Idea 1:

A checkbox on each player's page &/or on the recruit pool page that you can check to remove that player from all future scouting (i.e. once you get a player to scouting level 2 or 3 & decide you don't want to scout him past that level; or if you save scouting $ until later in the cycle and would prefer not to scout a player further based on schools/interest level/scholly status on the considering page).

Idea 2:

A checkbox to let the coach choose whether to include or exclude top 100 players (i.e. D2 & D3 coaches typically have no business scouting top 100 players & waste money when they're included in camps/FSS/assistant searches - so leaving that "include top 100 players" box unchecked would exclude those players).

Bulk scouting is the most efficient use of scouting dollars, and these two ideas would give coaches the option to remove individual players from scouting activities going forward and/or avoid wasting money on top-100 players who are ~100% certainly going to high-D1 programs.

Thoughts?

Another time when the individual removal from scouting activities could be helpful is when you either definitely do want or definitely do not want a juco player.

Early in a rebuild it's pretty useless to sign a juco player, so if a camp or assistant search picks up a juco; then you could check the box to remove him from scouting activities going forward.

Alternatively, if you want a juco (already signed 6 freshmen & still have openings, you're only in D2 or D3 for a couple seasons before you jump up to the next division, or you've got a strong core of upperclassmen and would rather sign a juco who's ready to contribute now vs a freshman who needs to develop, etc.), then you could check to remove the HS recruits so you can focus on bulk scouting the juco guys.

I agree that adding options like this would make the game easier. And its not needed. Adding those options WOULD make it nicer. But there's already so many players out there to pick from. Adding changes like this essentially doubles and triples your budget. (The more players you're "eliminating", the more money saved, the more players you can discover and level up as recruiting goes on). The game has to stay somewhat challenging. A D3 school shouldn't be able to effectively scout half the county. A D2 school shouldn't be able to effectively scout the entire country. Adding changes along these lines would make that a reality.

I know you have good intent BigHam. We've spoke a lot in person. But this would dilute scouting entirely if you think it thru. We'd end up having all schools from all 3 divisions being able to see all the recruits.

I agree with your extremes that D3s shouldn't be able to scout half the country and that D2s shouldn't be able to scout the entire country, *AND* I think there's a ton of ground between that extreme and where we are currently.

I'm planning to bail on my D2 in Iba after this season & take a D1 job, so I decided I want to sign the best projected-D2 guys I can get in RS1 rather than depend on simmy (or possibly a human) to close the deal in RS2. I have 6 openings. I obviously should've done the math first, but...

Thought I could scout every projected-D2 recruit within 500 miles to at least level 3, but didn't even get close. I did a 200-player camp for only D2 players. Did FSS for D2 in my surrounding area. Then started doing D2 assistant searches thinking I'd run out of players before I ran out of money. (I was wrong... oof!)

That 500-mile radius is maybe 1/4ish of the country, but I was only scouting D2 guys. My recent scouting in FL messed me up on using the radius. I realized that a lot of the 500-mile radius from S. Florida (Barry in Tark) is the Gulf of Mexico & the Atlantic Ocean... but clearly I underappreciated how many more players are within 500 miles of Tigerville, SC vs Miami Shores, FL.

All that to say...

By limiting my scope to only D2 players I eliminated the problem of wasting scouting $ on top-100 players while also eliminating a lot of D1 players I'd likely be going after if I planned to stick around at this school beyond this season - and I still didn't effectively scout 1/4ish of the country, much less half or all of it. And this is with 6 openings. The D3 I "paid my (one season) dues" at only had 2 openings, and that scouting budget was part of why I posted these thoughts. D3 coaches want to find D1 guys who might drop down, and it sucks for very limited D3 scouting dollars to be wasted on top-100 guys and on guys you don't want to scout past level 2 or 3 - but there's currently no way to take advantage of the efficiency of bulk scouting *and* avoid wasting money on those players.

I also think this would add a "real life factor" (while enhancing the game) with the obvious fact that top-100 players aren't going to camps at D2 or D3 schools in real life, and D2 & D3 scouts aren't wasting their time either on top-100 players who will never go D2 much less D3 or on players who aren't worth scouting further.

I love Jucos for rebuilds if they match my offense and defense. They can really speed up your success, getting you a higher prestige more quickly, and allow you to recruit better freshmen.

Hadn't thought of that. That makes a lot of sense, actually!

i totally agree with Bigham's suggestions on the originsl.post. To scout Internationals, it requires flushing $12,000 into the sewer cuz of the Top 100 recruits getting in the way.

One thing I would like to add to the filter are two more Options to filter by Position A) PG-SG-SF, and B) SF-PF-C. Some of us like recruiting tweeners for bench depth.

And I also feel in my humble opinion , JUCO recruiting is huge in rebuilds first couple years.

Adding a JUCO checkbox would be very beneficial in my opinion.

I think every idea in this thread is coming from a good place but I think most will have unintended consequences. If you give people the option to "opt out" of scouting certain players, I think the result will be that better teams/coaches see significantly more good players and will make your competition stiffer.

As a coach that has had A prestige on a few teams, I don't scout internationals because I don't want to spend my resources on the entire top 100. I don't scout D2 despite knowing that there are some gems every season in the D2 JUCO ranks. If I could scout either of these cheaply, I would. I think many other coaches are in the same boat. Because of that, there is less competition in those two places and therefore lower prestige teams has an opportunity to exploit that if they make it their strategy.

This game is largely about picking a strategy and executing it. More optionality in scouting will result in many people having the same strategy and lead to strong getting stronger (I think at least).

I think it should be automatic that any player already invited to a team's prior camp will not show up for future camps. That's not only realistic (for a player to show only once for any team) but would be a reasonable help for recruiting $.

As a D2 coach I'd love the idea of an option to remove top-100 players from my possible camp recruits, since I have a 0% chance to sign them. (Perhaps unless I'm an B+ or better, therefore the choice.) Offer the opportunity for D2/D3 coaches to have regular camps EXCEPT offer to avoid Top 100 players. Reasonable?