I just completed tenth year at East Carolina. I have had a couple bad recruiting seasons back to back. Starting to think that the long term Coaching preference is bull. Can my peers tell me if this observation is correct?

The impact of most of the preferences is pretty insignificant. Not based on fact, but it feels to me like the level of impact on recruiting is:

Playing Time - 10%
Distance - 5%
Everything Else - 2.5%

People are going to cancel each other out with playing time so then that leaves distance which is normally close to equal. So then you'll maybe have 1-2 other preference advantages but it's not going to guarantee you recruits or anything.

Maybe it's not clear to everyone, but preferences are already factored into the percentages. If you end up 50/50 considering with another team on a recruit and you have 5 Very Good preferences and they have 5 Very Bad preferenes, you still only had a 50% chance. Preferences do not increase your chances above and beyond that. If preferences were equal, you maybe would have had a 30% chance.

Prestige is still by far the biggest factor (even for guys who want rebuilds which is dumb).

It’s all relative of effort, in comparison with the teams involved in the battle. If long term coach preference is the only preference and the battle is between two equal teams in every area (prestige, effort, and other preference scores), then it’s going to be very helpful in getting you up to the leader in the roll.

but if things aren’t equal then it just becomes another part of the overall recruiting score. As far as it’s strength in comparison to other preferences, I rate long term coach as just behind wants to play, wants success, and distance. But a lot stronger than every other preference not mentioned

Posted by Baums_away on 9/2/2022 1:18:00 PM (view original):
Maybe it's not clear to everyone, but preferences are already factored into the percentages. If you end up 50/50 considering with another team on a recruit and you have 5 Very Good preferences and they have 5 Very Bad preferenes, you still only had a 50% chance. Preferences do not increase your chances above and beyond that. If preferences were equal, you maybe would have had a 30% chance.

Prestige is still by far the biggest factor (even for guys who want rebuilds which is dumb).

So how much of a shot do I have at landing a recruit if I am A- going against A+ And how do I know when to cut my losses and go after someone else?

my rule of thumb at D1, with a couple preferences, you may be able to battle one full letter grade above your prestige successfully.
ie.. a B can take on an A. C can take on a B. But if the preferences are equal you could have a 30-40% prestige disadvantage.

Also remember there can be multiple levels of an A+. Since there is no option to move up a grade, An A+ could actually be an A+++.

Posted by oldwarrior on 9/17/2022 2:49:00 AM (view original):
my rule of thumb at D1, with a couple preferences, you may be able to battle one full letter grade above your prestige successfully.
ie.. a B can take on an A. C can take on a B. But if the preferences are equal you could have a 30-40% prestige disadvantage.

Also remember there can be multiple levels of an A+. Since there is no option to move up a grade, An A+ could actually be an A+++.

so I guess all I can do is wait now.