Retro Bowl College Recruiting: How the Scholarship Fund, Admissions and GPA Fit Together

Retro Bowl College takes the thing every Retro Bowl player already knows — build around a quarterback, throw every pass yourself — and moves it onto a campus. Three systems replace the salary cap and the draft, and they only make sense together.

The Scholarship Fund

The fund is your budget for recruits, measured in thousands of dollars. It is filled from two sources. At the start of every season the alumni endowment drops in a fixed amount. At the end of every season each Senior who leaves for the Pro Draft donates to it — a Round 1 pick donates far more than a player who goes undrafted. The fund has a ceiling; when it is full the game tells you the rest was diverted to other programs. Raising that ceiling costs Coaching Credits at the Athletics Office, and it is the first thing to buy once you have a coordinator.

Admissions

Admissions is the draft with the order removed. You see the freshman prospects with their star ratings and positions, and so does every other college. Each time you sign one the pool shrinks, and a rival can take the prospect you were saving up for. Sign the player you actually need first — usually a quarterback or a fast receiver — and only then look for depth. Once you press Finish you cannot recruit again until next year's Admissions.

GPA

Every player has a GPA, and the scholarship depends on it. Most bye weeks give you a choice, and one of the options is Study Time, which raises grades across the roster. During the season players ask to skip training for a test or a paper; Allow Study keeps the GPA up at the cost of a little form. Say no often enough and the Dean suspends the player, then threatens to revoke the scholarship. Intervening to keep him costs you, and if his GPA is already low the intervention will not hold.

The order to spend in

1. Season 1: the fund is thin. Sign one quarterback with the highest rating you can afford. Nothing else matters more.
2. Season 1 bye week: take Study Time. A clean roster means no suspension dilemmas in the playoffs.
3. Season 2: if a Junior asks to declare early, let him. The double donation pays for the receiver you need.
4. Season 2 office: raise the fund ceiling before buying a stadium upgrade.

From season three on the fund grows on its own, provided your stars keep getting drafted — which is another reason to keep their grades up. A suspended player never sees the draft, and a player who never sees the draft never pays into the fund.