Quoted from Boston Globe, June 16, 1994, p. 52:
GLADCHUK UNAWARE?
Gladchuk said he became aware of the scholarship problems in late February,
"when I realized some of these [players offered scholarships] didn't fit into
what we had projected."
But it was not until after Milbury accepted the BC job in late March, said
Gladchuk, that he became aware of the full scope of the problem in a meeting
with Milbury and Mark Leach, brother of the Bruins' Steve Leach and Cedorchuk's
assistant coach and director of recruiting.
The reason BC had gotten into this bind, said Gladchuk, was that Cedorchuk
"had acted independently... as far as contacts with a player or his parents.
Promises that had been made out in the field gradually surfaced. What a coach
says to a player or to a player's parents is between a coach and a player, and
it can't be monitored."
What must be pointed out, Gladchuk said, "is that some 1,500 to 1,800
prospective student-athletes are in contact with Boston College each year, and
the relationship of those student-athlete and the coach."
The actual awarding of athletic scholarships is closely monitored, he said.
Strict procedures are followed in the athletic department. But if a coach were
to make promises on his own, "there was no way I knew, we knew or the
compliance officer [Lynn Holleran] knew this."
Gladchuk said he finally realized this spring that BC had no hockey
scholarships to offer. "We were very up front with the parents," said Gladchuk
"I told the parents point blank, up front, right out of the blocks, what the
rules and regulations were, that our hands now were tied."
Parents were upset, he conceded.
"As these [promises of scholarships] surfaced, we certainly were concerned
about it," he said. "We certainly were upset about it, and we did everything
we could to direct them to other resources."
Gladchuk insisted that BC had violated no NCAA regulations, that the school
has a compliance officer and a strict checks-and-balances system, all of which
prevent BC from exceeding NCAA limits on awarding scholarships.
"A coach," he said, "just cannot get through a scholarship that exceeds the
NCAA limitations."
In fact, said Gladchuk, when he became aware there were players who believed
they would be receiving hockey scholarships because assurances from Cedorchuk,
he notified the NCAA.
What has unfolded in the hockey program, he said, "was very upsetting to me.
It was disconcerting to me and to the university at large. Yes, I am very
upset by this."
. . .
ALUMNI REACT ANGRILY
Alumni are aghast, and some are enraged.
"We cant believe the mess this is in now," said Neil Shea, who played on
those very good BC hockey teams of the mid-'80s with Kevin Stevens, Doug Brown,
Bob Sweeney, Ken Hodge and Scott Gordon, all of whom went on to play in the
National Hockey League. "Kevin and Doug and all of them - we talk all the time
- and we can't believe how much it's changed from when we were there. A lot
of us are disgusted."
Cedorchuk has made only a few general comments publicly about the BC hockey
program since he resigned, telling people he was not a part of the situation
anymore, and that he'd just as soon not talk about it.
Shea had harsh words for Gladchuk, on whose watch the BC hockey program has
slipped to its lowest ebb in memory.
"Chet Gladchuk is the athletic director, and he says he wasn't aware of the
things that were happening," said Shea. "How could he not know? Does he know
the Beatles broke up?"
Football and basketball may bring revenue and national exposure to BC, but
hockey is the sport that drips passion.
And while a firestorm has developed over Gladchuk, "a lot of people are
missing the point," said a long-time observer of BC hockey. "People are all
talking about the AD and the coach at BC, but they're forgetting the kids.
The real tragedy of the hockey program is how many kids' lives have been messed
up by BC. What's wrong at BC is not a legal issue but a moral issue."
*end of quoted material*
*Only* three installments! :-)
At least this last one was not too long.
Tony BU'92'93
Former Ogre
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