On Fri, 3 Dec 1993, Mike Machnik wrote:
 
> Reg Usher writes:
> >I think the Minnesota tradition of only recruiting Minnesota hockey
> >players is a "classy" practice.
> ...
> >To complain about such an honorable tradition as homegrown
> >recruiting just because the Gophers are off to a slow start this year seems
> >to me to be the epitome of short-sightedness.
>
> I'm certainly not trying to prolong this or pick on Reg, he just
> expressed something I have seen and heard many times...while my personal
> opinion is that schools should recruit who they want from where they
> want (as long as rules aren't broken), I think it is dangerous and
> unfair to label the way Minnesota has recruited as "classy" and
> "honorable".
>
> It is nice that Minnesota has been so successful for so long by
> recruiting the way they have, and it is perfectly okay by me if the
> folks there are proud of having maintained this tradition.  But
> calling the practice of recruiting only in-state players "classy" and
> "honorable" implies, intended or not, that nearly every other program
> in DivI is not classy or honorable because they recruit out of state
> or out of the US.
 
Again, not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but I have to agree.  To
argue that there is nothing wrong with either recruiting locally
exclusively or not is one thing... to place that on a plane above what
other schools do is something else.  Athletic programs do what they think
is best, (within the rules, of course) and sometimes that means a "best
available player" policy, and sometimes (as it seems in the case of
Minnesota and Boston College) other factors come into play in terms of
pride in local talent.  There's nothing wrong with that.  There shouldn't
be anything there looked upon as superior or somehow more 'noble' either.
 
>
> After all, few programs have had the kind of easy access to local
> players that Minnesota has had.
 
And there are programs that probably wished they did.  One of the problems
Merrimack has had in years since joining Hockey East (sorry to bring them
up again, but I have to talk about what I know) was maintaining fan
support from students and community members through some lean years.  It's
been mentioned more than once that it's even more difficult because there
haven't been a great many of truly local players-- in part due to the
excellent reputation and recruiting of BC and also BU.  I've heard it
said that the person who could figure out a way of diverting players from
Catholic Memorial (prestigious high school in Boston) from going straight
to BU coul build a great team.
 
 
  That doesn't mean they gave up on the local kids.  And we
> shouldn't forget how much time and effort the coaches put in to try to
> bring in the best players possible.  I think Merrimack assistant Stu
> Irving, for example, has done a pretty darn honorable job of
> recruiting the last ten years by not only spending days at all the
> local HS games but also spending so much time away each year, driving
> across Canada to see games in remote places and find the kids that
> were overlooked.
 
Insert additional kudos for Stu and Head Coach Andersen here.  The stories
I've heard about the sheer amount of miles logged in the car by
Merrimack's coaching staff are legend.  Merrimack's best team(s) (I'm
thinking primarily of the 1988 NCAA quarterfinalist team) was made up of
players that other schools weren't interested in for one reason or
another.  Players like that are getting even harder to find now.
 
  And giving a chance for a good college education to
> kids who might not have otherwise had it - kids who helped Merrimack
> place more players on the HE Academic Honor Roll last season than any
> other HE school.
>
 
I think this is what "student athletics" is all about.  I'll take a moment
here to affirm what others have said about student athletics.  There was a
segment on the show "Inside Edition" (not a regular watch for me) about a
DivIII football program (didn't see it all, don't know which one) which
was considered unconventional because of the informal, no-tackle drills
and practices, and the deemphasis on "winning at any cost" attitude that
permeates sports at the highest levels.  Yet the program there is
successful- and is playing in its league playoffs this weekend.  Granted,
the competition there is probably not as strong, but the idea that
relaxed athletes who enjoy the game they play perform well shouldn't be as
shocking as it is.
 
        The point being... some of that attitude seems to be more
associated with DivII and III athletics than with DivI.  Merrimack should
be lauded for having players do so well academically as well as working as
hard as they do on the Volpe sheet.  This is not meant to deny the
essential hypocrisy of the 'student athlete' concept at levels where
players seem more concerned with athletics than academics.  Universities
should admit when athletics are made a top priority.  If these means a
'hockey' or 'athletic performance' major, so be it.  For some students,
this ends up being the case anyway.
 
 
David M. Josselyn
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