Hey guys I really could use some advice. When I signed up I followed the WIS admonition that I should choose a team that is having a limited recruiting class in order to learn the ropes before I have my first big recruiting year. So I picked a team that only had 3 scholarship openings, without realizing that there were 8 seniors on the team! To make matters worse, I compounded my problems by making the newbie mistake of offering scholarships to recruits whose idea of playing defense is to take a seat in the front row of the bleachers!. I'm only going to have one potential decent player going forward after graduation.
 
Because of all the seniors, I actually had a good season. But I now face the task of trying to attract 8 recruits on a limited D3 budget! I'm also aware of the restriction limiting any one class to 6 members. I'm at a loss on how best to rectify this situation. I'm assuming I should try to attact some transfers or Jucco players to try to even out the class problem, and be willing to accept a couple of walk-ons to save those scholarships for next year. Are Juccos even an option in D3? That would leave me with about 4 scholarships to try and attract some good talent. Should I try to attact some pull-downs in an effort to get some decent players? Or is my money going to be too far stretch to make that an option?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Yes.  Try to recruit six solid players and hold them first, and then, after the first round of signings - if you have any money left - work on filling the last two slots.

Considering this is the first time you're recruiting, you might not know what kind of recruits to look for (My first class sucked and I was thinking I did alright) Make sure to scout high population states close to you. Look for good players that have high potential and if you see a drop down that you might have a shot with, add him to your list and see if he might be interested. If you're not sure what a good player is, look around the league at some of the higher prestige teams and see what kind of freshman they had the previous year or try to estimate if your player may look similar to theirs later. (also, ae jones posted a very good thread about how to be successful and it will help you as a new coach). If there is a player you have a shot at, don't be afraid to use all that money to scare others from jumping on your player. Don't be afraid to battle, but don't always go look for them either.

Also, don't be afraid to take a walkon or 2. With this much money, make sure you land at least 3-4 studs at minimum (4 year guys preferably). Maybe even pursue a juco or 2. If you're lucky you'll win your battles or sign some decent guys for cheap and won't need a walkon, but 4-5 studs and decent players for the rest is a lot better than just having a full team of average players, especially when you have money for 8. Consider taking the 3k you get for that extra scholarship (the walkon) and having it as extra ammunition in your battle, its like adding 3k to to one battle. Besides, the guy you would have signed in the walkons place may not have seen playtime and you'll be able to replace those walkons next year.

http://whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=453763&TopicsTimeframe=30&TopicsPage=3

Link to aejones thread.

Posted by poncho0091 on 6/5/2012 1:09:00 AM (view original):
Considering this is the first time you're recruiting, you might not know what kind of recruits to look for (My first class sucked and I was thinking I did alright) Make sure to scout high population states close to you. Look for good players that have high potential and if you see a drop down that you might have a shot with, add him to your list and see if he might be interested. If you're not sure what a good player is, look around the league at some of the higher prestige teams and see what kind of freshman they had the previous year or try to estimate if your player may look similar to theirs later. (also, ae jones posted a very good thread about how to be successful and it will help you as a new coach). If there is a player you have a shot at, don't be afraid to use all that money to scare others from jumping on your player. Don't be afraid to battle, but don't always go look for them either.

Also, don't be afraid to take a walkon or 2. With this much money, make sure you land at least 3-4 studs at minimum (4 year guys preferably). Maybe even pursue a juco or 2. If you're lucky you'll win your battles or sign some decent guys for cheap and won't need a walkon, but 4-5 studs and decent players for the rest is a lot better than just having a full team of average players, especially when you have money for 8. Consider taking the 3k you get for that extra scholarship (the walkon) and having it as extra ammunition in your battle, its like adding 3k to to one battle. Besides, the guy you would have signed in the walkons place may not have seen playtime and you'll be able to replace those walkons next year.

http://whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=453763&TopicsTimeframe=30&TopicsPage=3

Link to aejones thread.

Good solid advice.

He will only get the money for 6 scholarships though. Plus any carryover and post season money

Even more reason not to be afraid to take some walkons :D

Go for 5 or 6 freshmen and the rest jucos. Worry about filling the freshmen slots first, unless you see a JUCO that you think would be a great fit. 

Look for players with good Athleticism and Def. For Big men look also for Reb and LP is a plus, for guards look for spd, BH, and PA, well PER is a plus.

Next season will not be a good one for that team.  You have 2 options:

1. Renew and then apply for a D2 job with really good players returning, decent to great prestige and a populated conference.  In my opinion, D2 is not that much different or more difficult than D3 (many will disagree, but I a fairly well convinced); or
2. Accept that this upcoming season will be rebuilding and commit to graduating the freshman that you recruit this upcoming season at Pacific Lutheran.

If you choose option 2, then good for you!  Pacific Lutheran plays zone, so poncho's advice is spot on.  Take at least one walk-on and read up on how to recruit.  

