Fun, yet frustrating. Any suggestions to alleviate my problems?

[Ragin Cajun]

I just can't figure out this game for the life of me after centurys of playing.

 

I love to start with a lower ranked team and try to progress my way up to a national program. I have always tended to start with my alma mater (boy do they suck). Honestly, I've had no luck with them until this current career. The only team I've had success with was Texas Tech (50ish rating for team to start career). Won with them, got hired to USC, five years there and then to Michigan (my favorite team..and the only time I've EVER gotten a job offer from them).

 

Anyway to this current career and see if you guys can give some insight to help me:

 

1. I've gone after transfers. Typically it's 3-3.5 stars that are interested in my program but they are on the top end of what I can recruit successfully so I hit them hard. Typically get 3 or more transfers yearly.

 

So, started in 1976 and I adjusted the team rating to 40.0 just for a slight bump from the mid to high 30's they always start with. I just finished the 1985 season so I'm 10 years into my career. I have a 78-43 record and have gone 48-22 in conference with five conference championships. I've rung up a meager 2-5 mark in bowl games (0-1 in the Champs Sports and 2-4 in the New Orleans bowl). My defenses have been ranked in the national top 10 four times during the decade, and never worse than 36th (except the very first year when we ranked 86th). Offensively..well typically in the 60s (high of 31 and low of 85). My coaches prestige has gone up to 59.3.

 

- I've started getting some interest (7 or 8 usually) for players in the 700-900 national ranking range. Still most of my recruits are in the 1000-1300 range for ranking. Recruiting classes have ranked from 57th to 102 in the country. I have yet to get a 4 star recruit (or higher). Also, with a pretty dominant team in the conference (yes, I know it's not the SEC) and only two losing conference records in 10 years and never a losing season we are still getting C grades and our prestige has actually gone DOWN to 38.

 

Honestly, it seems impossible to do the following:

1. Recruit any talent above 3 star. I can't seem to get a recruit to sign if they were below an 8 in initial interest, even if I put max dollars on them from week 1 and offer scholarship in week 1.

2. Improve prestige: Winning should fix this and while I'm not competing for national titles and not even getting into the rankings even with 9 wins (understandable) I should think this would perk the prestige up a bit as a winning program. Boise State, Utah, ring a bell for anyone?

3. Get promoted: Again, winning should fix this. Even a small time coach gets hired by big programs in real life but not in text based sims it seems. 100% winning record, no losing seasons, 50% conference champions, Top 10 national defense (on average)...you'd think that would get SOMEBODY's attention. Yet I get calls from North Texas, UConn, Troy. Typically in conference or (Houston) someone that I shut out two years running with a lower rating than my teams.

 

Now, for this career I've actually decided to stay at my alma mater for the duration to build them in to a national power (well that sure isn't likely to happen since I can't garner interest in better recruits even when I win. But I'd like input on the following:

1. Recruiting (yes tons of threads) but is there something you do to get a player interested that was only a 4 or 5 at the beginning of recruiting as thats where all the four and five star players seem to be (if not lower).

2. Promotions: What do you suggest (besides cheating and switching user team) to get a bigger program to court you? Look at Turner Gill after one freaking year...Jeff Tedford after only a couple of years...even the guy this year from Iowa State to Auburn and he is a loser as a coach.

3. Transfers: I usually only hit the Very High or High ratings for interest levels. I've gotten one or two Low ratings over the 10 years. Should I offer a green or blue player every year just for funzies to see what happens?

4. Any other tips or suggestions you feel may help me get over this hump as I don't want to start with Michigan or USC as my first job.

[Dave Hansen]

<p>I coach an elite team...even then I only start my recruiting efforts with initial interest at 7 or above.</p><p> </p><p>

One tip that I've learned...EVERY week check to see if someone has moved up in interest level to your threshold. As the recruiting season moves along, I've found guys that I had spent no time looking at that are now interested in my program.</p><p> </p><p>

FWIW...I keep a little handwritten spreadsheet that tracks each recruit's interest level by week...8,8,9,10,TOP,TOP,...commit. Once the recruit's top factor is known, I keep comparing how my school rates against his current top schools...ie., know when to hold 'em...no when to fold 'em. The little spreadsheet helps me to spot trends. I keep each year's spreadsheet as a tool to see if I can learn from previous "patterns" to improve my effectiveness. </p><p> </p><p>

PS-I sort by position to keep all QB's, etc., together.</p>

[NickC13573]

how can you tell if a transfer is interested in you?

[Ragin Cajun]

During the three week transfer period there is a drop down menu on the transfer list screen. One of the options is INTEREST.

[Ragin Cajun]

96 views and only one real reply to the questions? Come on Grey Dog community, step up and help a fellow Bowl Bounder out.

[CHOWDERHEAD]

96 views and only one real reply to the questions? Come on Grey Dog community, step up and help a fellow Bowl Bounder out.

 

Sorry that I cannot be of any real help here, but I do share your same concerns. I hope that someone in the know speaks up and enlightens all of us.

[NickC13573]

ok I have tested this. I started as Middle Tennessee state (25 prestige) and I made everyone an elite 5.0 player. I have played 4 seasons. 48-0 and I have NEVER made the National Title. Started in the Sun Belt and moved to the Conference USA. My prestige 57. I am NOW only getting 7-8 interest from 4 and 5 stars with the fluke 9-10 interest from a 4 star. I would say, just keep winning, and change conference movement to high, maybe then you will change conferences. also, take a job at UCONN, they are still high prestige, or the chance to garner more prestige being in the Big East.

