Got the following off r.s.h; it apparently appeared in the paper
(student or local) in BG. It made me think of a story I decided to
relate (names removed to protect the innocent :-)) about an issue that
I believe is important.
==========
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
From: [log in to unmask] (Jason Ehas)
Subject: Re: OHL signing--Jr. Red Wings
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 93 15:40:15 EDT
In article <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask] wrote:
...
> Detroit signed Bowling Green State University goalie Aaron Ellis this week.
>...He came to BGSU as a
>recruited walk-on; he has now left because he was not given a full scholarship.
OK, this is the deal, as I understand it, from a local BG paper today.
Ellis was unhappy that coach Jerry York, who promised he would give Ellis a
full scholarship if Ellis proved himself in the net last season, seemingly
reneged on the deal. York claims Ellis' ineligibility after spring
semester was the telling factor in his decision to give the scholarship to
a goalie recruit to avoid losing him to Michigan. Ellis made up his
classes during the summer and had his eligibility restored. York claimed
he didn't want to take a chance that Aaron would again lose his eligibility
and BG would be left with one keeper. Ellis felt that this decision
showed that York didn't trust him to keep up his grades. Ellis was given
an athletic book voucher for fall semester, but this wasn't enough to keep
Ellis. Late last season Ellis and York clashed over playing time, so this
wasn't a stable relationship. Ellis was quoted as saying that he was tired
of going to hockey camps d hearing the other goalies talk about the
scholarships that they have and he himself not being able brag along with
them. Bowling Green will definately miss Ellis season, unless either
Clarke, a junior goalie, and/or the new recruit (don't recall the name)
step forward to lead the team :-) :-).
BG's loss, the Jr. Red Wings gain.
Jason Ehas
Bowling Green State University
==========
(mike again)
This is not the same type of situation, but I have a good friend who
is a pretty good player and was "promised" a scholarship by a DivI
program if he made the team (he walked on a year early after the
prep school he had planned to attend, closed). He played mostly JV
his freshman year, then saw action in nearly every game his sophomore
year and was listed as one of his team's key returning players for
what would have been his junior year. But just before school started
that year, he found out they weren't going to give him anything. By
that time, he & his family (he has 4 brothers & sisters, 3 were in
college or private HS at that time and though they're comfortable,
they're not well off) had already sacrificed a lot to keep him in
school while hoping for that scholarship to come, and when it didn't
come through, he had no choice but to withdraw from school. He hoped
to play somewhere else, but it didn't work out because they couldn't
afford to send him to another school.
The worst thing is all of the bad breaks this guy has caught, and him
being such a good player and having the work ethic he has. He nearly
took several offers to play in the minors (ECHL, CHL) or Italy, and
in fact he did go to Europe for a short while and was a star in
Holland - then his team folded. What else could go wrong?
So, what is the point, you ask? I don't think BG did anything wrong
here, but I do believe that when players decide to go to a school
believing that they'll get a scholarship if this and this and this
happen, they should get it in writing from the coach. At least here,
it would have been spelled out that if Ellis earned a spot and kept his
grades up (an important part some kids forget about), then the school
would come through with its part of the deal. It seems to me that
both sides think the other did not keep up their end, and although I
have to side with BG, I still think that just as kids who do get
scholarships have to sign, kids who walk on expecting to get one under
certain conditions should get it on paper so both sides can agree on
what the terms are.
Unless anything like this happens, players need to be fully aware that
they're doing nothing less than taking a chance. I don't believe that
coaches go around enticing kids to walk on with offers of scholarships
"some day" and then pull it away, but it does seem that maybe in some
way the players end up believing something different than what the
program has planned for them. And in the case of my friend, I'm not
even willing to believe something unethical went on without having
proof. I just think both sides would be happier with the agreement on
paper...and I related this because I think it is something potential
walk-on college players should think about.
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMN* 11/13/93
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