Initially wanted to stay in the lower divisions, now looking to join D1. Does your ability to land D1 gigs depend more on your cumulative stats as a coach, or if I just had a ton of success this past season can that be enough to land a nice job? Furthermore, do you have to start at mid level D1 before you can get the power 5 positions?

I don’t know if others have a clear answer for you, I haven’t paid enough attention, and since I’m exclusively D1 now, I don’t have the chance to test it since the standards were relaxed. My sense is that in Smith, if you can get a Sweet 16 or better, you’ll have your pick of non-power D1 schools below B- prestige. If you’re thinking power conference or mid-majors that come with a baseline prestige better than ~C+ (Utah, Gonzaga, etc), you’ll either need a very deep run this year, or find a team that has dropped down pretty far, like in the C range for current prestige, or below. And then be ready for a tough rebuild, and know that rebuilding a doormat program in a power conference is a huge challenge.

And you may still need to wait another season and have another post-season appearance, since some of your previous seasons have been under-water. I’m honestly not sure how the system will weigh your whole resume. I am pretty sure how far you go in the tournament this year will determine a good deal of how far you can reach, but I’m also pretty sure the B level and up jobs will still be a couple good seasons away, probably.

Thanks shoe. Thats very helpful. Looking forward to a tough D1 rebuild.

After continued success (about 300 D2 wins and recent NT experience), you could always get to the bottom of the barrel in the power 6 conferences (Fresno, Nebraska, Clemson etc) and since they've significantly lowered the requirements, I'm guessing its alot easier. Just remember that D2 is largely a level playing field, D1 is very far from that. Personally, I would recommend starting in one of the mid-major conferences that has some other owners but isnt completely full. It's easy to get frustrated repeatedly losing 24 games in the ACC. Mid-major gives you a chance to still get wins but also learn the D1 recruiting landscape.

You have 3 teams in 4 seasons. You may have a loyalty problem moving to DI.

Posted by mullycj on 10/18/2021 7:47:00 PM (view original):
You have 3 teams in 4 seasons. You may have a loyalty problem moving to DI.

Yeah maybe. I am not sure how much weight this has anymore, but it may factor in. I think if the hope is a power conference, the only shot (in Smith) is going to be a place like Purdue, Rutgers, Mississippi, or South Carolina, all D+ or lower. And even then, like I said, it may take another NT win or two next season, because of the loyalty and whole resume.

But I don’t know. It’s been relaxed quite a bit, and like 6-7 total seasons plus a deep run this year may be enough, and loyalty has never been that huge (at least since I’ve been here) anyway. I guess we may find out.

Based on my experience in Knight I think you'll need to put together a bit of a D1 resume to get a job in a power conference. To qualify for D1 though? That should be doable with a recent NT appearance or two.

FWIW I played 8 seasons in D3, made the NT every season (with a Championship Game and E8 mixed in there) and didn't qualify for the major conferences or some of the mid-tier jobs (think like Dayton) when I jumped up this past season. But I'm pretty sure most of the D+ type prestige jobs opened after my second year... of course that was my Championship Game run, so YMMV.

I had no problem getting into C- prestige Long Island. It'd be an alright job if the previous guy hadn't apparently tried to schedule every high major possible on his way out. As an aside I got annoyed with recruiting at D3, which is why I made the jump.

I believe everyone is getting annoyed with D2 and D3 recruiting because of what we're used to. But I believe in the end, maybe a year from now, D2 and D3 both will be much better games in the long run