Your returning players can be useful, but you need a center.  A center is the only JuCo or transfer player for whom you should be looking.  You want to recruit upperclassmen that know your offense and/or defense (C- or better in one or the other, preferably both).  For a zone center, you want to target a player listed at either PF or C with huge (+80) Rebounding, Shot-Blocking & Low Post ratings or the potential to quickly get there.  You would prefer big ATH & DEF ratings as well, but that may not be realistic.  Ignore all frontcourt players with lower than a starting 30 ATH and hope to make sure they will quickly get over 50 (or, better, start there).   

After that, your real effort should go to signing 6 quality freshman (i.e. big-time potentials) with the intention of redshirting one.  If you only get 5, then you'll have 2 walk-ons and no redshirt -- that's fine.  You may end up deciding to start your freshman and use your sophomores and upperclassmen as backups.  That would give you the best chance to have an elite team when they are juniors & seniors.  Just ignore freshman with less than a 24 WE, they won't improve fast enough.   

From Washington State, only use FSS for cheap local states: OR, WA, AK, ID, MT, & WY (for instance).  You'll spend too much on CA and too many recruits will be too far away.   I suggest contemplating this thread as to regional recruiting.  Also, search Canada within 300 miles, you may find a fantastic value from BC (although you'll have to scout them individually).  

On the last day of recruiting, you may expand your search to the whole nation.  I do suggest that you retain a spot or two to fill on the last day, with a grand or more remaining in your budget.  Some of the drop-down players available at the end will be better than the players for whom you'll be battling in the beginning.

You're going to need to maximize your cash to recruit that many players. Distance is your biggest plan. Stick to players within 300 miles (and I'd even look to find a few inside 100 miles if at all possible). If you can lock up 5 or 6 guys who are nearby you can look to pick up another 1-3 after the first or second signing cycle.

This is all great advice--that I'm going to pay close attention to. Thanks for taking the time to help out!

I pretty much think rogelio has it down.  I'd scout Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming for sure.  Then look at Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and maybe Nebraska and the Dakotas.  If you see any interesting-looking players (good-looking starting ATH/DEF, SPD for guards, REB for posts, and maybe 1 or 2 other decent-looking starting values with solid WE) within 360 miles (or anybody in Alaska) scout their states as well.  Remember to do that check BEFORE you pay for any scouting - you want to scout all your states at once so that your full discount applies to all your states.  After that's done look for guys with potentials in all the right places.  If you have any specific questions you can sitemail me or a better owner.  The above referenced aejones thread is also helpful to some extent in player evaluation.

I would suggest jumping on a good 2- or 3-year JUCO center right away if you see one and be willing to spend some money to hold onto him.  Don't necessarily fight a human-coached D2 school with multiple available scholarships for the guy, but resist weak challenges.  I'd also pull down the 2 best-looking D2 freshmen in your scouted states who are open to it.  Call everyone else who looks potentially interesting on the D2 screen.  If they send you a backup message, they're in your recruiting pool.  That's where you take your 2 pulldowns from.  Send 'em 10 or 15 scouting trips and a scholarship offer on the second cycle (first cycle is when you make the calls to find out if they're open to pulling).  Don't waste money pulling guys away from D2 sims unless they look absolutely incredible.  If D2 human coaches show up you probably cut your losses and run, although if they're already considering you it's a judgement call.  In that case sitemail a more experienced owner or 2 for advice if it comes up.  Also on the first cycle send 2 HVs (or 1 CV if it's within about $75 of 2 HVs) and a scholarship offer to any guys you see in your D3 searches who you want.

If you still have scholarships open (which you probably will), scout more states after the first few cycles of the signing period.  Once a bunch of guys have signed scouting gets cheaper.  Find some more players who were overlooked.  The best way to do this is to search the whole country and look for guys who seem interesting and scout their states to find potentials.  If you have a bunch of guys from your D2 interest list who are still undecided you may be able to wait for those guys to drop and then sign them, but if that doesn't fill your slots and you have money left, finding guys late who slipped through the cracks can be a good way to pick up decent recruits on the cheap.

Anyway, that's how I'd approach it.  Then again, I've never won a title...

Update:  I had the 5th highest ranked recruiting class for our world in D3. Of course the fact that I attracted 7 recruits had a lot to do with that, but still some great advice! Thanks!!

That's not a bad class but some of those sub 20 defensive ratings are going to hurt.

The one freshman PG looks like a stud.

The SF Stroup looks like a dud.

I haven't looked at your recruits so don't take this as a comment on that, but the recruiting rankings don't mean a darn thing.

Posted by jsajsa on 6/17/2012 10:51:00 AM (view original):
I haven't looked at your recruits so don't take this as a comment on that, but the recruiting rankings don't mean a darn thing.

I have been wondering about that...Are they not based on core potentials?