Small School Recruiting Advice

[tm74]

When scouting for a small, low prestige school in your first season, what are some tips for landing appropriate kids? This is my first save, so I'm kind of lost. Should I only focus on local kids? Is it worth it to even look at recruits above 3 stars? Any tips welcome.

[PointGuard]

First decide what Recruiting Difficulty Level you want to use (obviously things will be easier with Easy or Normal than Hard or Brutal).

It will be easiest to create interest in recruits within your state and then to a lesser degree within your region. It likely will be difficult to get HS recruits from outside the region interested, but sometimes you can create interest with some JC recruits from outside your region. And the possibility for recruiting outside the region increases in the spring for those recruits who are still available.

4 star recruits will be very tough to land, but it's not totally impossible. 3 star recruits? ... Yeah, you can successfully recruit some of them.

Be persistent and recruit aggressively.

[tarek]

What school and what prestige level? Also, are you in a stronger conference than your school prestige? Also, what is your budget like for recruiting per season?

What I would suggest as a school that is around 30 or so prestige is to forget 5* recruits and forget 4* recruits (for the most part). Then check your budget and try to figure out if you can afford to host a bunch of maybe (aka 'cold') players from states in different regions. There seem to be 3 tiers of recruit costs, the local in state recruit who costs $125 for a campus visit, the other states in your region and some states in an adjacent region which cost $550 for a campus visit, the US based far away recruits which cost $750 for a campus visit and the overseas players who cost $2350 for a campus visit. As a small school i would avoid overseas players, their ratings vs scores can be really out of whack.

Campus visits are key, you want to focus on players who had an 'awesome' time or those who have 'cool visits' and look forward to talking to you again. Those recruits often change to warm and sometimes list you in their top 10. Keep these on your watch and call list.

Also, I would recommend the Georgia National camp, it seems that the way it is sorted is you get the top 100 at the Indy Camp, players 100-200 in the East Coast Jam (might be a little different but roughly those), then at the Georgia Camp you get the 200-400 recruits. So for a small school the Georgia national Camp is your best bet. The also go to your region camp, but I wouldn't bother with other external ones.

Next just flood your call and watch list with 3* recruits at positions you need who what a ? in their name. After one week your assistant will have called them and they will either turn to 'none' or 'cold'.

Things to watch for are:
1. How they perform in a camp - just avoid players who get the report 'didn't really stand out' and the rest will be decent
2. Watch how they respond to your home visit - you want recruits who were swayed by the home visit
3. Match their interests to your strengths. Try to figure out what your main strength is, and if that recruit has that top strength in their top 3 priorities you should be able to have a good home visit.

If you need more help let me know and I can help running you through some stuff. Bear in mind that the sim engine is really awesome and that even if you think you've hit it out of the park with a recruit, you won't know who else has offered a scholarship and all that hard work can disappear in a moment.

[tm74]

Thanks.

Are there set times that kids make decisions? I hate staring at the inbox and figure they only set to declare after home visits maybe?

I'm playing Central Michigan, which is only 28 prestige in a 40 prestige conference, with a coach rep of just 27. Guess the three star guys are my ticket for now.

[Wayne23]

Kids begin to select schools in September, usually on the 18th and afterward, but a very few on the 11th. I'm also coaching at UCM and I've landed an occasional 4 star, usually an in state guy.

[tm74]

After that first wave, though, do they always wait until March? I've picked up a few 4 star guys in 3 seasons so far too, but they never turn out 4 star by potential on my roster. Need better scouts...

[Wayne23]

They commit through October and early November, then it's rare for anyone to commit before March or so.

[tarek]

Thanks.

Are there set times that kids make decisions? I hate staring at the inbox and figure they only set to declare after home visits maybe?

I'm playing Central Michigan, which is only 28 prestige in a 40 prestige conference, with a coach rep of just 27. Guess the three star guys are my ticket for now.

Not necessarily just 3 stars. But you need to see which players fit your style, and have a genuine interest in your school. Like I said there are normally a couple steps:

1. Determine if there is any interest at the 'cold' level. (sometimes a player will be warm from the start, these are players who already have genuine interest)
2. During the first phone call ask them under general information what they think of your school, you will normally get the 'you're not in the mix' response but sometimes you get lucky with a 'you're in the top 3/4' or 'you're my first choice coach' or something like that.
3. Next is the campus visit - this is a big factor, anyone who says they had an 'awesome time' is really interesting, it goes down levels.
4. The home visit - by now you should know enough about their preferences (or parents' preferences) to pitch the best thing you can. For you, if conference prestige is high, that's better than your team prestige, also check your facilities and academics ranking (anything above B is good for a pitch). The response you want out of the home visit is that they 'can't wait to see you on the court next year'. Those are players who want into your team. Sometimes they don't sign that week, and if they don't then repeat the home visit (same pitch) and hopefully they sign after that second visit.

In terms of commitments, I've found after the first flurry not many sign during the season (if any, I haven't been following anyone who has signed mid season). Most teams after the first flurry wait for SATs. Then when the next round of home visits can occur. The home visits are often the final step needed to secure a commitment.

[tarek]

Thanks.

Are there set times that kids make decisions? I hate staring at the inbox and figure they only set to declare after home visits maybe?

I'm playing Central Michigan, which is only 28 prestige in a 40 prestige conference, with a coach rep of just 27. Guess the three star guys are my ticket for now.

Not necessarily just 3 stars. But you need to see which players fit your style, and have a genuine interest in your school. Like I said there are normally a couple steps:

1. Determine if there is any interest at the 'cold' level. (sometimes a player will be warm from the start, these are players who already have genuine interest)
2. During the first phone call ask them under general information what they think of your school, you will normally get the 'you're not in the mix' response but sometimes you get lucky with a 'you're in the top 3/4' or 'you're my first choice coach' or something like that.
3. Next is the campus visit - this is a big factor, anyone who says they had an 'awesome time' is really interesting, it goes down levels.
4. The home visit - by now you should know enough about their preferences (or parents' preferences) to pitch the best thing you can. For you, if conference prestige is high, that's better than your team prestige, also check your facilities and academics ranking (anything above B is good for a pitch). The response you want out of the home visit is that they 'can't wait to see you on the court next year'. Those are players who want into your team. Sometimes they don't sign that week, and if they don't then repeat the home visit (same pitch) and hopefully they sign after that second visit.

In terms of commitments, I've found after the first flurry not many sign during the season (if any, I haven't been following anyone who has signed mid season). Most teams after the first flurry wait for SATs. Then when the next round of home visits can occur. The home visits are often the final step needed to secure a commitment.