I finally decided to make the jump to DII after having some moderate success in 20 or so seasons at the DIII level with multiple teams.  I jumped into a powerhouse conference and have a TON of recruiting money (at least compared to what I'm used to) but only a C- prestige. I cleaned house and cut a few horrible players that weren't going to contribute at all, and now have 7 open "ships".  Any advice from you HD recruiting veterans??  Is it much different than DIII??

 The main recruiting difference is that you have more money to burn...but so do your opponents.   You also are recruiting against experienced coaches..no rookies in DII.   The players, too, are more talented.

Otherwise, you'll find recruiting very similar to DIII

Thanks Al, I've been doin some scouting and I'm amazed at the talent difference!!

There are plenty of rookies in D2. One of the game's biggest problems in maintaining players is doing 1 medicore ( or good if they joined a good team alerady) year in D3 and jumping to D2 and getting eaten alive

I'm no veteran but more cash makes it easier to pull-down people. Also consider keeping a walkon so you get the cash next year. You'd rather a walkon for a year then a bad player for four..

I agree mjp, I have seen a lot of rookie coaches jump after a good season with someone else's team!!

It's been a couple of years since I played in D2 but I see a lot of D3 guys quickly jump up to D2 and I don't think they realize the difference in talent and potential.  I can't count the number of times I see a new D2 coach recruiting guys I am targeting for D3.  I think they don't realize the talent gap and because many haven't recruited at the top level of D3 they really don't understand what a top D3 recruit looks like and a D2 recruit looks like.  Just like almost all of my D3 targets are drops or pull-downs from D2, when I was at D2 most of my recruits were drops or pull-down from D1. 

I recommend checking out alblack56 and mjp8's teams and see how top coaches like them recruit.  Be patient and don't set your standards too low.

What I did was after 3 seasons in D3, I jumped to D2, but took a team with no open schollies so I could just watch and learn. It was worth it, and now I am enjoying a rebuild at West Florida in Iba (although we are 5-12.....)

Every single player on my D2 Allen team started as a D1 level recruit, should be very rare that a D2 coach targets D2 level players. Even with a low prestige you can get D1 drop downs. The only real reason to be getting D2 players to start with is if you have to spend a good deal to get some D1 level players and want to play it safe with a player you can get cheap and easy, even then make sure he is good enough and not just going to be a waste for 4 years.

The best thing to do is just send out the phone calls to D1 players and see who gives you a backup and who doesn't, just like you would do at D3.

In general if you have a C- prestige you can probably still get backup messages from guys ranked 160-200 but you may not wind up with them. Don't let the rankings be your determining factor though. The only real way to know who you can get is stretch your limits and send phone calls to all levels of D1 players (skip any starred players you have no chance) and see who gives you the backup message.

Would you say 3 seasons in d3 and then jump to d2 is a good idea?

Posted by phillyboy108 on 2/12/2012 2:06:00 PM (view original):
Would you say 3 seasons in d3 and then jump to d2 is a good idea?

A minimum of three....

The number isn't as important as your grasp for the game. However long it takes you to be able to understand dropdowns/pulldowns good targets/bad targets, the diferent factors each attribute plays, and you feel confident in building a team.

I would say that once you have built a team in D3 that is successful you are ready to go to D2. If you just had 3 seasons where you took over an A+ team that had great young cores, rode it to 2 nt apperances with the original coach's players, and a PT apperance when it was mostly your players with a few leftovers I would say to stay. It's important to know you can have 12 of your players on a team and still be a NT caliber team.

Otherwise you will turn into one of those coaches who jumps teams every 2-3 seasons after ruining what someone else built while using their team to earn some reward points and bail before things get bad. Everyone hates those coaches.

Couldn't agree more!  If you can recruit well and game plan at D3, you can do well at D2 and learn even more.  But you need that base.  Now, D1, that is like playing a completely different game, especially recruiting.  But you still need the fundamentals from D3 and the experience of D2.

I don't mind that they made it easier to move up but if you don't learn the basics at each level it just leads to frustration for you and other conference coaches. It's great if you want to coach Duke, NC, UK, or whatever your flavor, but think in terms of years not seasons.  Make it your goal to get there (if you can) in a couple of years not 6 seasons.  Take your time, learn, and enjoy the game.  I've been playing the game for 7 years and it took me 3 years just to find out that I enjoyed D3 the most.

There should NEVER be a minimum on divison-3 years. I consider myself a veteran of this game, and I have a d3 team I play for fun with a buddy. Recruiting is harder in d3 than d2 IMO. You have very little money per scholarship in d3, and while it may be easier to fill your ships with average-above average players in d3, I believe it is easier to fill your ships with players that fit your system in d2. I RARELY fill my ships @ d3, maybe once in the past 7-8 seasons. Not to mention if you are in a location like the NE, you could blow all your budget JUST on FSS