In recruiting, what is the difference between a DIII A+ prestige team and a DII C- team (both human controlled)??  I am the A+ DIII team.  I am looking at a few potential battles in this situation.  Also, how much does distance play a factor here?  In one situation I am recruiting from 100 miles while the other team is recruiting at 130, and in another situation, I am recruiting from about 20 while the other team is recruiting from 140 or 150, I think....  Thoughts?

I don't know exactly what the difference is between those two situations, but it is definitely possible to win those battles. It's good that you're closer, especially considering one player is only 20 miles away because he might already be open to your recruiting efforts, but since the DII school already gets more money for each scholarship the difference of 30 to 60 isn't really enough to make a difference.

In reality, it largely depends on how much money they have compared to you. It's going to be hard to swipe recruits from a higher division school in close proximity if they got money for six scholarships and you only got enough for two.

You look like a middle of the road (at best) A+. Always assume your opponent is just below the cusp of the next highest grade to allow margin of error. that would make him a D2 C. Even with the shift from D3 to D2 I'd call it at most a 2 full grade bump. Everyone has different theories on the value of a letter grade difference in prestige. Some theories posit that the lower the prestiges, the less the difference. Others feel differently on the relative difference between division 2 and 3. The counter to those arguments is that things are the same across all levels (the variances that is) but the larger dollar amounts of D I recruiting skew perception. I have my own value, derived from keeping notes and doing research through numerous threads like these. I'm not going to give you my value, 1. because everyone should work this out on their own to some degree to get a better "feel" for recruiting battles and 2. because if I give my value everyone will know how to beat me in battles...

You've got lots of experience, you must have an idea on how the prestige spread affects recruiting. I feel ok with calling the difference about 2 full letter grades - others may disagree.  regarding distance - here I did the same thing - experimentation. I scouted recruits in one of my worlds and managed to create a chart of distance and cost for each type of effort at that distance. The system rounds values for display, however, to the nearest 10 miles, but uses the actual value for determining costs.  I know this by seeing the distribution (and sometimes duplication) of values at theoretically different distances. I can tell you there is a price jump at 200 miles, and again at 360. Below 70 miles recruits are sometimes more receptive to your efforts as well.

You don't say if these are recruits off your D 3 list or if the are pulldowns or drop downs, and if so if you have already pulled them or are still trying. If you are trying to pull them down while they are considering the D 2 school forget about it. Probably too cost ineffective, unless these are special recruits.

I may talk like an expert, but I'm really not, but if you've got more specific questions I'll be happy to answer some things in sitemail.

I pulled these guys down in the same cycle that the DII teams got their considerations.

Posted by Area51man on 1/3/2012 11:59:00 PM (view original):
I pulled these guys down in the same cycle that the DII teams got their considerations.

did you offer ships yet? if so, what responses did you get?

Yes, I have offered schollies.  I actually have three guys that fit this exact situation.  Here are their responses:

Coach, you've said everything I needed to hear. I think John Jay is the place for me. Can't wait to sign!

Coach, I just can't say yes right now...I'm still supposed to take a campus visit of another school. I should know more after that.

Coach, you're my #1 school right now and if I could sign today, I would. Stupid WCAA and their regulations.

Well, I'm sure you know already - you are leading on #1 and #3, not leading on #2.
You are starting from a good position with those 2, and may not be trailing by much on the middle (post what FSS says if you care to when it updates). As nacho said, you can win these battles depending on how many openings the D 2 schools have. Ultimately if they have a lot more money they'll be able to outspend you no matter what.

Posted by Area51man on 1/3/2012 11:14:00 PM (view original):
In recruiting, what is the difference between a DIII A+ prestige team and a DII C- team (both human controlled)??  I am the A+ DIII team.  I am looking at a few potential battles in this situation.  Also, how much does distance play a factor here?  In one situation I am recruiting from 100 miles while the other team is recruiting at 130, and in another situation, I am recruiting from about 20 while the other team is recruiting from 140 or 150, I think....  Thoughts?

that prestige difference is pretty small. you probably shouldn't ignore it, but in the end its not that big of a deal (less than 25% difference for sure).

distance, you can figure that out yourself. go find a recruit at both distances. look at the difference in costs. 10 to 190 is a small difference, as is 210 to 350, and 370 to 1350. if home visits are 5% more, and campus visits are 5% more, then you are probably looking at about a 5% advantage. its really easy within the same distance bracket, if you will - because everything scales similarly. once you cross that 200 mile and 360 mile threshold, it gets complex, because the HV to CV cost ratios change so dramatically.

Prestige difference is small, and I agree with coachbillyg that it is less than 25%. In my experience, the difference is probably less than 15%. The deciding factor in these battles always come down to how many open scholarships each team has, and whether this player is high priority for the D2 team. If the player is high priority for the D2 team, you would be hard pressed to beat him, unless you have a 2:1 scholarship edge. 

or distance... distance can be huge!

Posted by coach_billyg on 1/4/2012 6:11:00 PM (view original):
or distance... distance can be huge!

Absolutely. 

From my experience, D2 coaches lose these battles more than they should, and when they do lose (even on a top priority target) to D3, it's usually because they overestimate their prestige edge.  And I don't blame them, because I'm sure they had lost to a D/D+/C- D1 team when they had D2 A+, and lost despite spending much more.