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