Going from 0 rated coach

[TripLykely]

Just picked up the game and digging it. Started a run as the lowest rated coach possible and after 2 seasons am still single digit skill - not complaining. Anyone know roughly how many seasons it takes to go from 0 to say 50-ish? Little over a decade at this pace but I’m not sure if anything affects the rate of coach progression

[PointGuard]

Uhhh...we should be on DDSCB2026 by then.

[Wayne23]

How quickly you get better depends, among other things, on where you set your Potential ratings. If you set them low you'll never improve. I start at 0 now and then but put my potentials where they'd be if I grew into a good, or often a very good coach. Progress is a lot quicker.

[TripLykely]

Uhhh...we should be on DDSCB2026 by then.

Haha don’t know if I’m up for that long of a grind

How quickly you get better depends, among other things, on where you set your Potential ratings. If you set them low you'll never improve. I start at 0 now and then but put my potentials where they'd be if I grew into a good, or often a very good coach. Progress is a lot quicker.

Makes sense. Although I started as a 0 the potential is 100; looks like it’s roughly 3-5 points to each coach attribute per season. The attributes are closely bunched after 3 seasons but they aren’t all the same so I’m curious what factors play into the progression.

Starting as worse than rookie profile at that rate it would take 6-10 seasons to reach rookie (30 ovr) and 17-29 to reach elite (85 ovr) - or 10-17 to go from rookie to elite - all of which seem reasonable. Looking to embark on a grind of some kind, but so far trying to recruit has been absurdly tough (as it should) and I’m not sure how to ever field a competitor. Maybe the rookie start is the way to go

[Wayne23]

LOTS of ways to play this game. When I started here I did some associations that didn't last that long. I looked to learn some things then I scrapped the association and tried something else. Eventually I felt I knew enough to take on a career long association. This game is DEEP. I've been here for 14 years and I'm still playing regularly.

[PointGuard]

I've actually never kept track of how much my coach increases his reputation each year, but it seems like it's in the low digits (2-5 ??? ) each year. And I've never started a career with a coach at a rep of 0.

[TripLykely]

LOTS of ways to play this game. When I started here I did some associations that didn't last that long. I looked to learn some things then I scrapped the association and tried something else. Eventually I felt I knew enough to take on a career long association. This game is DEEP. I've been here for 14 years and I'm still playing regularly.

Certainly deep, and it may make more sense to play around a bit more on less extreme settings before embarking on something like I’ve described. Any good tips or resources for me to learn/understand recruiting better? I think that will be the biggest aspect of my success

I've actually never kept track of how much my coach increases his reputation each year, but it seems like it's in the low digits (2-5 ??? ) each year. And I've never started a career with a coach at a rep of 0.

Where do you normally start, hows the initial challenge and how long until it’s easy?

[Wayne23]

I play the first season with recruiting on Easy if I'm at a low rated school, then move to Normal and keep it there. PointGuard, who has been around the game about as long as I have, goes for Brutal. I want a shot at success, thus the Easy first year, and Normal to me means real world. PointGuard will probably jump in with his philosophy if he sees this.
As far as how to recruit goes, recruit to your strength. Often that means recruit locally, in state, or at least in the local region, BUT save some money for Spring. You may well find that some players who were not offered to by the schools they wanted, suddenly become interested. Also, I have more luck with JuCos throughout the process, and with international players in the Spring. If you use your money judiciously, $35-40 thousand will get you through.
Alternatively, if you're at an Ivy League school or a school with very high academic standards, you can occasionally get kids with VERY high GPA (3.6-4.0) to consider and maybe even sign IF academics is the top or one of the top interests. Discipline can be a factor if your coach is a strict disciplinarian and the recruit has that as his #1. With a low rated school your Facilities probably won't help you. Nor will Team and Conference Prestige, so if the recruit has those at or near the top of his interests, not worth pursuing, EXCEPT that International players often have Facilities at or near the top and I've gotten them anyway in the Spring. Also, keep watching, keep calling. The inside story is that once you hit all the categories calling doesn't help. I'm not sure I believe that (PointGuard, what's your take on this?). If you can afford to Scout more than once, do it. Host as often as possible (It's not available most weeks but becomes available again in the Spring).

[PointGuard]

I often start with a Rookie Coach, but not at 0...Within the maximum points that can be awarded for a Rookie, i allot various amounts to different coaching skills. So the coach begins his career with some low level reputation (but still at a point where he's going to only be able to coach at low prestige basketball programs.

