i was trying to find that post about being wired differently, about wanting to learn d2/d3 before rushing to d1, but i am just going to respond to it conceptually.
i would DEFINITELY recommend this guy's approach, to literally everyone who joins this game. its just that most folks would ignore that advice anyway and rush to d1, so, it is what it is...
but anyway, the reason i really like that approach is simple. in d2/d3, you can learn to coach. recruiting competition is much less, you can at least find quality players without too much craziness. unfortunately, this is less true in d2/d3 today, than when i started, but d1 is even crazier competition, so its still generally speaking, something that holds.
d2/d3 is supposed to be, in my view, where you learn how the sim engine side of this game works. you learn about the ratings and settings and how to use them. the d2/d3 pool (conceptually - not the actual listed pools) are supposed to be fairly vast, and coaches should be able to basically get more or less, exactly the kinds of players they want, and then see how it works. no players are perfect, its all about the tradeoffs, and about learning which ratings and group of ratings lead to success in various areas... and how the settings work and all that. once you master that, its all about vision building - what would the perfect team look like - and then you go test that theory, because in theory, you can. i'm not saying perfect players, but a perfect team of imperfect players... what is that. d2/d3 is where you are supposed to go learn all that ****.
d1 has more perfect players, but team building is MUCH more challenging. dice rolls add to this greatly - before dice rolls, it was battling for recruits creating uncertainty in who you'd get, and limiting your ability to get who you want, which was the norm for lower end schools and middle ones. top tier schools might get their pick of the litter, but then EEs kick in to create uncertainty and holes. dice rolls just amp this up, which is why the overall strategy from coaches has shifted to teams requiring less depth, or to fb/fcp where there's a much different and generally more flexible scheme around roster construction.
d1 is really fun because its a wild ride through recruiting and then you have to try to cobble together a functioning team from whatever pieces you ended up with. to me, its the ultimate version of this game, and i don't know that i could ever go back and enjoy d2/d3, with where i am in my progression as a coach. but like, d2/d3 is where you go to learn how to play this game. i did not learn how to play this game in d1. i learned in d2/d3. i learned how to recruit for d1 in d1, but i learned how to play HD in d2/d3. when i went to d1, i basically made it my ***** from day 1, because i was already as good at the team building and coaching side as anyone. all of that i learned in d2/d3. now granted, i did head to d1 pretty quickly, and its fine to do that, but you should still be learning how to play this game with your d2/d3 teams first and foremost. i was a quick study so i was able to go to d1 quickly but still after i'd learned the game in d2/d3. most folks should expect to partially learn to coach in d2/d3, then head to d1 to start on d1 recruiting, while continuing to learn how to coach in d2/d3, which is really a career long experience. there's still a ton about coaching i don't know, but i got lazy about learning coaching after i got really good at it.
6/15/2022 1:43 PM (edited)