I just lost a recruiting battle that I'm confused about.  I'm looking for thoughts on this:

Texas A&M - A+ Prestige (just won an NT so probably HIGH A+ prestige)
Spent $29k at 620 miles including 22 campus visits (not sure about guaranteed minutes or starts, waiting to hear back from coach)
Recruit was considering A&M from first cycle

Georgia Tech - A- Prestige
Spend $35k at 190 miles including 24 home visits, 24 campus visits, and 10 guaranteed minutes
Was considered by recruit first couple of cycles, then dropped Tech.  Tech came back in a couple of cycles before signings.

Texas A&M won the recruit.  Is this a combo of prestige difference and considering credit?  Thanks for your thoughts.  I'm not upset, just trying to get some insight.

a- vs a+ is on avg a 1.66 variance (.33 per third of a letter grade) in level of effort required, hv are not known for sure in terms of level of effort, but I call them 1/2 of a cv, so GT spent 24 cv + 12 net cv as result of 24 hv = 36 total equiv cv, A&M spent 22 cv time 1.66 equals right around 36.6 equiv CV, should have been very close, even without considering credit.  If A&M A+ was stronger than tech's A-, the gap may have been even wider than 1.66.

I have not heard anyone try to quantify starts or minutes into equiv CV's, but I don't think it is worth very many, maybe less than 1.  I would guess a start and 15 minutes might be worth 2, really a much more useful tool in d2 or d3 than in d1 where the money is so high on these top recruits.

The combo seems like it did you in but also there could be a couple of other factors. At 190 miles, your cash would have been better spent with all HVs. Depending on the cost difference you could have made around 60+ contacts using HVs instead of 48 with the costlier CVs. Also, the 2 spot difference in prestige (A+ vs A-) means you probably would have had to spend $10-$12K more than he did even allowing for the difference in distance. Maybe some of the math gurus can provide more detailed comparisons.

I posted at the same time as OR and his post clarifies what I was trying to say.

Weena, OR, or anyone else, can you explain the benefits of HV and CV as distance from recruit increases?  i.e., where is the distance break where CVs start to have more benefit than HVs?  I've never been able to wrap my mind around this.  Thanks.

Posted by gopokes24 on 9/5/2010 9:29:00 PM (view original):
Weena, OR, or anyone else, can you explain the benefits of HV and CV as distance from recruit increases?  i.e., where is the distance break where CVs start to have more benefit than HVs?  I've never been able to wrap my mind around this.  Thanks.

Just do the math. If you believe that 2 HV = 1 CV, at 190mi, HV cost 300, CV cost 800, so you are getting a better deal for HV. At 1000mi, on the other hand, CV will cost 30% or so more than HV. I don't have the exact numbers bc I'm not recruiting so I'm just going by pure memory on the cost of CV and HV at different distances. I believe that any time CV costs less than 2xHV, it's time to do CVs. 

I'll give my side of the battle.  Texas A&M, (A+ prestige and just had NT & 7 guys drafted).  I was on the recruit in question from cycle 1 as was Ga Tech.  He dropped out I think after the second or 3rd cycle until the signing period cycle when he reappeared.  I had only spent around 9k at that point all CVs as well as a start and 20 minutes.  When he got back in the battle I poured in another 20K all CVs and 1 HV over the next 4 cycles.   He ended up signing 24 hrs later (from the original signing period).  I see how OR calculated the closeness of the battle.  The word on the street updates went from leaning towards A&M to struggling (the next day), so he did make it close.  Could my prestige have been technically higher than what is assumed an A+ after the recent (and most likely fleeting) success from last season?  Thus giving my effort more of an advantage? or is A+ the tops and is capped?

P.S.  These recruits in IBA stunk!  Especially around Texas.  I guess I'll have to get used to it...

Is a CV 2x and HV?  I had read before that some people think it's more.  Like 2.5?  That's what I was going on?  I know this has been discussed ad nauseum, but anyone have thoughts that might clarify better?

I think it's closer to 2.5 than it is 2. There is definitely no consensus on this, OR and billyg both seem to agree with the 2 number while lostmyth thinks it's at least 2.5 and could be more.

I usually use a number closer to a 2.5 advantage for CV.  I would also value a Start + 25Min to be worth a little more than many think.

I had a recruiting battle a couple seasons ago where I had a slight prestige disadvantage.  Recruit was fairly equal distance between both schools, maybe a 5% advantage for me. Pretty close the whole way so I don't think there was any benefit given to early recruiting effort.

After we exchanged recruiting notes I ended up overcoming a slight prestige disadvantage despite spending about $5k less.
I spent more than 50% of my budget on CV, the other coach almost all in HV.   At close range that's what the book tells you to do.

After eliminating the common recruiting efforts it came down to about 60 HV, a few scouting trips with an A- prestige against B+ prestige with 23 CV plus a start & 25 min.