Posted by dahsdebater on 10/9/2012 12:15:00 PM (view original):
You called it unethical in your opening post. I think that's highly questionable. If it only happens one time, I wouldn't think twice about it. Yeah, it sucks. But if he legitimately looked at the recruiting pool and decided those were the best guys for his program, it makes sense for him to take them if he thinks he can. If you look at it from his perspective, would you really want to take what you perceived as lesser recruits just because the guys you want all happen to be considering the same school a division below yours? I wouldn't. In fact, I have taken 3 recruits from the same school (both D3, but I took advantage of having a few more openings to outspend and take the guys I wanted) in 1 recruiting period in the past. I would only worry about it if it becomes a problem. Where I would perceive an issue is if this guy isn't actually FSSing or doing his own scouting, he's taking advantage of you to do his scouting for him and saving the FSS money to win battles for players you're essentially telling him are good. I don't even think that's against the rules, per se, but I would consider it unethical. I'm sure seble would have something to say about D2 teams using high-level D3 programs as a farm system/scouting network. But again, if he scouted the guys and just thought they were the best players he could get, I see nothing wrong with it at all. I'm really surprised nobody else has said that yet. We all know recruiting isn't over 'till it's over.
I agree with this. I would never do it, in fact I rarely start battles at all; and I would certainly be irritated to no end if it had happened to me; but it's not unethical or unfair, it's just annoying.
Yes, it's a dick move by him, but everyone is saying he should be going after better players and he probably should be. But an 0-27 D2 program does not have as good of a team as a perennial power D3 program so in theory he IS going after better players than he currently has.
Perennial power D3 teams could probably make most D2 NT's, so it's a great way for an 0-27 coach to start to improve his team with solid players. In future classes maybe this particular coach will start going up a level himself, but even when doing that, sometimes you have to "settle" for D2 recruits and occasionally have to fend off a D3 guy to get them.
But the bottom line is that the D3 coach was the one going up to the D2 guy's level. These were pulldowns by chapel, not actual D3 recruits, let's remember that.
Again - not a strategy I employ or even endorse, but it's not illegal - it's just annoying for the guy who gets dinged, and I feel for ya Chapel, I'd feel the same way as you.