Just want to send a huge thank you to Gary and the team who worked on this game. I am having a great time.
Had a few Wishlist or suggestions for future patches or games:
- De-commitments - Michigan had a commitment from Jalen Wison and after coach John Beilien left to coach the Cleveland Cavs, Jalen Wilson de-committed, opened his recruitment back up and ended up at Kansas. Maybe if a coach takes another job or is fired, there is a chance the recruit opens his options back up.
- Overseas - Top Prospect RJ Hampton is a good example or this, who chose to play overseas instead of going to Duke.
- It would it dynamic if the recruits had a commitment loyalty rating. The way the current system works, as soon as they commit I can ignore them and they will automatically sign their LOI. It would be more engaging if you still had to work and contact him.
- It would be awesome if there were different kinds of recruits. Every recruit is different. Some like constant contact and love shown by the coaches, some hate the process and don't want to be badgered by coaches.
- Introducing a Twitter interface tab, tweeting the latest on how recruits are performing during a season or when they are cutting their lists down to a Top 5. Also if there is a commitment loyalty bar created, if that bar starts to decrease, maybe basketball insiders can tweet that the commit is wavering in his commitment
- Building off the idea of Twitter, most recruits now a days announce a top 5 on twitter or announce their commitment. It would be awesome instead of getting an email letting us know the recruits decision, maybe an email with a link saying that a commit you are in contact with has announced his decision. That link would lead to that recruits twitter feed or post showing "Proud to Announce I am 110% committed to
-Instant commits – there is a chance that if I’m in the Top 3 on a recruits list and I offer a scholarship he might commit. I would have to work throughout the season to keep his commitment and fend off other schools, negative recruiting.
-Introducing the loyalty commitment meter. The way the current system works, once a commit signs I can forget about him and he will sign his LOI automatically. This meter would make it more dynamic and force me to continue showing that recruit attention.
-Negative Recruiting is part of recruiting. There should be an option to negative recruit another coach or school. Some recruits are receptive and some get turned off when you do this. Saying things like “That coach is headed to the NBA next year” or “He might be fired and won’t be there when you get on campus” or “Look at their roster, you won’t play right away”. This would impact the loyalty meter for some recruits
-Recruits with Injury History, maybe they broke their leg Junior year and are rated lower. Then start tearing it up their senior year and rise in the recruiting.
-Introducing busts and gems. Having some higher rated recruits have a hidden bust or gems in a small percentage of recruits. Lets say I sign a 2 star or 3 star with a high work ethic. Chance he actually blows up and is one of the top NCAA players. Same with signing lets say the #2 recruit, maybe he has a bust tag and has off the court issues or injury issues or isn’t a team player.
-Recruits childhood favorite schools could be displayed on their recruiting page. That could tie into instant commits or as an example if a recruit commits to another school first and you miss on your main targets and later in the process you decide to offer, that recruit has a chance to have their loyalty recruiting meter dip for the committed school and have them de-commit and reopen their recruitment to give you a stronger look
-Introducing Brands like Nike, Adiddas, Under Amour, Jordan to the game. The AD of a school might email or call you and say “We have decided to sign a deal with Nike for our uniforms and shoes”. You may or may not get input on what a school chooses (maybe this depends on how respected you are). This would tie into recruiting as some brands steer top recruits towards certain schools and away from other schools. You could also tie this in with Illegal recruiting where you can give the recruit as an example “Nike Gear” when they visit campus or have the “Nike” rep offer them under the table money to go to your school.
-Recruiting weekend where you can host several recruits, depending on who those recruits are could add a bonus. As an example if you get a commit for a lower recruit but he’s a teammate of a higher recruit, that could positively impact the higher recruit. Also if you host two PG’s in the same weekend that would negatively impact recruits as someone of the same position would be there.
-Official Visits expanded. A recruit can only take 5 official visits and you need to work to secure one of those visits. There are scenarios where the recruit comes with just his Mother, because his Dad had to work. There is a scenario where both parents couldn’t make it and that doesn’t give as much of a (depending on how much the parents factory into a recruits decision). Maybe there is a screen where the recruit asks you indepth questions about how you will use him, you can make promises to the recruit that track to the next season, like “I promise you will start next year” or “We will win conference or make the NCAA sweet 16”. If you break the promises the recruit may transfer or your integrity will take a hit.
-New hire of a coach adds a bonus to recruiting (temporarily). As an example look at Penny Hardaway at Memphis or Juwan Howard at Michigan who both signed top 5 classes the first year at a school. (This maybe is dynamic depending on on-court performance, other top recruits committing to you etc.). If I have a good recruiting rating and I take a new job, it should add bonus interest to recruiting
While I realize not all of these ideas can be implemented due to coding or right away, I thought it would be fun to think about new ways to continue to improve the recruiting dynamic of the game.
Looking forward to hearing others ideas and suggestions as well.