Brand new and frustrated. Topic

Cool. good tips everyone!!   How would you go about getting a players FT grade up?  Put 20 - 25 into it?.


And how can I tell if there are human coaches in a conference I choose?

2/3/2013 4:59 PM
FT progresses very slowly. I never put more than 12 into it unless I'm maxed out everywhere else. 

I haven't had a new team in a long time. If you click on Westminster, can you see the current schedule? If so, it'll list the human coaches. 

Or, here are the Heartland Conference teams. See if they have a coaching vacancy. If not, they're a human. 

(Bluffton, Franklin, Anderson, Manchester, Defiance, Hanover, Transylvania, Phil.Biblical, Westminster, Waynesburg, Thomas More., Mt. St. Joseph).
2/3/2013 5:10 PM (edited)
Awesome! Thanks!
2/3/2013 5:11 PM
I am biased towards Crum because I got my start there this summer, but just because you didn't start well at Grove City doesn't mean you need to change worlds entirely. Right now, you're in a conference without any other human coaches, but there are plenty of more active conferences that may be worth considering. Active conferences are more fun, and if you have solid coaches in your conference, you can sometimes learn a lot from them. 

One good choice may be the Freedom Conference, where jsajsa has built a perennial power at Delaware Valley (two-time defending champion, four straight Final Fours). I'm sure there are people here you could really help you out. It looks to me like King's would be the most attractive option there this year. Run a motion/man, third in their division this season but only graduating one player, so you can have a small recruiting class to start out as you get the feel for it. Next year, they'll have six open scholarships (which is about the max class size for recruiting without things getting way out of hand), so you'll be able to make your mark. 

Another decent option (although less full) is the ODAC. West Virginia is a great place to recruit as a D3, because they have a ton of D2 talent that can drop down to you and only one D3 school local (although people certainly swoop in from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. I even come into West Virginia from Tennessee). Bridgewater is right on the WV border and runs a flex/press, which is a pretty good combo. They do have six seniors this year, so you'd recruit a lot right away and you might struggle your first year. 

And, of course, I can't get by without mentioning my own conference, where I got my start, the Ohio. This is one of the most full conferences in Crum D3 and definitely has the most trash talk. Most of the guys know each other in real life. They don't know me, but they're cool anyways. Sadly, all three available teams in my division run a fastbreak/press, which is not a good combo for someone starting out, but you could switch to say, Flex and Press easily enough in year one. Muskingum is probably best set up for immediate success. They are graduating three seniors and have six juniors. 

If you have your heart set on Allen, the Centennial, Great Northeast, Minnesota, NESCAC, and Iowa Conferences seem to be the most active (I have a team in Allen D2, so I just briefly checked coaches corners). Nebraska Wesleyan looks like the best opportunity to me out of those. You're the only D3 school in your state, and I've always wondered if it's close enough to pick off some of the famously talented Colorado recruits. 

Hope some of this helps. I tend to be long-winded. If you have any questions, just ask. 


2/3/2013 5:53 PM
This absolutely helps !!!   I will look into Kings, Bridgewater, and Muskingum in CRUM.   Thank you!!   GO SAN FRANCISCO!!!!    :)

Also, if I become a coach of a team, can I cut crappy players and recruit more freshmen?


2/3/2013 6:37 PM (edited)
Yes, you can, but you won't get extra recruiting cash for them, so it's best to only cut non-seniors who you're pretty sure won't be useful. 

And I have no connection to either team (the only Tennessee grads are Haralson, who is on IR for SF and Morgan Cox, the long-snapper for BAL), but I can get behind Team Flightless Birds. Loved him at Nevada. 
2/3/2013 7:03 PM
Just remember that rebuilding a SIM team is likely to take 3 to 4 years after you know what you are doing.

You can't expect to win with just one recruiting class.

When you have recruited every player on the team, that is when you can expect to win
2/4/2013 12:08 AM
If you're interested in joining Allen and want to coach a PA team, Centennial would be happy to have you and welcome you with open arms...as long as you can handle our sarcasm and playful banter!  I highly recommend you take over one of the following teams in Centennial: 1) Swarthmore - 7 scholarships, Motion/Zone, Great PG in Coulson returning to be your star and run your team.  2) Washington - 7 scholarships, Triangle/Zone, decent bigs and guards returning that should develop more during the offseason.  3) Lincoln - 3 scholarships, Flex/Man, 9 upperclassmen returning to form a solid team. 

