How do you recruit?

[Timmuh]

So you focus on camp results?
Stay in-state?
Build your pipeline?
Target ratings that fit your game strategies?
Target player personalities?

I’m sure it’s a mix but what’s your main focus?

I find myself focusing on camps as my #1 guide. I then hope I can learn a players attitude and work ethic before offering...but that can often cause me waiting too long.

[TripLykely]

So you focus on camp results?
-Yes, I weight camp data above all else when evaluating recruits

Stay in-state?
-No, I only play on brutal recruiting and even when I tortured myself by starting as a 0 rated coach at UC San Diego I could land out of state (in-region) recruits - you're limiting your talent pool too much staying in state, but it still may make more sense to offer the in-state recruit over the out of state depending on school/recruiting skill

Build your pipeline?
-I'm not sure what the pipeline actually does, the dev streams just repeat what the in-game text states - does it increase the number of interested recruits, make building interest easier, both, something else? If I understood the mechanic more I'd look to incorporate it into my strategy. In the UC San Diego run I naturally developed a pipeline in Cali and my region over time but didn't notice a difference in recruiting as I was also increasing prestige, budget, recruiting skill, etc. at the same time. In my current Wisconsin run I'm in my 8th season and have landed more players from Texas than any other state, and 0 from Wisconsin. Actually looking at it, I barely tough the Midwest region - mostly TX, CA, NY. That team has made the last 5 NC winning 4.

Target ratings that fit your game strategies?
-Yes and no. Because I don't want to be pigeon-holed into finding bigs who can hit 3's or something similar I run a vanilla motion/triangle offense with an occasional 3rd set. Because those sets keep the bigs near the basket I'm looking for prototypical players generally. On top of this, I prioritize recruiting and player development over scouting in my assistants so I can't really trust my scout ratings. Ultimately I'm confident I can find good players with camp data, but I'm less confident I can identify the specialized player types needed for the more specialized sets. So in a sense I do target players who fit my system, but my system intentionally doesn't require a specific player.

Target player personalities?
-Anecdotally winning solves chemistry issues, or rather prevents most of them. Team incidents generally occur after a loss so avoiding those is my top priority. While I have had a season derailed to chemistry issues it doesn't happen much and is generally solved by itself in a season. I do try to stay away from transfers a bit as they're generally personality issue players but ultimately in recruiting don't worry too much. I should note, being proactive with calls/texts and suspension helps.

I think one's approach to recruiting is should be tailored to the circumstance of that season. Assess how your school and conference prestige compare to the rest of the league. What about you and your staffs recruiting skill? Does your budget allow for Gold Reports, what about visiting multiple/all regional camps? How many scholarships are open? Are you looking for immediate impact potentially 1-and-done talent or 4-year players to develop? And of course lots more.

Generally I think you want to identify your top targets quickly and use live scouts on them consistently throughout recruiting to build interest. I used to think offering an early scholarship was key but have since changed my thinking after many more seasons of play. My current belief is that Sep 4th is the ideal date to make your offers as you will have the most information before early declarations and don't appear to hurt the chances of landing recruits (I've had multiple early commits on Sep 11 before even visiting doing this). The key to the whole process is having a workflow that starts with 50 recruits who you could realistically land, narrowing the list as you get camp data, and finally offering before visiting the players who you want and you think want you. I'd note I look at recruiting skill as salesmanship and often pitch what the recruits top interest is regardless of what my school has to offer (assuming my coach has high recruiting).

[Wayne23]

With a low or fairly low TP team I stay close to home, in state or in region, BUT I find i have luck with International players and sometimes with Jucos.
I recruit to my system- You need to be able to play some D. If you're a big guy you need to be a rebounder. Guards need to be able to take care of the ball. I actually don't focus on shooters.
Camps are great when I can afford them. I visit, have them visit, and scout as much as I can afford to, and the single most important factor is visiting recruits and targeting my pitch to what is important to them. The calls are very important in determining that.
If a recruit is most interested in something I can't provide (Maybe TP. for example), unless he's showing strong interest I will focus on other recruits.
If it looks like I'm not going to have a lot of success in the Fall I save money for the Spring.

[Timmuh]

Great posts.

I’ve actually started to really like transfers.

