As a brand-spankin-new HD coach, I'm torn on how to spend my initial recruiting $$. I'll have plenty of 'ships available on my new DIII team, and looking to fill 4-5 open roster spots.

My question - Is it worth trying to pull-down or target fall-down DII players in my first recruiting class? Will I have enough cash in my first season to land anyone this way, or should I stick to local DIII recruits and wait until I have a bit more prestige/money to go after the better prospects?

Thanks in advice guys...

Yes you will want to use dropdowns and/or pulldowns, even in your first season.

Thanks for the quick response.

And do you think realistically I'll be able to afford it, even with a crummy school rep?

I'm just concerned that I'll blow a bunch of $ on a couple "out-of-reach" guys, not land them due to my crummy school rep, and handcuff myself by not having enough funds to fill out my recruiting class.

Absolutely wait on drop downs! It is hard to be patient, but wait it out. You will have enough cash if you budget correctly.

It will take several seasons to increase your prestige most likely (must get to the NT or PT - I don't recall if just having a winning season will help that much).

The biggest errors I have made in the past is going too far away to land recruits or buying too many states in FSS. If the game blesses you with nearby recruits it is much easier. I have learned from others and my experience quite a bit about how much to spend per recruit.

In site mail I would be happy to provide more detailed info if you are interested. I am not as experienced as many but have a few ideas. Several others have been very helpful to me in giving advice so I am happy to share what I have learned and learned from others.

Of course this is for the DIII level.

I would send out a lot of calls to d2 players the first cycle. Get an idea of who could drop to you or who won't.

Within 70 miles and up a division might let you recruit them right away.

you'll know pretty quick (just by calls or letters) if they are out of reach. they often won't even have time for a home visit if you try that option - and you'll get your money back. the place to start is calls which are cheap so don't worry about blowing you budget...

battles with sims or others with higher prestige will blow your budget. battles are fun, but risky. I like to have a few signings in place before I enter a battle in case I lose.

definitely target some D2 kids within 200 miles and call them or their coach. If you're a backup, then you could consider pulling them down, but this could be expensive....but worth it. So it's a risk/reward thing. The safest bet would be to wait for them to fall to you and then go after them. If you plan to wait for them to drop, then you could probably expand your initial search list beyond the 200 miles.

IMO it depends on exactly how many spots are you looking to fill and how many 'ships worth of money do you have? If you are at 5 for both I would likely see if you can find a few kids day 2 to get, maybe guys you view as career backups but servicable guys and then look for 2-3 pulldowns.

Right - I'll definitely be looking for some balance that way. That's also the good news... I do have some flexibility with my roster. My team is poised for some major re-building as I have 5 seniors leaving, I'm probably looking to find 4-5 recruits to sign. With $15k, hopefully I will be able to sign a few cheaper players (serviceable backups, as you say zhawks) and then go after a few pull/drop downs.

Timing-wise, when do you all start targeting the pull/drop downs? Target them immediately and stay on 'em, or wait for a day or two to let the dust settle?

You target all of the Division II guys the very first cycle. After you get the backup message you could then try and pull a recruit down. You'll have to wait several cycles for the dropdowns. The longer you wait the more/better recruits fall. If you become the players favorite school early on it helps two ways. It will be harder for another team to steal your guy late in the process and it will keep some teams from even going after him if they know they could get a similar player who they don't have to battle for.

You can pull down any player that says you are a backup.

Just remember that based on your prestige you can only see x recruits and higher prestige might already be able to recruit the player you are trying to pulldown. It can be risky but if you do it smartly and don't overextend yourself you can easily recover even if someone else takes a pulldown from you. I wouldn't really advice battling for a pulldown.