Now with respect to recruiting...Wayne's remarks are good as usual (I'm sure he just fainted hearing me say that about his comments...lol). He's extremely experienced (some would say old). Anyway I do agree with what he says (some more so that others of course...GRINS).

There is no one way to play DDSCB or one way that is the best way to play it...that's one of the things that makes it a great game...everyone can sort of tailor how they play it to whatever suits them.

My suggestion to anyone just starting with this game is that they begin with a fairly experienced coach (fairly high rep) and begin with a team with rather high prestige and at the beginning that they set recruiting difficulty level to EASY. That way they will have some recruiting success while they begin to learn and understand the nuances of recruiting (it's an art rather than a science). Again, I will repeat that what works for one player may be different than what works for another. Then as the player becomes familiar with recruiting, increase the difficult level so that there is a challenge rather than just continually rolling over the AI in recruiting.

As Wayne said I now almost always use "brutal" difficulty level because I feel that it definitely is a bigger and more fun challenge. It is more difficult to get the better recruits that way...but when you're familiar with recruiting, I think the human player still can do a little better than the AI...but you have to aggressively recruit. Because I like to beat recruiting to death (i.e., be very aggressive) and because with brutal level it takes more effort and cost to be successful, I like to have a bigger recruiting budget than what Wayne indicated. But I usually play at low prestige colleges so I never have a huge budget and can never buy the Gold Report.

Yes, Juco recruits can be somewhat easier to land, even those outside your region. I tend to limit myself on juco's normally though since I prefer to have my players all 4 years rather than 2 (just my personal preference). I normally can not go after international players because I don't have the $$ it takes, but as Wayne indicated, sometimes you can pick up one in the Spring with little expenditure of funds (but a lot of calling).

I agree with Wayne that persistence pays off. I an mot sure but THINK that sometimes a player's interest may be increased through calls after all interest areas have been discovered...but I'm not sure about that....maybe I just like to THINK that it is. Agree that campus visits and scouting visits are good to do if you have enough money. But DEFINITELY its valuable to do Home Visits (keying on high interests for the player and/or parents)...those are the most likely way to get scholarship offers accepted...you get 4 weeks of these in Sept/Oct and a couple weeks of these in April.

My opinion is that Recruiting is the most challenging and most fun part of this game...but I KNOW that others do not share my opinion. And for those who don't like it or want to get thru that part quickly, they can have the AI do it all (or parts of it) or Skip all or parts of Summer so the AI handles it.

But...ultimately...you will find your own way and do what you like to do...and that's a good thing. I'm continually surprised by how different people play the game...and that's cool. Ultimately the best way to learn and enjoy the game is to just keep playing it and try different things.

[TripLykely]

This is all great, thank you both for taking the time. Lots to consider if I go for a 0 coach run - I actually started one like PointGuard suggested with a rookie profile. I'm a longtime simulation gamer and glutton for punishment so I did bump job security and recruiting all the way up. Trying to learn the 'art of recruiting' has been interesting, but I think I'm getting somewhere. Watching some GM Games videos helped; and while my first season was lackluster in year two I snagged 3* top25 from the regional camp, an out of state (in region) 3* who was decent/not spec. at regional camp, and a 2* who if my scouts and his HS stats are right will be a great scorer. But... it still may not be what I think it is, although I'm pretty confident on the camp guys. The fog of war is a must in games like this - knowing exactly how good players are kills immersion for me. What's more, your recruiting strategy (how you look at JuCos/Intl players, in state/out of state, etc) varies based on the level of school you're at and the talent of your coach.

If you wouldn't mind humoring me further, I have a few questions/assumptions in need of confirming, now that I've sunk a bit more time in:

Does calling to unlock interests in itself affect a prospects interest in the team or is it's purpose simply to uncover their interests?
I'm assuming you have to have what you pitch for it to work - you can't pitch academics because its a prospects #1 if you don't have academics?
Hosting and Visiting a prospect will always move a prospects interest one level up or down - no neutral result?
Your recruiting assistant calls your call list and can potentially increase interest level, more so if they're good at recruiting?
If you have poor facilities, should you avoid hosting players or does that not affect the rate of good/bad visits?
Does watching film affect a prospects interest at all or simply uncover/refine scouted ratings?