4 you will only need 2/3 NTs in D2 depending on the depth of the runs.

I would assume 3 NT appearances in D2 to qualify for D1 schools, although they'll most likely be the very bottom D1 schools. I'm not sure where Knight is at in its world schedule, but there's usually some good D2 jobs that open if you wait until the last day of job changes. Some people might leave a really good D2 program for D1, and then you can jump on their D2 school.

Of course, I'm no exert in D2/D3, but that's been my brief experience.

Forget D1, join us in the best D2 conference in the world, the North Central! Pittsburgh Johnstown looks like it has some decent pieces, and is in good geographical position on the outer rim of the conference. It may take longer to rise to D1, but playing with and against great coaches every day is the best way to get good, fast.

But if you’re set on getting to D1 ASAP, don’t try to rebuild, take a D2 team that is ready-made, in a mostly-sim conference. It’s not nearly as much fun, IMO. But it’s the quickest, easiest path. Cheney U or Missouri S&T, for example.

Unless this is a second user ID try learning the game 1st before attempting DI. Experience is more important.

Posted by mullycj on 2/12/2021 2:27:00 PM (view original):
Unless this is a second user ID try learning the game 1st before attempting DI. Experience is more important.

Amen!!!!!

It baffles me that everyone wants to rush to D1. For what? To get slaughtered quicker?! Learning D3 and D2 is VERY important to your career path. ESPECIALLY after coat tailing to a F4 in season one and not building the team yourself (not that you made a bad decision in picking a good team. You just haven't learned anything about the game yet by doing so) . There's so much more to HD than "getting to D1". As time passes, you'll find things along the way that you might enjoy. Conference mates, early success from what YOU built (and not someone else's roster. And again, I'm not saying that as a bad thing).

I stayed around in D2 for over 100 total seasons. Not that i recommend everyone to do that. We all play for our own reasons. But when coaches rush to D1, I've just never understood it. New coaches will barely know what they're doing when they get there. And that's setting up for failure and a quick game exit. (The mentality of...... all the good coaches have the game locked down. I can't get good. I'm out.... type of mindset).

Of course, do whatever interests you. You're playing your game. Not me. But take advice from vets along the way. It's gonna be tough when you get there!

I respectfully disagree with these assessments. If you want to play D1, there’s no reason not to try to get there ASAP. I’ll make a pitch for the D2 conferences I’m in, but generally D1 is the draw and I get that. It is quite a bit more fun in the right situation (good conferences) too. So I understand wanting to get there fast.

In my view, the reason to invest and settle in to a fun D2 conference before moving on to D1 is not really about not getting slaughtered when you get to D1. Under my original handle in my first world, I moved to D2 after my first season, made a handful of NTs, and went straight to a mid-major. I was never “slaughtered”. I was observant, asked questioned, figured stuff out. Didn’t worry about championships. Had some fun. But then again, my first power conference job was Rutgers, so take from that what you will. If you understand how the game mechanics work, there’s no reason you can’t build a team that can compete for a conference title most years almost right away, if that’s what you’re looking for. Though I will share this. I, too, intended to use my stop in the N Central as a quick layover to a fast mid-major route in Knight. I stayed because I liked the conference and I started to like the experimenting I was doing with this particular team, but also because the longer you stay in D2, the better your D1 choices get when you jump. Now I’m at the point where I’m being very selective; if I do move up, it has to be the right team. Either my “dream job” has opened up, or a high baseline prestige job is available, and I’m qualified for it.

So it becomes an issue of A) whether you have the desire to undertake a real rebuild, and under what circumstances; and B) if you really want to deal with the extra problems of D1. As a new coach, if that’s what you are, you should understand that while the game mechanics are mostly the same, D1 has some new problems. The top teams you’ll have to beat to advance have baseline prestige advantages over you, meaning you start recruiting with a deficit against them. And when you do score elite talent, it’s volatile. You have to manage early entries to the NBA. Some coaches don’t like dealing with those problems, and find the straightforward nature of the lower levels more gratifying. Making sure you know what you want out of the game is probably the best reason to take your time, IMO.