While many do have personalities or want time, they come into your program with 100% team and coach ratings. At a small school that has allowed me to get much better talent then I can recruit. As you grow as a program, you can find some great gems as well that don’t need much time.

I’ve started trying to look at what schools are targeting the transfer and I’ll contact the ones with big name schools. Hasn’t always worked great for talent level so there may be a better way

[locus]

A bad personality doesn't just impact the player's happiness, it impacts the rest of the team. I had a sophomore transfer in as a disruptive force and he stayed out the full three years but in the mean time I lost two other great players to the transfer portal because they didn't like their teammate.

[Wayne23]

Transfers can be a HUGE help at a small school, but if they seem to be too much trouble I'll usually pass unless I have a severe need I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fill any other way. And then I ride their asses with phone calls every time they start some.

[Timmuh]

I’m sure people know this but I’ve finally locked in on the camps schedule. Even at a smaller school you can really take advantage of the windows.

For instance...at a small school I did southern and Atlantic camps.

Since they are both the same week before a turnover over. I don’t do any recruiting steps when the week turns over. I then change all my recruits over to the southern region...advance to see results. Then change all the bad/decent ones off and back to the Atlantic region. After that...I use my recruiting points for the week.

That way I end up with a bigger list of players with good camp results.

[PointGuard]

I’m sure people know this but I’ve finally locked in on the camps schedule. Even at a smaller school you can really take advantage of the windows.

For instance...at a small school I did southern and Atlantic camps.

Since they are both the same week before a turnover over. I don’t do any recruiting steps when the week turns over. I then change all my recruits over to the southern region...advance to see results. Then change all the bad/decent ones off and back to the Atlantic region. After that...I use my recruiting points for the week.

That way I end up with a bigger list of players with good camp results.

DEEE-VEEE-USSS !!! I like it!

[TripLykely]

A bad personality doesn't just impact the player's happiness, it impacts the rest of the team. I had a sophomore transfer in as a disruptive force and he stayed out the full three years but in the mean time I lost two other great players to the transfer portal because they didn't like their teammate.

Generally speaking I discipline the problem players and not the good guys. Calling and suspending a disruptive force who's causing issues can save the teammates relationship and keep them on the team. Its rare I have anyone but a disruptive force transfer out.

I’m sure people know this but I’ve finally locked in on the camps schedule. Even at a smaller school you can really take advantage of the windows.

For instance...at a small school I did southern and Atlantic camps.

Since they are both the same week before a turnover over. I don’t do any recruiting steps when the week turns over. I then change all my recruits over to the southern region...advance to see results. Then change all the bad/decent ones off and back to the Atlantic region. After that...I use my recruiting points for the week.

That way I end up with a bigger list of players with good camp results.

A small school on the west coast is so much easier to build than the east coast because of this. Vegas Revue is the same week as National Camps, that early camp data lets you quickly find the cream of your region and time to add the best from the rest.

I’ve actually started to really like transfers.

While many do have personalities or want time, they come into your program with 100% team and coach ratings. At a small school that has allowed me to get much better talent then I can recruit. As you grow as a program, you can find some great gems as well that don’t need much time.

I’ve started trying to look at what schools are targeting the transfer and I’ll contact the ones with big name schools. Hasn’t always worked great for talent level so there may be a better way

Don't get me wrong, its a talent pool that shouldn't be ignored wholesale, but I'd always prefer a freshman over a sophomore or junior. In the first run I did with this game a transfer PG from UCLA was key to helping me recruit better players as it gave me 3 seasons with a 5* player I'd otherwise never have. Like I mentioned in my initial reply, I like to keep scholarships at 4 or less so generally use transfers if I'm over that, which is regular at high prestige with 1-and-done talent.

I do a similar approach when targeting transfers. Generally I'll sort by school and look at player bio to see what they're rank during recruiting was and season stats, particularly shooting percentages and ratios to min played for other stats. If they were at a good school, were ranked well, have good shooting stats (the PG I mentioned was 45% from 3), and ratios look nice I contact and offer a scholarship. Sometimes you miss out on players if you wait a week to see their scouted ratings after contact so the aforementioned helps in being confident you've got a quality player. Its been a lot trickier to pin down the best way to actually recruit a player from the portal then normal recruiting, my thinking is we have less sway over transfers than recruits.