Recruiting

[henry296]

Just getting started so I have some general recruiting questions. I started as Pitt so I have decent prestige and in fact when I started it appears that they had the #7 class the prior year.

Is it normal to have nobody interested from outside my home region or do I need to contact them first? I signed up for the. Report for three regions.

Is there an interest level above orange?

When do you normally offer a scholarship. Right now it is the end of July.

Does watching film multiple times improve scouting accuracy or is it pointless?

If a player is warm but says little interest and not showing in top 10 should I move on if I’ve offered or should I wait for the contact period so I can do an in home visit.

I feel like I’m flying a little blind and the help seems lacking.

[Wayne23]

Good questions. Guys in your area will show more interest until you get to a really elite program but you can call to try to get them interested. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. If I REALLY like a guy I keep trying.

I watch film twice early, then about once a month.

If a guy is Warm that's a really good sign, even if he doesn't have you in his top ten. There's nothing above orange, no.

I offer on August 21. Some regulars here offer in September.

In September, I think the 11th you get to Visit recruits, 4 a week for 3 or 4 weeks. This can change things hugely in your favor. See what they'rs interested in (from calling them, which you should have been doing every week starting 6/26) and asking about their interests. When you visit, hit on an area of interest that is a strength for you, whether it's geography, playing time, academics, or whatever.

Recruiting is persistence. Also know that your recruiting assistant is calling recruits regularly but that doesn't show up.

Feel free to keep the questions coming. PointGuard and some other regulars will also check in with pointers for you. I LOVE this game and I've been playing since early 2007.

[PointGuard]

Good response by Wayne.

Interest is best developed and improved through: phone calls from the head coach, your attendance at a summer camp in which a recruit is participating, campus visits, and home visits.

Those recruits from your home state (and to a lesser degree your region) are often the ones most interested early. Obviously if one or both of their parents have attended your college (you'll find this out by asking about their parents during a phone call), that can be a plus in your favor. And the higher your prestige (and that of your conference), often the better your chances of getting a recruit.

I'm one of the ones Wayne was referring to who normally waits until September to offer scholarships, but if it's a high flyer (ranked highly nationally) then it could be wise to offer in late August or on Sept 4. A very low percentage of the recruits accept scholarships on Sept 4, but most do so after Sept 11. So I ensure I've made my initial offers by Sept 11.

As Wayne said, persistence (and repetition) can work wonders.

I suggest when first playing DDSCB you use "Easy" as the recruiting difficulty level and then advance it to more difficult levels as you get familiar with recruiting. I'm using Brutal and sometimes I kick ass and sometimes I get mine kicked.

Recruiting is the most intriguing and challenging (and occasionally frustrating) part of DDSCB for me...much like it probably is for a lot of real coaches.

[henry296]

Thanks the replies. A few more new questions after getting mostly through my first round of recruiting. I’m now at the beginning of the regular season. I was able to generate some interest from other regions. I know now I should put them on my call list instead of those 2 starts I’ll never take.

How do I see other schools in the top 10?

Is there a value in multiple in home visits?

After most of the early players verbally commit the last few weeks no one has. Should I keep calling my remaining targets during this quiet period. . I’ve learned all about their pitches and the interest doesn’t seem to be changing. It feels a little unnecessary.

[Wayne23]

1. You see other top 10 schools when you but the Gold report for that region.
2. Absolutely visit as often as you can. This is a huge factor.
3. Calling doesn't seem to do much once you know about all areas of interest... I think. I'm never quite sure.
4. You didn't ask but be sure to spend all of your budget (or as close as you can) before the end of the season on April 23. You won;t get a budget increase if you leave money in the budget. You may not anyway but there's no chance if there's money left (more than a few dollars).

[henry296]

Any issues with keeping your call list full even if you likely won't offer them? Do your assistants only call so many recruits? I'm calling my top targets each week myself to ask about the pitch areas?

[Wayne23]

Some of us keep our lists full. I tend to target and whittle down the list. I think the assistant calls everyone every week but I'm not positive. PointGuard may know.

[valley1719]

Great information guys. I have a quick question on buying reports. I'm at Drake, so my first two years I only paid for the Great Plains report. However, I also picked up a couple good recruits out of Illinois (Midwest region). Year 3 I paid for both regional reports and seem to be getting interest in both. My question is about the national report. I saw that it was the same price as buying two regions. Is there any reason to not just buy the national report if you are going to buy 2+ regions? I thought about trying it, but also thought maybe the national report only includes top level national prospects and wouldn't actually be each region's full report. Was going to trouble shoot this during my next offseason, but figured maybe some of you already had.

[valley1719]

Any issues with keeping your call list full even if you likely won't offer them? Do your assistants only call so many recruits? I'm calling my top targets each week myself to ask about the pitch areas?

Henry, the only consideration would be that each player on your call list costs $5/week out of your budget. This hasn't been an issue for me and I keep mine pretty much full until I've secured my scholarships and spent my budget.

[PointGuard]

Re watch/call list and asssitant phone calls: I usually keep my watch and call lists pretty full. As to assistant phone calls, I'm not sure if the recruiting assistant calls each recruit every week...could be...but at any rate, I figure he calls them often enough.

Re national report: Interesting point you've brought up. I'd never thought about that. My impression is that it covers all recruits in the nation, but I'm not sure. I'll check with Gary.