Posted by shoe3 on 2/13/2021 9:35:00 AM (view original):

I respectfully disagree with these assessments. If you want to play D1, there’s no reason not to try to get there ASAP. I’ll make a pitch for the D2 conferences I’m in, but generally D1 is the draw and I get that. It is quite a bit more fun in the right situation (good conferences) too. So I understand wanting to get there fast.

In my view, the reason to invest and settle in to a fun D2 conference before moving on to D1 is not really about not getting slaughtered when you get to D1. Under my original handle in my first world, I moved to D2 after my first season, made a handful of NTs, and went straight to a mid-major. I was never “slaughtered”. I was observant, asked questioned, figured stuff out. Didn’t worry about championships. Had some fun. But then again, my first power conference job was Rutgers, so take from that what you will. If you understand how the game mechanics work, there’s no reason you can’t build a team that can compete for a conference title most years almost right away, if that’s what you’re looking for. Though I will share this. I, too, intended to use my stop in the N Central as a quick layover to a fast mid-major route in Knight. I stayed because I liked the conference and I started to like the experimenting I was doing with this particular team, but also because the longer you stay in D2, the better your D1 choices get when you jump. Now I’m at the point where I’m being very selective; if I do move up, it has to be the right team. Either my “dream job” has opened up, or a high baseline prestige job is available, and I’m qualified for it.

So it becomes an issue of A) whether you have the desire to undertake a real rebuild, and under what circumstances; and B) if you really want to deal with the extra problems of D1. As a new coach, if that’s what you are, you should understand that while the game mechanics are mostly the same, D1 has some new problems. The top teams you’ll have to beat to advance have baseline prestige advantages over you, meaning you start recruiting with a deficit against them. And when you do score elite talent, it’s volatile. You have to manage early entries to the NBA. Some coaches don’t like dealing with those problems, and find the straightforward nature of the lower levels more gratifying. Making sure you know what you want out of the game is probably the best reason to take your time, IMO.

Ok so if coaches move to D1 after say 5 seasons, how do you expect them to know "the game mechanics are mostly the same"? They'll only have played the game for 5 seasons. They won't know what those mechanics are. In 5 seasons, a coach has barely played a roster with their own players. No understanding of their feelings on IQ value. Just different little things factor in.

I do agree that lots of coaches can and will figure it out. I just feel it starts you off on the wrong foot in most cases. I can think of 3 coaches specifically that I have worked with, and they want to run to D1 immediately. A couple of them, the jury is still out on what kinda success they'll have. The other one is likely reading this, and we no longer speak. But he moved up and hasn't had any success at all since moving up.

The only way I can see myself agreeing that it's not important to stay at the lower levels, is if the coach doesn't care about success at all and just wants to play D1 even as a perennial loser. If that's the case then it's fine. That possibility is there and I overlook that because it seems odd to me. But we all play for different reasons I guess

Perennial loser? Lol. No. I mean, sure, some folks are going to struggle. That’s always going to be true. It’s a competitive game, we’re all trying to win. But it’s not necessarily true. As I said above, “If you understand how the game mechanics work, there’s no reason you can’t build a team that can compete for a conference title most years almost right away, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

There is no set number of seasons it takes to figure it out. For some, it might be a couple seasons. For some, it may be dozens or more, and some will struggle for as long as they play.

Now for some folks, the question is about championships. How long will it take to get that first ship? How many do you have, how long did it take? If that’s you, then you want to stay in lower levels, yes. Because it is easier and faster to win championships at D3 and D2 than it is moving up to D1 ASAP. No question. That’s why I worded the response above the way I did. But not everyone plays that way. That’s why I personally LOVE to see folks who win their first titles in D1. I applaud that approach, and I think the game needs more of it.

With the patch, you can get to D1 much faster than before. I believe like in 3 seasons or so, depending on how you do.