We are building up our conference as we have 4 fairly experienced coaches and 2 newbies dedicated to creating a great environment. We have 2 teams currently in the NT.  Feel free to sitemail me if you'd like more info. Hope you'll join us! 
2/4/2013 12:57 AM
I agree with you all.  I always tell new coaches to take over teams that have been average to bad for awhile.  It's hard to determine how much of your success is your own and how much is someone else's when you take over a top team.  With worse teams it's easier to monitor progress.  
2/4/2013 1:47 AM
I'd like to formally invite you to Allen's MIAA conference! (Michigan)

I'm not the greatest or most knowledgeable coach but we have a good little conference and I'm always up for helping new coaches!  I sent you a site mail as well! 

We sent 3 teams to the NT this season!  Calvin is still alive, but we face an undefeated Methodist tonight!
2/4/2013 12:41 PM
I would definitely recommend starting out small in terms of number of opening. That way its less chances to screw up and you get a season or two of limited recruiting practice under your belt before you have to really step it up. My first two seasons in HD I had one opening the first year and 2 the second. It really helped that I didn't have to stretch myself to try and fill a whole bunch of spots when I didn't really know what I was doing.
2/4/2013 5:21 PM
I think it's important (echoing what others have said) to pick up a team with no more than 4 or 5 openings at the most. It takes a very experienced coach to salvage something out of a school with 9 open scholarships. 

Important things to remember

 - when in doubt, focus mostly on ATH / DEF in recruiting.  
 - make sure to take advantage of FSS (the scouting service) - recruiting without this is like recruiting blind. You might need to pick up extra seasons in order to do so. 
- if you can afford it, get a 5-pack. Therefore you won't be tempted to quit at first - there are always growing pains for new coaches.
- you're likely not going to win much RIGHT AWAY, but that doesn't mean the game isn't going to be fun during that stretch. Join a conference with at least 6 or 7 good human coaches (not all Sim AI). Make sure to enlist their advice on how to improve your team. It's enjoyable to watch your players grow and get better, and it's fun to banter with other coaches.
- I think you would do best to switch teams, but maybe stay in the same world. Find the most full conferences in Division III and try to transfer to one of those teams next offseason. 
- If you have recruiting questions, sitemail a veteran coach. I can usually help answer questions when I have free time. 


 
2/4/2013 5:41 PM
I did not see anyone point you to this, so here is the aejones guide to win at D2/D3 ... it gives you attributes to look at for recruiting at different positions, etc.

Look at the first post and digest the information ... specific to recruiting, here is a very important paragraph:

"A more specific guide to what I'm looking for my players to get to in terms of minimum speed/athleticism requirements. Note that there are exceptions to every rule, and these should only be used for a guide and not a steadfast rule. At d3, I am looking for my guards to be a combination of 120 in speed/athleticism; a PG to get to at least 70 speed/50 athleticism (or some combination very close to that), SG to get to 65/55, SF to get to 60/60. Again, if I find someone who is just under those marks but is spectacular in their skills, I can make exceptions. For bigs, I am looking for about 70 athleticism in my PF, 60 athleticism in my C. I value speed very little in bigs, but I value it slightly more in my PF than my C, where I don't value it at all (I might if I played the press anywhere). At D2, use all of the guides I just mentioned but add 10 to each number (so, a total of 140 speed/athleticism for my perimeter players)."

There is also a yatzr recruiting tool ... I highly recommend making a donation to yatzr and getting access to the paid donor features.  (Look at the *Paid/Donor Features* of the fist post in the Recruiting Tool link)

I have posted the equations I use in the tool here:  hughesjr's equations for yatzr tool

I am not saying that I am smarter than anyone else, I am just willing to share a set of equations I use for the tool.

2/4/2013 7:18 PM
I think the thought that you should stay away from a team with a big recruiting class is important. New coaches honestly have no idea how to recruit well in this game and like they said, you will get stuck with a whole team of crappy guys for 4 seasons.

Look at other teams who are successful. You don't have to look at the top 10 teams right away, because it's unlikely you can recruit a class like them with your experience and prestige. Look at some teams who make the NT fairly regularly to get an idea of what kind of team you need to build. Once you feel comfortable building that level of team, start looking at the top teams. Look at the kind of players they recruit.

Get comfortable with FSS and potential. Understand when you look at recruits where they will be and not where they are now. Know the caps and limits associated with potential. You don't need to scout 5 different states at this point. Just scout 1-2 major states where the majority of recruits are within your 300 mile range. Again, once you get comfortable with your team and feel like you have the idea on what to do, then start looking for bigger and better things. I just won a DIII title scouting only 2-3 states per year in mid size states running a flex Off and M2M def. Or you can do like someone else said, wait till signing day and then start recruiting. You can scout more states for less money and beat guys scraping for recruits since you have all your money. Just remember, distance is important when recruiting unless you are expereienced enough to know how to scout nationally.
2/5/2013 10:45 PM
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