I thought that the discussion on this subject indicated that if the school
did not let the player out of the letter then the player had to sit out. If
they let him out he was free. I could be wrong. I can't imagine a school
would really want a player who didn't want to be there.



-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Fenwick [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 5:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The next Wisconsin coach


"Moller, Edward N." wrote:

> Let's suppose that Mike Eaves is the Badgers' pick to replace Jeff Sauer.
> He's a distinguished alum who played for Badger Bob, and has enjoyed
success
> in a leadership position at the national development program.
>
> Mike has two sons:  Ben, a sophomore at Boston College; and Pat, currently
> playing for his father at Ann Arbor while having signed a letter of intent
> to enroll at BC in the fall.  If you were his son(s), would you want to
risk
> the potential of having to play against your father, or would you say
blood
> is thicker than ice and transfer to dad's alma mater?

If I were Ben, assuming I wasn't royally ticked off at BC for some reason,
I'd
be thinking, "hmm, if I transfer, I have to sit out a whole year before I
could
play... sorry, Dad, love ya, but I don't think I want to sit on the shelf
for a
year just so I could play for ya."  Especially if Ben has already played for
his father as Pat is doing now.  Especially especially if Ben is a
"red-shirt" sophomore as opposed to a "true" sophomore (I don't know if he
is,
and I don't even know if red-shirting occurs in hockey with anywhere near
the
frequency of football -- but if he's already red-shirted, transferring would
cost him a season of eligibility in addition to the year of not playing).

If I were Pat, well, maybe I look into getting out of my letter of intent --
I know this was discussed on HOCKEY-L recently but can't remember what the
procedure was, if any.  I think BC would have to agree to let him go,
otherwise
he'd have to sit out a year as well, assuming he could transfer at all.
It's
probably not looked upon very favorably to sign a letter of intent and then
say
"oh, wait a minute..."

--
Bill Fenwick                            Email:  [log in to unmask]
Digicomp Research                       Voice:  (607) 273-5900 ext 32