[Ragin Cajun]

UConn might be a job to look at. I've only had luck with Texas Tech as a mid level school in a bigger conference. Arkansas...fired every time I've worked for them. You get better recruits but not good enough to compete in the SEC with LSU, Bama, Florida.

[NickC13573]

all you have to do is accomplish the expectations. Most Recruits with Arkansas will be 3 star. Just schedule cupcakes and win your bowl games. That will help you get some 4 stars and some luck will help you beat LSU and those teams. Its all about how good you play call and such.

[Ragin Cajun]

all you have to do is accomplish the expectations. Most Recruits with Arkansas will be 3 star. Just schedule cupcakes and win your bowl games. That will help you get some 4 stars and some luck will help you beat LSU and those teams. Its all about how good you play call and such.

 

That may be my biggest problem. I do the recruiting, transfers and hiring and let the cpu do the rest.

[GeoWar]

It is easier to control in solo play than online/multi-player -- You call and play the games out using your playbook to feature best player --

 

In a solo league I played a season with the computer simming games with Middle Tenn State finished 2-10 (did not save) and then played calling the games and finished 9-4 with a minor bowl win. The AI does a poor job of play calling even with good gameplanning coaches based on game situations -- example you may run a running play with 1 minute 30 sec., down by 4 with a couple of timeouts BUT never a running play with 20 seconds left, down by 4 with no timeouts.

 

In online action you need to gameplan to try to take that option away from the AI - even putting a 1 under inside or outside run on the gameplan can cause this in the 2 minute period. Even redzone, 0-3 yards to go, (down does not matter), under 2 minutes or OT may cause a run that will run out the clock where a pass would give you 2 or 3 shots at the TD -- you are not interested in 3 pts down 4.

[ShoelessJoe]

The biggest thing you can do to improve prestige..... is just win baby.

If a 3 loss season is a very good accomplishment for you, drop down a little on the competition level. As your program gets better, IE winning more you will get better recruits to commit.

I took over Air Force in one of my solo leagues, and ran off the following seasons 10-3, 12-1, 8-5, 12-1, 12-1, 12-1, 13-0.

No national title games but 4 conference titles in the 7 years, and a 5-2 bowl record.... Prestige is now 78.

Another point, there is a setting to adjust how much your prestige is allowed to change each year. very low, low, average, high, very high. set it at high or very high and dont schedule to tough for a few years.

I believe you have to adjust on suggested game plans by your coaches. You dont have to go crazy, but you should do minor adjustments.

Pay attention to your roster and morale. You ever had a guy who was a good player suddenly regress. Might be a morale problem.

 

Also Dont let the game set your budget, or at least dont let it set your recruiting company.

[-ds-]

A few suggestions I can offer from my time of playing the game. I always play with low prestige teams and have found a few tricks to give me an advantage:

 

+ You can offer assistants $75,000 less than their asking price. You will rarely get your top choice (as you will often be outbid by larger schools) but you will get the best value for your money. Expect your assistants to move onto better jobs each year as well (its hard to keep D1A special teams coordinators on staff when they are only making $25,000). Not a bad trade off for the potential $225,000 you can save each year IMO.

 

+ If you are struggling to bring in talent on the recruiting front (more on that in a bit) go after transfers heavily. I usually offer a scholarship to every position, regardless of interest. I found that I always have better results offering players within my recruiting area as well (ie if you are a school in the west region stick to offering players in the west). Also, I don't bother offering players unless they have a peak of 4 or better. I usually land 2-4 transfers every year sticking to that method.

 

+ Maybe its me, but overall I think passing offenses have more success. I would love to hear about someone who built a powerhouse around the option or by using a smashmouth attack.

 

+ Recruiting - From my experience, giving the computer control over recruiting will yield better results. The computer will land you the players you "should" win battles on. If you are winning consistently and recruiting is on autopilot you will notice a year by year increase of quality recruits.

 

Here are a few strategies that I use when I recruit on my own. Week 1 - SCOUT. I scout every interested mofo there is. "Interested" is a loose word I'll try to define. Scout guys that A) have a rating of 7 or better, B) list your program in their top 8, or C) are guys in your college's state. I offer all my scholarships during week 1 with hope that I will get a head start over some other schools. Week 2 is a guessing game for me. Every potential scholarship offer that I feel I have a shot at I "recruit". Sometimes I know what interest to target as it was revealed to me after week 1 and sometimes I use a pure guess. If I have little to no idea what interests a prospect then I wait until week 3 or even 4 to "recruit" the player after I have learned what they care about most. For me, spreadsheets are too time consuming and if you have the time and desire to go more in depth during the recruiting process then so be it.

 

Also, don't waste your time on players with low GPAs.

 

+ Scheduling is by far the biggest variable in the game IMO. Throw prestige of teams out the window and look instead to the ratings of the players on prospective teams. The worst thing is to run into an underrated team.

 

+ Gameplan - I usually don't spend too much time on this (for whatever reason) but I have found more success when I actually play the games as opposed to just simming them. I know someone else mentioned this as well.