I believe HD stands to gain a significant benefit from running recruiting ALONGSIDE the regular season. The current system is quaint, fairly straightforward and easy to understand, but has glaring flaws (that we all know about) and gives large benefits to people whom can dedicate themselves to checking every 3-6 hours for a four-day period.
Looking at the current season setup we have roughly:
4 days of job changes (offseason 1)
4/5 days of recruiting (offseason 2, i say 5 since you get your cash a day early) including 34 recruiting cycles
2 days/cycles of exhibition games (really 1.5 but i digress)
29 days/cycles of regular season play
10 days/cycles of postseason play
1 reflection day (as i like to call it)
that's 41 game cycles and 34 recruiting cycles, which could actually line up pretty nicely.
Before I elaborate, i'd like to mention that i do understand server loads and that running recruiting cycles at 11pm takes a load off the servers at 2am; i am keeping that in mind but nobody besides seble has the data required to confirm or dispute the notion that a setup like mine can be executed.
Imagine a season where:
-After the 4 days of job changes, you have one day where nothing happens that you can set your exhibition lineup and do recruiting research. Perhaps CollegiateInsider posts draft results and maybe an extra fun-to-read publication on that day.
-Exhibition games run as planned while you still have two days of recruiting prep.
-Once the season starts, you also have your first recruiting cycle. Recruiting cycles technically occur at the same time as the games (i'll explain why in a second) but for server reasons you might not see the results until 8am (or 8am/8pm for two-a-day worlds)
-This continues throughout the season. Signings start at the mid-point of conference play (so 20 cycles in), recruiting ends the day after the NC (on Reflection Day).
-The extra 4-5 days gained from the recruiting period can be spread throughout the season for extra days off if the recruiting+gameplanning every day workload is perceived to be larger (which I wouldn't expect, as one cycle in and of itself doesn't take too long to manage).
This setup would give numerous benefits, I can think of a few:
-No 2am recruiting wake-up calls. i feed the cat at 330 am just so i can check whatif naturally during the 2am-5am cycle.
-More to do during the season. i know a lot of top coaches take gameplanning pretty lightly during the regular season, and simultaneous recruiting would give more to look at.
-You HAVE to buy a new season to see your recruits. new coach retention, anyone?
This system is also especially conducive to cycle recruiting limits, as you can:
-Coordinate campus visits so that recruits see your team play the big dogs or just see you win a game. maybe even bring multiple players in at the same time and create some synergy (where Chris Webber can say if Juwan Howard signs, I want to sign).
-Have head-coach home visits only available on your team's off days, whereas an assistant coach has to visit in your stead on gamedays
-Same deal with scouting trips; only one scouting trip per player per cycle, however if it's a head coach scouting visit, you get to see ALL the player's potentials
-The limiting of moves makes it much more difficult for big schools to poach recruits
-The "shotgun" strategy becomes a viable recruiting strategy, since you can't just throw all your eggs into the backup-option basket the day after signings. it promotes battling while slightly lowering the stakes, and increases the chances of landing UConn's backup option if they land all their top recruits.
-You can take "can't be in two places at once" factor into account with assistant coaches and recruits if you'd like to, but even without that, you already now have a system that is not only more 'realistic' but could be more fun as well.
Any thoughts? I think this is one of my better ideas, alongside my "run a 5v5 scrimmage with practice lineups of your choice every day at 5am" idea.